Hi, curious to see/know how extensive the floor pan cutting ends up to get a T56 in an early chevelle. My pan has already been cut on pretty badly, so it's not going to hurt my feelers to take some more out. ..just like to see someone else's final product to gauge how it'll turn out.

Thanks,
TJ

I am rebuilding my transmission tunnel right now. My car had a 4 speed so there was a significant hole. I cut another tunnel from a donor and have some flat sheetmetal to space it up and out. Plan B is to go to the junkyard and find a T56 Camaro and cut the hump out of it. My engine is a LS2 in case you wondered.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/Bowtie70SS/LS2%20Swap%20photos/P1012234.jpg

Lookin' good :thumbsup:

There are several pics of my "tunnel surgery" in my Signature Block (CarDomain link). My tunnel was somewhat hacked up when I started, but I ended up re-using the 3/4ths of it to achieve the end result.

-b

I left the old floor a little bigger than what I cut out of my donor tunnel. I got the front part in but I have to work on the rear part and the hump today. Also I remove the reverse lockout solenoid to give me more room.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/Bowtie70SS/LS2%20Swap%20photos/P1012312.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/Bowtie70SS/LS2%20Swap%20photos/P1012313.jpg

All I had to do . its a close fit but the rubber strips on top of the trans dont hit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/kalthoff1/CIMG1023.jpg

If you look close in the tunnel you can see where i had to whack it once or twice. Wound up cutting an ear of the trans off that doesnt get used anyway that used to touch under a load in 6th. Guess the tunnel thing depends on how the trans sits on the crossmember.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/kalthoff1/storage002.jpg

Also I remove the reverse lockout solenoid to give me more room.

I would highly suggest you find a way to make it fit with the RLO solenoid on if you are still at the point in the pics. You will find without the RLO solenoid it is VERY (VERY) easy to shift from 4th to reverse when driving. I took mine off to gain room and quickly put it back on.

In order for driveline angles to work out well, the back of the transmission has to be positioned as high as possible. The problem of driveline angles gets even worse when cars are lowered because the pinion ends up higher than the slip yoke. This exaggerates the driveshaft working angles that can lead to increased vibrations at high speed.

Hi TJ!!!

Andrew

I would highly suggest you find a way to make it fit with the RLO solenoid on if you are still at the point in the pics. You will find without the RLO solenoid it is VERY (VERY) easy to shift from 4th to reverse when driving. I took mine off to gain room and quickly put it back on.

Really? It goes in that easy? I figured you would feel some resistance or a grind or something. We'll see, I cut the solenoid up to make a blockoff so I would have to get a new one. It might fit with the way I did my floor though. Do you think it has to do with the shifter? I wonder is there one with a reverse lockout?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/Bowtie70SS/LS2%20Swap%20photos/P1012333.jpg

Dave ,did you replace the body bushing's before the tran's install ?

No, I did not but I could imagine that it would sit higher and that would give me more room. I am 3 degrees down on my angle but I have room to move up around 1-2 inches or down as much as needed.

Really? It goes in that easy? I figured you would feel some resistance or a grind or something. We'll see, I cut the solenoid up to make a blockoff so I would have to get a new one. It might fit with the way I did my floor though. Do you think it has to do with the shifter? I wonder is there one with a reverse lockout?

It goes in very easy. No grind until it is nearly fully engaged (scared the piss out of me). I took mine off like I said and put a freeze plug in the hole to gain room under the car but after a short drive I put it right back in. Trust me, you want that on the trans. AFAIK there are no shifters out with that on it. I am running a Pro 5.0 shifter but I have driven a friends car with a stock shifter and when he took of his RLO solenoid (he thought it was a good idea after hearing of me doing it) it was just as easy, his went back on as well. I just hate to see you go through all this work only to have to cut again to make it fit when you realize you need it on there.

Now as far as the CAGS solenoid goes, I ripped that off and put a plug in the hole. No need for that!

Yes the T56 will go into reverse that easy. Trust me. Its scary. I would put the RLO back on if I were you.

Wow I had no idea. I have the MN12 transmission but I am guessing that it will go in just as easy. I will check and see if I can dig one of those solenoids up I guess. I think it will fit with my tunnel mod.Thanks

I have the MN12 transmission but I am guessing that it will go in just as easy.

Yup. That is just the GTO spec'd T56.

Mine is a hybrid, I never end up doing things the easy (or cheap) way. The transmission is from a CTSV, the mainshaft is GTO, and the tail housing is F-body. I guess I will make the call about the reverse lockout. Out of curiosity I wonder if I could just cut the large solenoid part off since there is a snap ring that holds a plunger in there and I guess it is the spring tension of the plunger that keeps you from accidentally hitting reverse.