Has anyone ever put a Camaro/Firebird t56 behind a 318? I think I've found a bell housing for it http://bowlertransmissions.com/item-details/?iid=547 . By my calculations I'd be able to run a 3.83 rear end and have a much lower top speed rpm and still be very drivable. A 4.56 would be pretty close to my current automatic setup. I realize there is gonna be some shenanigans to get it to work but it may be worth it for what I'm after.

 

I'm planning on running a GM spec t56 in my 2wd once I get it built (as soon as I quit finding projects for my 4x4 :P).

Here is what I figure you'll need to do...

1) Use a viper bellhousing (the viper block has the same bolt pattern as our magnum engines). Or I guess that one you linked there would work, but you can find a viper bellhousing for cheaper than that!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge...item3ca175a72d

Disclaimer: I don't know for sure that the viper bellhousing will bolt to the chevy t56, this is just what I planned to do.

2) Use a clutch disc that has the correct outer diameter for the dodge flywheel/pressure plate, but has the correct inner diameter and spline count for the input shaft of the chevy transmission

3) Use a pilot bearing that is the right inner diameter for the input shaft of the chevy transmission, and possibly have a custom sleeve made to fit that pilot bearing in the dodge's crankshaft

4) Move the shifter to the front location if its not there already.


**EDIT**

I just remember reading through this guy's page:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2177780

 

What about the master/slave cylinder? I was thinking probably the Dakota master and the Chevy slave? Any sources for cheap t56?

 

It's hard to tell from the pictures weather the Viper and Camaro t56's are the same but the site I linked lists a different part number for the small block Mopar to Viper t56.

 

I'm not sure about the slave cylinder. But the slave is all encased in the bellhousing, so if you use a dodge bellhousing, you'll need a dodge slave cylinder.

I'd have to see pictures of both, cause you can't trust the pictures from retail sites cause most of them say "picture is a representation, actual product may differ"

 

you want a beast for a tranny? try a muncie 4 speed manual tranny. it was available for the 70's trucks (i know chev and ford had them and i'm sure dodge had them to). it should bolt right up. as far as i know the 70's, 80's and 90's dodge bell housing is the same.
if you want an auto tranny, go for a 727 torqueflite three speed, it's harder on gas but it's bulletproof. it's what they put behind the 340-440 dodges.

 

I think grswat wants the t56 for the same reason I do, and its not a strength thing... its the double overdrive and the 0.5 6th gear ratio! You can run very low rear end gears with that .5 6th gear and still keep the rpms down on the interstate, and the low rear end will make the truck FAST in 1st thru 4th.

 

i see what you want. best of both worlds. good luck with that. let me know(from experience) how it works out. read about a few and it did not work out well. just my 2 cents.

 

Do you have links to these articles? I'm very interested in reading what the issues are. I always just figured if a stock t56 could put up with a factory or slightly modified viper v10, or corvette v8, than a built 408 shouldn't overrun it! It's not a cheap transmission, so it had better work! :P

 

don't have any slt. i was just looking at it as a high ratio in the tranny and low ratio in the pumpkins and figured that would put extra strain between the two at the joints but if the put it in a v10 with no problems i guess i'm wrong on that one.
the reason i said it was because i swapped suzuki gears with a guy. my gears and tranny in the LJ80 were lower than his. so with the lower pumpkin gears and higher trans ratio now in his he could not keep u-joints in it. i had the same problem with the low tranny ratio and higher pumpkin ratio in mine. before we swapped neither of us had u-joint problems. thats just my experience and may have been fluke but i thought i would through it out there.