My first classic is a 1970 fastback. I am running freshly rebuilt 302 automatic, however I want to change it to a 4 speed. My knowledge in this area is zero so I am in need of input what tranny to use, the work that lies ahead of me etc....


Any info you are able to supply me with is greatly appreciated.

 

I am with you ... I have a 69 that will be converted to a T56; i have mentioned in a couple of threads what I am doing. But this is a quick of what I know so far.

With a 302, you can mate a 5 speed with no problems.

With a 6 speed, some cutting and modification is required; not a lot though.

A four speed should not be a problem; I drove a 69 4 speed recently ( a converted auto ); it drove pretty well but I wanted more gears to be agressive.

My work will begin sometime in march and by them I will have a good estmate on man hours required to install a new tranny. Whats the average labor cost now? 70 dollars an hour? 80? depends on where you go, or if you will do it yourself. I am paying for mine; i dont want to risk screwing it up.

What part of the country are you in; if your in CA I can send you a message of places to goto.


... oh just saw your profile, not in CA ... ugh .... ahhh ... you can email http://www.jbaracing.com/ use the built in email at the website under "contact us" and ask your question; this is where my work is being done.

good luck

 

Thanks for the info. I have debated about a 5 speed, but the 4 is what was used in the era. Not yet fully decided to go 4 or 5, but the 5 is more appealing.

I am hoping that I can find someone willingto take my auto in towards a trade, but if that does not work out oh well.

Where are you getting or did you get your T56?

Keep me posted on your progress. I am courious to see what time and $$$ turns out to be.

That will help me in deciding if I want to install mine or not.

Thanks
Chris

 

The transmission i am going after is a T56 with a close ratio overdrive shift, .86? and .64? ( i think those are the ratios ). Its a tremec and it does cost about $1000 more ( around 2K ish ) and weighs more, about 200lbs more??? I need to dig up the specs from the website.

I have a copy of another transmission project and it came out to a total of 25.5 hours of work and a total cost of $2040 -- thats $80.00 an hour.

now this quote is from a showcar that made it to a car magazine cover and the over all project was about 80K.

for my car I can expect similar work ( 25.5 hours ) so ... figure about 4K to 5K; there was more work than just installing the transmission; measurements, components, etc.