1987 corvette 4+3 to t56 swap completed!!
11-20-2012, 02:04 PM
#21
Le Mans Master
I had no problems getting the old bushing out, I just used a slide hammer with a blind hole puller, I'm having more trouble getting the new bushing in, any advice on installing? I just cleaned out the hole again and felt around looking for a lip or bur that the bushing might me catching on and nothing. Are the bearings easier to install?
11-20-2012, 02:25 PM
#22
Burning Brakes
I just used a socket and tapped (ok hammered) it in. I don't remember having a problem with it but now that you mention it this might have been the bearing I left in the freezer to make sure it would fit. (Probably read about it somewhere). The only thing with a bearing is being a little careful about smacking the outside race, hence the socket (don't whack the inner part of the bearing).
11-21-2012, 02:12 PM
#23
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I've always bought all my t56 parts from thegearbox.org.. They have always been on point with shipping and all the parts!
Last edited by fade2blk500; 11-21-2012 at 02:31 PM.
11-21-2012, 02:25 PM
#24
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I used a roller type bearing from a 93-97 camaro lt1. It went in perfect, I rented the pilot bearing tool from Oreilly's with a slidehammer and the old one came out pretty easy..
The arms for the puller are a little bit to big to fit in and I had to take off one of the arms and reinstall it after it was fit into the old pilot bearing.
I also used a socket the same size of the outer diameter of the new bearing and knocked it in with a nice size hammer. It went it in pretty smooth and worked great.
Update of the car, I reinstalled the new tailshaft seal in the transmission a little bit further in than I usually do and it fixed the leak issue. It was either a combination of that or me taking a wire brush to the rusted part and getting it smooth.
I've now put over 500 miles on the car since the swap. I've been driving it back and forth to work with the stock shifter with no boot/console... lol I ordered the mcleod shifter with the 2" left offset off of ebay.. It should arrive within the next few days, Then I will do all my finishing touches.
I still have a few things that I'd like to do to make the swap perfect..
#1 Figure out how to wire up the reverse lights and do something with the reverse lockout..
#2 The clutch engagement is very high with the master cylinder being a little bigger than the factory f-body one. I have thought to either make the clutch master adjustable, then adjust the pedal down a little lower just to make it a little more comfortable. The other option would be to make a spacer out of sheet metal to go in between the firewall and master cylinder.
To give you an idea. the pedal probably has 9-10" of pedal height.. From the top the engagement is probably within 2" of the top of the pedal stroke.. Pressing the clutch anything over 1/2 way is kind of pointless.. I mainly just want to remove about 2-3" of the pedal stroke.. Whenever I hammer the gears I smash the clutch pretty hard, so removing that extra length will help me bang the gears a little quicker
I'm not sure if I did update that I did get the dakota digital box and the speedometer is calibrated perfectly. DanZ51, your speedo thread was right on point! Thanks!
Anyways, I will update when I get a few more things done
The arms for the puller are a little bit to big to fit in and I had to take off one of the arms and reinstall it after it was fit into the old pilot bearing.
I also used a socket the same size of the outer diameter of the new bearing and knocked it in with a nice size hammer. It went it in pretty smooth and worked great.
Update of the car, I reinstalled the new tailshaft seal in the transmission a little bit further in than I usually do and it fixed the leak issue. It was either a combination of that or me taking a wire brush to the rusted part and getting it smooth.
I've now put over 500 miles on the car since the swap. I've been driving it back and forth to work with the stock shifter with no boot/console... lol I ordered the mcleod shifter with the 2" left offset off of ebay.. It should arrive within the next few days, Then I will do all my finishing touches.
I still have a few things that I'd like to do to make the swap perfect..
#1 Figure out how to wire up the reverse lights and do something with the reverse lockout..
#2 The clutch engagement is very high with the master cylinder being a little bigger than the factory f-body one. I have thought to either make the clutch master adjustable, then adjust the pedal down a little lower just to make it a little more comfortable. The other option would be to make a spacer out of sheet metal to go in between the firewall and master cylinder.
To give you an idea. the pedal probably has 9-10" of pedal height.. From the top the engagement is probably within 2" of the top of the pedal stroke.. Pressing the clutch anything over 1/2 way is kind of pointless.. I mainly just want to remove about 2-3" of the pedal stroke.. Whenever I hammer the gears I smash the clutch pretty hard, so removing that extra length will help me bang the gears a little quicker
I'm not sure if I did update that I did get the dakota digital box and the speedometer is calibrated perfectly. DanZ51, your speedo thread was right on point! Thanks!
