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I’m about to undertake a fairly ambitious project of installing an LS2 and T56 transmission from a C6 into a street rod. Is it possible to find an elimination kit for the torque tube, allowing direct bolt up of the transmission to the bell housing?
Sure, adapter plate on the back of the bell housing, to bolt the trans to the bell housing, and the slave cylinder to it,
then will need to make a new trans input shaft that will become the new torque tube input shaft for the clutch.
Or, if you do have the room, just cut down the torque tube housing for the length you need, and have a new shorter torque tube made up.
Hell, push comes to shove, could just cut everything down/re-weld so you have single double sided yoke with way shortened torque housing.
That was pretty much the way I was thinking. I’ll have to do some measuring of the distance I have to work with from firewall to rear axle, but I do believe I could take a section out of the torque tube and fit the transmission under the body in front of the axle. With no rear seat in the coupe, it leaves more opportunity to make extra room to accommodate the bulk of the rather small transmission. But...I’m so used to having the transmission mounted right to the bell housing that it’s a little hard to wrap my mind around this rather unconventional setup-
Just had a thought...haven’t ruminated on it yet, but it would appear the torque tube is pretty much rigid. With independent rear suspension it can be affixed to the body/frame, with all of the suspension travel taking place in the axles. If our new rear axle moves up and down as a complete unit, the torque tube would have to have the full range of motion to allow the rear to move with the axle. It’s not designed to allow that kind of movement...am I correct? If so, I’d really need to go back to adapting the transmission back to the engine and employing a standard drive shaft, right?
Just had a thought...haven’t ruminated on it yet, but it would appear the torque tube is pretty much rigid. With independent rear suspension it can be affixed to the body/frame, with all of the suspension travel taking place in the axles. If our new rear axle moves up and down as a complete unit, the torque tube would have to have the full range of motion to allow the rear to move with the axle. It’s not designed to allow that kind of movement...am I correct? If so, I’d really need to go back to adapting the transmission back to the engine and employing a standard drive shaft, right?
Sounds correct to me. Why not just also adapt a Corvette IRS to the hot rod?
Just had a thought...haven’t ruminated on it yet, but it would appear the torque tube is pretty much rigid. With independent rear suspension it can be affixed to the body/frame, with all of the suspension travel taking place in the axles. If our new rear axle moves up and down as a complete unit, the torque tube would have to have the full range of motion to allow the rear to move with the axle. It’s not designed to allow that kind of movement...am I correct? If so, I’d really need to go back to adapting the transmission back to the engine and employing a standard drive shaft, right?
You have to be careful with that. The whole idea behind the torque tube in the first place is to counter the high torque level that originates at the rear wheels due to high horsepower in these engines. The torque tube acts like a lever such that it transmits the torque from the rear end (as the tires engage the pavement) all the way forward to the motor mounts where twisting of the rear end is kept in check. With no torque tube, the rear end will twist and bend/break rear suspension components on hard acceleration, such as at launch.
You have to be careful with that. The whole idea behind the torque tube in the first place is to counter the high torque level that originates at the rear wheels due to high horsepower in these engines. The torque tube acts like a lever such that it transmits the torque from the rear end (as the tires engage the pavement) all the way forward to the motor mounts where twisting of the rear end is kept in check. With no torque tube, the rear end will twist and bend/break rear suspension components on hard acceleration, such as at launch.
Thats really interesting. I had not realized that was the reason behind that design. I wonder if that is more of a concern with independent suspension? Other cars using that same engine still employed a conventional style, right?
Why not just get a t56 from a Camaro and push forward
It seems to me it should be a fairly straightforward thing to convert a T56 to one or the other application...does anyone know much about what would be involved with that?