WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Just got this in from Mal Wood, the company in Australia that fabs these up.

[enzia35]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

What's that for? I see tranny bell housing...

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Just an adapter plate for a T56.

[enzia35]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Oh, just an adapter plate.
I can't wait for the results!

[ssms5411]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Going T56 route, nice!

[whitdog54]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

woooot!

[CFreed11]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

How much work is it to get a t56 into our cars?

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Probably easier for you since you already have a manual transmission. It would probably constitute you pulling your T5, putting on adapter plate and installing T56 for you lol!

[Hib Halverson]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Which T56 are you using? Also, what's going to be your axle ratio?

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

It's a GTO T56 (M12) I have 3.42 rear gear.

[whitdog54]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

^you going to stay with a 3.42? I cant remember if you were going FI or not, but some 4.11s would rip behind that n/a motor.

would he need a t56 crossmember too? didnt think the t5 would work.

[Hib Halverson]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

It's a GTO T56 (M12) I have 3.42 rear gear.

Ok. That's the 2.99 low gear unit.

The reason I asked is I've been fooling around with the math in the T56/ 3800 V6 idea for several years. To date, I've never found a ratio spread which I thought would perform significantly better than the five speed but not leave me with very high output shaft speeds. The problem has always been the T56's first gear ratio in comparison to that of the T5's.

My goal has always been to fill the big "hole" between first and second of a T5 with an extra gear. I don't want too high a first ratio because you give up too much acceleration.

The best ratio spread I've found on paper is TREMEC is this....

final drive ratios trans axle

12.11 7.07 4.55 3.23 2.32 T5 3.23

12.12 8.11 5.92 4.56 3.37 2.28 T56 4.56

Using the TREMEC T56 with a 2.66 low gear I end up filling the T5's first-to-second gap with an extra gear but....I have to run a 4.56 axle to do it. I don't like the idea of the shaft speeds you get with a 4.56. Noise and vibration can be a big problem and, depending on how fast you run the car, you may even have a critical speed problem with a stock driveshaft and then you're looking at a larger diameter aluminum or CF driveshaft to fix that.

As I recall the GTO used the 2.99 first gear. Here's the match-up between the T5 and the T56 with 2.99 low

12.11 7.07 4.55 3.23 2.32 T5 3.23

12.17 8.48 5.86 4.10 3.44 2.29 T56 4.10 2.97 low 025

You're going to need to change the axle ratio if you want anything more than extra weight and transmission durability.

With your axle ratio, 3.42 the final drives will look like this

10.31 7.07 3.80 3.42 2.87 1.91

I suspect you may give away a lot of acceleration and have a sixth gear which might not be very useful unless you look at at least 3.73s and, better yet, the 4.10s out of an S-truck.

What do you guys think?

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

We'll see what the car does once it is installed. I have plans on going turbo in the future, just trying to lay the foundation for others in the community to use this stuff.

[Hib Halverson]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Can you post the contact info for the company which makes that adapter I see in images farther up this thread?

[WarShrike]

Re: WarShrike's Project Thread - V6 Firebird

Mal Wood is the company.

sales@malwoodauto.com.au