Anyways, I will update when I get a few more things done
11-22-2012, 11:39 PM
#25
Burning Brakes
Glad to hear the oil leak was fixed.
I didn't think my pedal engagement was that high, but maybe I just got "used to it". My only issue is I have to push the pedal too far to get the starter-clutch switch engage. I'll be following what ever you come up with.
You did catch this, right? (for your reverse lights)
VSS plug GM 12101899, Delco PT 1798
Back Up plug GM 12085485, Delco PT107
Reverse Lock Out Plug GM 12101857, Delco PT249
Back Up plug GM 12085485, Delco PT107
Reverse Lock Out Plug GM 12101857, Delco PT249
Last edited by DanZ51; 11-22-2012 at 11:50 PM.
11-23-2012, 11:09 AM
#26
Le Mans Master
Yeah I got the bearing in and the flywheel on. I'm hoping to have all the clutch components in and test fit the transmission this weekend. Then ill lengthen the wires for the connections and maybe patch the tunnel.
11-26-2012, 08:31 PM
#27
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Got my mcleod shifter in today!! part number 81-407-004-08. It bolted in great and put the shifter back in the right location! I was really impressed with how tight and short the shifts were.. I wasn't expecting it to be nearly as smooth as it is.. Definitely an A+++ there.
Craig
Craig
11-26-2012, 10:58 PM
#28
Drifting
That is one good looking shifter!
Nice to hear that you are happy. Your work has certainly paid off!
Nice to hear that you are happy. Your work has certainly paid off!
11-26-2012, 11:37 PM
#29
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St. Jude Donor '05
Jeff@ Keisler sells the reverse light kit I need one myself (in an A body)
I put a stop on my clutch pedal.
You dont want to overextend the slave or youll blow the seals
playing wiht the mounting height on the pedal can change the amount of pedal throw. The geometry on the slave is weird, took me 5 blown slaves to get it right. sure is nice though.
I put a stop on my clutch pedal.
You dont want to overextend the slave or youll blow the seals
playing wiht the mounting height on the pedal can change the amount of pedal throw. The geometry on the slave is weird, took me 5 blown slaves to get it right. sure is nice though.
11-27-2012, 06:53 AM
#30
Le Mans Master
Jeff@ Keisler sells the reverse light kit I need one myself (in an A body)
I put a stop on my clutch pedal.
You dont want to overextend the slave or youll blow the seals
playing wiht the mounting height on the pedal can change the amount of pedal throw. The geometry on the slave is weird, took me 5 blown slaves to get it right. sure is nice though.
I put a stop on my clutch pedal.
You dont want to overextend the slave or youll blow the seals
playing wiht the mounting height on the pedal can change the amount of pedal throw. The geometry on the slave is weird, took me 5 blown slaves to get it right. sure is nice though.
I still refer to your original thread about putting a T56 behind a SBC, glad to hear it's still holding up for you!
12-01-2012, 02:09 PM
#31
Le Mans Master
Sort of a strange question but I've got a huge freakin' ground wire that was bolted to the old bellhousing, seems kind of strange because the bellhousing is aluminum, is there a better place I can mount this?
12-01-2012, 04:31 PM
#32
Drifting
The block should be cast iron. The bolt goes through the bellhousing and into the block.
Putting the ground there was good enough for GM. Should be just fine for you.
On the LT1/4 engines, the ground on the driver's side at the top has many ground wires attached.
Putting the ground there was good enough for GM. Should be just fine for you.
On the LT1/4 engines, the ground on the driver's side at the top has many ground wires attached.
12-01-2012, 07:30 PM
#33
Le Mans Master
Alright, I figured that was the reasoning but they also changed it on later C4's so I thought I might see if there's a better solution. The paint and the 4+3 were good enough for GM in '85 too, both of those I have to fix as well!
08-15-2019, 11:42 AM
#34
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I purchased an 87 4+3 corvette a few months back and have been stacking parts to attempt a t56 swap as the 4+3 is quite possibly the worst transmission I have ever drove, lol. Anyways, I just got back from my first test drive with the swap and lets say I am very excited!! The transmission shifts excellent and gives the car more of a sports car feel.
