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LS8 5 or 6 speed swap???

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Posted by: '00GrayGhost

Has anyone thrown around the idea of a t5 or t56 tranny in the the LS8? I know cost would be an issue along with the god forsaken electonics in this car but could it be done? Just curious. I like my LS, but I'd love it if it had a stick...

Posted by: NYC LS8

We've all thrown around the idea. Unless you can come up with a custom bellhousing - at a minimum - it's not happening.

Posted by: knocturnal

wouldnt be that hard build a bell adapter and extend the input shaft you got people like lou doin superchargers all custom one off stuff im sure that wouldnt be too bad. pedal set from a v6 5pd and go from there sure the electronics would suck and would almost always have a cel.

Posted by: ILLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by knocturnal

wouldnt be that hard build a bell adapter and extend the input shaft you got people like lou doin superchargers all custom one off stuff im sure that wouldnt be too bad. pedal set from a v6 5pd and go from there sure the electronics would suck and would almost always have a cel.

There would be a decent amount of custom work to a swap like this. Doing a supercharger is a different story than doing a custom trans swap of this kind. A supercharger does not serve as a structural member of any sort. A transmission bellhousing and the input shaft need to be able to withstand lots of torque and other various forces. In other words, they need to be made very strong; which is in a whole other class compared to a custom supercharger or turbocharger. The best person for a job like this would be a fella who is a knowledgeable CNC machinist and tool maker who happens to spend weekends wrenching on cars. That would be the proper mix of skills to be able to get a job like this done at the DIY level. A person could farm parts of the project out but it would get extremely expensive real quick.

As I have said many times before, the trans functions can be turned off in the tune. Also, the various CEL's that will still be thrown can be turned off manually in the tune at the SCT Programmer level (that is higher access than any SCT dealer has). I have done the swap with a different vehicle with the same PCM, same transmission, different motor, and similar tuning.

To even make a swap like this worth it you better be pushing some serious power otherwise it will be a big waste of time and money due to its complexities.

Posted by: cammerfe

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILLS

As usual, ILLS has put his fingers squarely on the major facts. I have a pattern from the block-bell housing interface, and it looks as if a 'scattershield' (drag-race explosion-proof bellhousing) from a small block Ford could be used by re-drilling the bolt pattern. This is just an eyeball observation; in addition, there might well be modifications necessary to the floor/firewall. Then a custom flywheel could be used with the proper splines in the disk and the proper-sized pressure plate. A complete hydraulic clutch-pedal --throw-out bearing could be utilized to avoid under-dash/firewall complexity. An adaptor pilot bushing would likely need to be fabricated, as well as any changes to the starter mount and the output shaft/driveshaft interface. Building a trans mount and eliminating the electronic gremlins would have you on the road. Cost---all up? At least five thousand, and maybe as much as ten, with the cost of lunch left over. Speed costs---How fast do you want to go?

KenS from Ben's Place

Posted by: daves2000ls

What about the transmission from the new Mustang? Don't the LS and the Mustang share the 5R55 auto? So, theoretically, couldn't they share the same manual?

Posted by: ILLS

Quote:

Originally Posted by daves2000ls

What about the transmission from the new Mustang? Don't the LS and the Mustang share the 5R55 auto? So, theoretically, couldn't they share the same manual?

Though I have not thoroughly verified personally, I am pretty sure the bellhousing bolt patterns are not the same. The pattern on the 4.6 V8 is more angular where as the 3.9 bolt pattern is more rounded. Remember that just because it is the same model doesn't mean an exact same configuration. An example of that would be the Gen3 2wd and 4wd Explorer's sharing the 5R55W transmissions. Though they share the same part number the transmission code is totally different because one has to handle a transfer case bolted onto the back of it and the other doesn't.

Posted by: daves2000ls

Thats what I figured. Just wanted to toss the idea out there.

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