chazde3

Now that sounds like a darn good idea! Great work as usual. Did you ever get that headlight part you needed?

doorgunner

You accomplish more "stalled-out" than I accomplish with a fool-proof plan

PainfullySlow

Oh, no. I had completely forgotten about it. Since the weather is nice I am trying to focus on all of the things that I can only do outside so the headlight assembly has been sitting for a bit.

Haha, hardly! You need to remember that I cannot do anything else with my day so I have lots of time on my hands...

PainfullySlow

Another busy day. I got the steering linkage all installed and then this happened...





Since it has been on an engine stand I was unable to install the RAM billet flywheel until now. That sure is a pretty part...





Tomorrow will be clutch install and bellhousing alignment. With any luck I will also be able to get the transmission installed. Right now I have the engine still on the hoist but I also have it resting on a jack stand in the rear so as to not put undue stress on the engine cradle.

PainfullySlow

Ugh, not much got done in the last few days. I came down with a very nasty cold which has left me unwilling to do much of anything. I am still under the weather but finally managed to drag my sorry butt off of the couch and do some work today, albeit not a lot.

I need to do the bellhousing alignment so I began by fabricating up a bracket to hold my dial indicator in place on the crankshaft, like so.





After that I got the actual bell housing installed onto the block





The next step is to take the actual front cover of the transmission and bolt it up to the bell housing. This will allow me to use the mainshaft bearing race as the 'constant' for measuring my bell housing alignment. I got the cover removed from the transmission however it was pretty grungy on the inside so I spent some time trying to get it as clean as I could and then I ran out of time.

Oh, and just in case anyone actually wants to see what a T56 looks like on the inside... there is a surprising amount of space.






The good news is that everything in there looks great. Nice and clean and all the gears and dogs have minimal to no signs of wear. I was told that the car only had 25k miles on it that this transmission came out of but who really knows? In any case, it made a lot of sense to use the front cover for alignment purposes so that it is exact but also because I had intended on replacing the input and output shaft seals as a preventative measure so I would have to take the front cover off anyway.



More to come tomorrow...

bmans vette

Looking good Michael
Nice find with that video.
Are you changing any of the traditionally weak aspects of the T56, especially the aluminum shifter fork and the plastic keys vs the solid steel fork and brass bushings?
While you are there?
How are you addressing the offset location of the shifter to match up with the stock location of the F body vs the Corvette shifter location?
I'll be watching as you continue at warp speed.
Good luck with a speedy recovery.

doorgunner

"Ugh, not much got done in the last few days. I came down with a very nasty cold which has left me unwilling to do much of anything. I am still under the weather but finally managed to drag my sorry butt off of the couch and do some work today, albeit not a lot."

The same here......day 4 of YUK!

PainfullySlow

I am not planning on going into the transmission at this time, other than the seals. Even a 'weak' T56 is still a strong trans, it has very low mileage, and honestly the car will be mostly a cruiser for me so I am willing to accept the risk. I may change my mind before I get the body back on the frame but for now I am just going to install it so that I can get the crossmember set up for it.

As for the offset shifter, I already have a billet shifter sitting in one of my many parts bins.




Not much warp speed happening here sadly. This cold is still kicking my butt and I have plans for this weekend so I am basically losing the entire week.

I hope that you are feeling better DG. Some improvement here but still very much under the weather.

bmans vette

Glad to see you back on your feet Michael.
I hear you about the T56 trans. I have a serious case of "while-I-am-it-itis" which explains why my projects take so long. I have 2 T56s for my 2 projects so I figure to tear them both down while I learn how to beef them up. Lots of great videos out there and suppliers of improved parts. That will be next after the engine is done and the frame is back from the powdercoater. I have a Gary Ramadei Super 10 for my personal project and he is doing a beefed up diff for this one later this Fall. I can't do it all.....
Looking forward to your progress......

Btw...where did you get the offset shifter? I saw one like that on ebay listed for the 93-95 F body I think. Most others do a cut and weld of a stock T56 shifter to make it fit the offset needed for our cars.

PainfullySlow

It came with the transmission when I bought it (from someone who was doing a t56 conversion in a C3) so I am not entirely sure however I believe it is a McLeod. Summit sells them.

PainfullySlow

Been very slow here. It has been raining here non-stop and I am also in the middle of a bathroom remodel which is taking what little working time that I have available to use my hands. The only real news is that I finally got the offset dowels after dialing in my bell housing so I hope to get that installed later today and get the transmission into the frame.

doorgunner

That's how it is here. I just took 3 days in a row off to rest my spine and get over the cold/whatever it was
Do what you can when you feel able.

ZRXGreen

Been away a while. Glad to see you are back in the saddle!

LINY Kevin

I'm still checking back daily.... Your post has helped me tremendously in my frame off. Thanks for documenting all of this. I find it hard enough to just find the time to work on mine, let alone trying to document like the way you do.

bmans vette

Hey Michael,
Been 3 months since your last update.
Hope all is well.
Give us an update.
Finally getting a little cooler here. I'll be trying to make some serious progress this Fall.
Take care buddy...

doorgunner

Same here PSlow

SPCL FX

I'm with them , hoping all is well !

SPCL FX

I’m slightly confused here ! Are you asking a question to me or to painfully slow ?

Pacha

Great project!
I am on the same painfully slow route myself, but starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as I am working on the interior as the exterior is "almost" complete.
I Will change the stock seats as they lack any kind of lateral supprt. I like Cypher seats I think the complement our cars but in the mock up I did the upper back seat was to wide to fit in a C3.
Did you have a chance to test fit them in the car with the full interior?
Regards,

SPCL FX

Michael’s last post was back in June and at the time he was working on remodeling in his house !
He was also being told by his doctors that he had more damage to his arms from a motorcycle accident than they previously thought causing a lot of pain !
Hopefully we will see him post again in the coming new year !
In the meantime why not start a thread on your restoration here in the general section !
Make sure you post lots of pictures because everyone here loves them !

P.S. If your reading this Michael Happy New Year and you too Pacha !