Q's on 6 speed...

[Chevy Lovah]

i searched on this topic, and found nothing i was looking for. is it possible to fit ANY 6 speed tranny on my 00' M5 3.8 camaro? i assume i'll get a good amount of flack for asking such a newbie question, but i was curious. i wish, but i bet there's no way that an LS1/LT1 tranny would bolt up to my 3.8. any word on this subject will be appreciated and most likely interesting.

[Ian]

no, not w/o a very expensive custom made bellhousing.

why would you want a 6 speed anyway. the power range in our engines is perfect for the 5 speed we have...

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

i need a 6 speed :(

[Chevy Lovah]

the reason is i am looking into upgrading my rear end. changing gear ratio, and stepping into an LSD. the thought of a 6 speed crossed my mind as a good idea because with a higher rear end gear ratio, a 6th gear would be beneficial on highway trips and for acceleration.

[imported_admin]

http://www.salleechevrolet.com/BorgWarner/bwt56.html

Bell housing would be the only wildcard.

I plan on doing this swap when I blow out my transmission. The T5 is only rated to 325 ft-lbs in top trim, I have a feeling mine won't hold out forever...

But a 6-speed for a non-power-adder car would be needless. The V6 F-Body does not react well to very steep rear ends--3.73 or higher. Notice, the fastest times on the Timeslips Page have 3.42's and 3.23's in the back. There are a few with 3.73 or 4.10 but I think he would be even faster with 3.42. So if you're thinking of going with 4.10's and then relying on sixth gear in order to maintain some reasonable sense of gas mileage, it probably won't do you much good. Reason being, the 3.4 and 3.8 are OHV engines, they run out of steam at the top ends and in top gears. I used to have 3.73's but got rid of them in favor of 3.42's because my times got WORSE. 12secondv6 is in the same boat, he used to have 4.10's and 3.42's and now he's happy with 3.23's.

Make power at your engine... don't overly rely on gears. You'll see much better results with these cars.

[Lord_Verminaard]

The Richmond overdrive 6-speed would work very well, I believe. Richmond even makes a version of it to retro-fit into F-bodys with 5-speed manuals. It even has the 18 degree tilt like the stock 5-speed does. I dont know of anyone who has done it, but for $1200 for a new transmission that can handle 450 lb-ft of torque it may be a good investment. The gearing is such that you can keep 3.23 or 3.42 gears and still shoot off of the line. If I had the cash, I'd be doing it right now. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Brendan
2000 Camaro L36 M49

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

i need something to handle like 500 or more ft/lbs ??

[Ex-5.0]

Generally 6-speed transmissions have a tighter spread from 1st to 4th than the V6 5-speed. 1st gear in the 5-speed is 3.75 ratio. A 6-speed 1st gear is about 2.65. Therfore, to keep the same overall ratio in 1st gear the rear gears need to change to be 4.10's or else 1st gear w/ the 6-speed would feel like a stock 5-speed w/ 2.29 rear end gears.

[viper98885]

Spohn also makes a retro kit that comes with a T56 out of a Viper. It also comes with a shortened driveshaft, adapter plate for the tranny and some other things. I think it runs about $2200 for the whole setup.