tremec T-56 vs T600

[joyridin']

Arthur,

Be sure to measure carefully before you buy any trans. I put a T-56 in my Arntz/Butler and it was not an easy task. The rear trans mount is part of the cross frame, so the body of the trans has to be shorter than the distance from the cross member to the rear of the engine. Unfortunately, the T-56 has a huge body even though the length is only a few inches longer. I had to remove the whole cross section of frame, box everything in, and make a new cross member. I had the driveshaft shortened to about 6" from u-joint to u-joint...maybe it was 8". Lucky for us it has IRS so nothing really moves. On the T-56, it only has 1 mounting place for the shifter, so I used a GTO shifter and flipped it around. I mounted the actual shifter on the inspection cover. I would assume this is pretty close to the center mount on a TKO 600. This allowed me to use a shifter that looked like the original.

Also, my car has an external slave cylinder with a blowproof bellhousing. It should fit on yours also.

Good luck!

[lal Naja]

Originally Posted by joyridin'

Arthur,

Be sure to measure carefully before you buy any trans. I put a T-56 in my Arntz/Butler and it was not an easy task. The rear trans mount is part of the cross frame, so the body of the trans has to be shorter than the distance from the cross member to the rear of the engine. Unfortunately, the T-56 has a huge body even though the length is only a few inches longer. I had to remove the whole cross section of frame, box everything in, and make a new cross member. I had the driveshaft shortened to about 6" from u-joint to u-joint...maybe it was 8". Lucky for us it has IRS so nothing really moves. On the T-56, it only has 1 mounting place for the shifter, so I used a GTO shifter and flipped it around. I mounted the actual shifter on the inspection cover. I would assume this is pretty close to the center mount on a TKO 600. This allowed me to use a shifter that looked like the original.

Also, my car has an external slave cylinder with a blowproof bellhousing. It should fit on yours also.

Good luck!

My Cobra is a small block Chevrolet is yours too? If that's the case I would love to know what bell-housing, fork & slave you have.

The TKO is 1.96" longer than my ST-10 so that is why I'm considering it. The 8 shifter locations also is a good selling point. I should think I would be able to make one of them work.

Appreciate the comments,

Arthur

[joyridin']

Yes, mine has a SBC also. The T-56 is also just a few inches longer that the Super T-10, but the overall length of the trans wasn't the issue. It was the diameter of the body that caused all the problems. If you look at a ST10, the tail shaft of the trans is maybe 8-10" long, and the diameter of the body is relatively small. With the T-56, the tailshaft was only 2" long, and the diameter of the body is huge all the way back to the tailshaft. It was the body of the trans that hit the crossmember. Then there was the issue of the tunnel. The T-56 is a lot wider that the ST10, so I had to modify the trans tunnel quite a bit. My trans tunnel was removable, so it wasn't that bad. Not sure if yours is or not. I had to move the passenger seat over about 1.5", which as you know, that is a lot in these cars. It fit...barely.

As for the bellhousing, I think mine is a Lakewood, but I cannot be sure. I saw no lettering on the bellhousing. It looks like a Lakewood. Everything fits and there is room to bleed the slave cylinder. It is really tight, but nothing hits or gets excessive heat.

Maybe somebody has a drawing of the side view of a TKO 600 and a ST10? If the rear mount is exactly the same distance from the front of the trans as a ST10 or shorter, you might be able to get it to fit. I wish I had pictures to show you. You would see in a heartbeat what I was talking about...LOL

Ron