Here is a parts list break down:
I bought a t56 swap from camaroz28.com for 1250 shippied. The clutch setup was garbage as well as the hydraulics, but the t56 was in excellent shape, and I tore it down and rebuilt it with a steel 3-4 shift fork, billet keys, new springs, and bronze shift pads, I also replaced the input shaft and seal.. Everything in the trans was in excellent shape.
The Following from the local Oreilly auto parts for a 97 z28 Camaro
Flywheel
Starter
Roller pilot bearing
New slave cylinder
The clutch I got from summit, it is a Ram replacement for a 97 z28
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ra...maro/year/1997
Pro street Conversion crossmember http://www.prostreetcustoms.net/CorvettePage.html
Thanks alot to Tom Gasper!! Great service
To adapt the stock master cylinder to the lt1 slave I used the following
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rus-640281
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aer-fbm2048
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rus-670420
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fra-496304
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ea...4erl/overview/
There was a few questions I had that I couldn't find answers for and hopefully I can answer those for anyone looking. I had to take an airhammer and dent a little portion of the exhaust in where the Y merge is to make the exhaust clear the t56.
The stock driveshaft works just fine! It's a tight fight to get in with the C member in but it slides all the way in and comes back out about 3/4 of an inch..
The C member is a pain in the butt to get in with the t56 but with a nice pull bar to move the transmission over a little it slides in with some hammering/finagling... Another pain in the butt task was cutting the old shifter assembly out and using fiberglass to cover to the hole.. It is definitely not the most fun thing to do..
I still have yet to do the reverse lockout solenoid, the speedo, or figure out something to get the shifter in the stock console.. That is in my future plans for the next few weeks. However I definitely think this swap was way better than doing a ZF.. I am a huge fan of the t56 and have rebuilt quite a few of them and never had an issue. I have a few pictures I will be posting up of the swap that can hopefully persuade some more people into doing this.
Also from what I understand if you have a 86 or older you would need to get a centerforce flywheel that run around 250-300 dollars for 2 piece rear main seal motors.
Thanks,
Craig
The transmission shifts excellent and gives the car more of a sports car feel.Here is a parts list break down:
I bought a t56 swap from camaroz28.com for 1250 shippied. The clutch setup was garbage as well as the hydraulics, but the t56 was in excellent shape, and I tore it down and rebuilt it with a steel 3-4 shift fork, billet keys, new springs, and bronze shift pads, I also replaced the input shaft and seal.. Everything in the trans was in excellent shape.
The Following from the local Oreilly auto parts for a 97 z28 Camaro
Flywheel
Starter
Roller pilot bearing
New slave cylinder
The clutch I got from summit, it is a Ram replacement for a 97 z28
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ra...maro/year/1997
Pro street Conversion crossmember http://www.prostreetcustoms.net/CorvettePage.html
Thanks alot to Tom Gasper!! Great service
To adapt the stock master cylinder to the lt1 slave I used the following
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rus-640281
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aer-fbm2048
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rus-670420
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fra-496304
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ea...4erl/overview/
There was a few questions I had that I couldn't find answers for and hopefully I can answer those for anyone looking. I had to take an airhammer and dent a little portion of the exhaust in where the Y merge is to make the exhaust clear the t56.
The stock driveshaft works just fine! It's a tight fight to get in with the C member in but it slides all the way in and comes back out about 3/4 of an inch..
The C member is a pain in the butt to get in with the t56 but with a nice pull bar to move the transmission over a little it slides in with some hammering/finagling... Another pain in the butt task was cutting the old shifter assembly out and using fiberglass to cover to the hole.. It is definitely not the most fun thing to do..
I still have yet to do the reverse lockout solenoid, the speedo, or figure out something to get the shifter in the stock console.. That is in my future plans for the next few weeks. However I definitely think this swap was way better than doing a ZF.. I am a huge fan of the t56 and have rebuilt quite a few of them and never had an issue. I have a few pictures I will be posting up of the swap that can hopefully persuade some more people into doing this.
Also from what I understand if you have a 86 or older you would need to get a centerforce flywheel that run around 250-300 dollars for 2 piece rear main seal motors.
Thanks,
Craig
Sorry to bother. I live I Brazil so hard to get people with this kind of knowledge around.
Thanks