[WarShrike]

Pulled all of the carpet out of the car...Made $3.15 out of it in loose change. Previous owner had to have left their change in the little cubby hole in the console and not in the change holder where it should be. I guess that solves the odd rattles I had at times. Pulled the brake pedal assembly as well.

Ground on the block a little, but not enough as it was getting late. I have to shorten the driver side dowel on the block to clear the mal-wood adapter. Was about 1mm shy. Gonna go to harbor freight and buy a sawzal and go to town on the trans tunnel Monday night!

Debating on sending my steering rack in to turn one, mine is leaking and helping coat the bottom of my engine block and chassis in a nice, glossy film of CRAP!

 

[WarShrike]

Tick clutch master cylinder is installed. Gotta wire up the pedals and all that fun stuff probably on Tuesday. Once I opened up the bolt holes a little more, the cylinder bolted in perfectly! Zip tied the reservoir to the mount for now, and I still need to get under the car and attach the line to the master. I'm gonna need to reroute some wiring after all is said and done. I don't like the spot where I routed my wideband wires, so I'm going to look into running that stuff through another spot instead of the grommet right below the driver's seat. Just looks trashy to me from under the car.​

 

[98firebird]

Dane, your never-ending project is a good read, packed with plenty of helpful procedures. This thread is addicting.

Could you post some pictures of the clutch pedal and reservior install? What are the differences between installing a T5 in an Automatic car versus a T56 in an Automatic car?

 

[WarShrike]

Could you post some pictures of the clutch pedal and reservior install? What are the differences between installing a T5 in an Automatic car versus a T56 in an Automatic car?

There's a better coverage on one of the stickies on another forum and GM High Tech Performance did an auto to manual swap on one of their magazines. I'll look it up later, bout to go to bed.

There's pretty much zero difference between doing a T5 or T56 swap into an auto equipped car. Both require a bit of cutting, drilling, rewiring and choice words mixed with blood.

 

[WarShrike]

Oh hey, I have a thread for posting stuff...

 

[98firebird]

Love the adaptor, keep up the good work. I'll need to start a thread for mine, eventually...

Feeling lazy with the heat wave still here.

 

[WarShrike]

Haha yeah the garage was still around 100° when I crawled under the car this afternoon

 

[WarShrike]

Front suspension is bolted on, looking great! I love working with brand new parts, a whole lot less cleanup involved

Finally got my 3/4" spacer for my hydraulic throwout bearing (yes, 3/4"). Luckily RAM had one that they use for retrofits for the T-56 on other cars. It's the size I needed as the flywheel and clutch that doesn't stick out as far from the block as on an LSX + the 1/4" adapter was enough to skew things enough to where I needed to run a spacer as a shim just wouldn't work.


I'll put in the trans, then bolt up the rear suspension components. Makes it easier for me to do it that way so I can fit the driveshaft on a little easier.


Then I gotta put the longtubes back on and put the interior pieces in

 

[98firebird]

Are you able to use the factory length aluminum driveshaft, or are you having one made? I wasn't sure if the spacer would or would not throw off it's tailing measurements.

 

[WarShrike]

Not sure, it's in the "Guess we'll find out." section.

I think there's enough travel that it won't bind. The adapter plate isn't really all too thick so it doesn't throw things off too much.

 

[WarShrike]

Had to mill the notches open a little more to accept the hydraulic lines on the bellhousing. Glad I had a friend with a bridge port.


Trans is bolted in, waiting on crossmember. Found a broken knock sensor (female connector wiggles around a lot), probably one reason why TSP had some odd KR when doing the dyno runs.


Wrestling that mofo in was a lot more enjoyable than the Auto.

 

[WarShrike]

Progress is being made, I'm a wiring newb so some things like wiring in the reverse lockout solenoid has been a challenge. I'm wiring it into the brake as I didn't feel like trying to figure out the rats nest of the pcm pinouts and couldn't get anything reliable off the old auto pigtail. I've run a grommet through the trans tunnel so I can run my wires cleanly through there and under the console and dash. I'm excited to get things finished and they look to be getting really close.

Especially after this:

I had to modify my T-56 crossmember. It takes a lot of balls/faith/stupidity to modify a brand spanking new crossmember for 1/2" of clearance needed because of the spacer. With a stock crossmember, there's probably enough tolerances in the manufacturing process that you might be able to bolt it up lol! Took it to a welder that used to work for the USAF, damned good guy, has a nice little piece of stainless steel welded to aluminum to showcase some of his work. Got extensions welded on, then had to go to a friend's place that had a drill press and a bridge port mill that had enough reach to work over the plate.

Took it home, test fit (LIKE A GLOVE! MEH MEH MEH!) and now the paint is drying.

I'll try and post here and there, and a writeup will follow at some point after the car is on the road.

 

[Bad67Bird]

nicely done dane

 

[98firebird]

Maybe moving the engine forward closer to the front of car would have made life a tad easier. Glad you got it to work, though.

 

[WarShrike]

Moving mine forward would have been a lot more work. Easier to mess with the crossmember than trying to adjust the motor mounts.

Wiring is done, looks almost factory lol!

Time to start putting the exhaust back in and get it prepped for startup.

 

[WarShrike]

So for the first time since April 13, the Firebird went for a drive. Fired it up yesterday after doing the T-56 swap, took a lot longer to do than anticipated, but it is done!

Need to re-tune it and do some final adjustments along with putting the rest of the interior back in the car but I am happy to see the car running.

 

[TheFireMan]

I cant wait to see these pics. You have one of the best firebirds around IMO, period.

 

[xgongiveittoya44]

DUDE! Your project is awe inspiring! I've wanted to rebuild my engine for performance for quite some time and when I get tha cheese you can bet thats what ima do. I wanted to swap out my trans for a manual one too but I never thought that a T56 was even remotely an option, I thought the T5 was the only other manual option. I gotta question though how come you wanted the six speed instead of the five speed? In any event this thread can be a usefull reference for the performance minded six shooter owner its got alot good info. In modern slang terms you sir have snapped.

 

[WarShrike]

Thanks guys, been super busy but will get pics soon.

 

[WarShrike]

Interior is all back in the car, new carpet is in, wish I had done it slightly different but got rushed (single guys take note lol!)...

Also, this car feels like it is an entirely different machine, looking forward to finishing break in and get some tuning done hopefully this week. It is also so much quieter with the rear panels and seats back in, rather nice.

I did take my wife and 2 month old out for a drive though, car seat fit perfectly in the back, my wife is only 5'5" so she fit fine up front in the Corbeau CR1's. Went and got the car washed and picked up some Blizzards at DQ. Oh what a feeling!

Pics later, gonna hit the sack...