CLASS RACER FORUM - View Single Post

Dwight Southerland · 11-01-2014, 09:51 AM

It would be possible for someone who REALLY understood clutches and transmissions. There are not many inexpensive transmissions that will stand up and inexpensive clutches would have to be smoked over to make them work well. That being said, if you happen upon obsolete race stuff for cheap, there is no reason to shun it. Before the advent of modern race designed manual transmissions, we all ran modified stock stuff that worked okay and could still be used.

Part of the situation that creates obstacles for the budget is that there is not a prolific number of common mass produced OEM transmissions that can be used. T-5s are not very stout, though they could be used in low HP applications. T-45s were never built with gear ratios that are very useful. And T-56s still command $1000+ prices. Then the required bellhousings are $500+ in most cases. Your best bet would be old race stuff.

If you have a good basis with a bellhousing and decent transmission to start with, you could do it. Starting from scratch would be very hard to keep it a bottom tier dime project.

11-01-2014, 09:51 AM	#5
Dwight Southerland VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Arkansas - In the middle of everything. Posts: 2,001 Likes: 64 Liked 780 Times in 194 Posts	Re: Stick Dime Rockets It would be possible for someone who REALLY understood clutches and transmissions. There are not many inexpensive transmissions that will stand up and inexpensive clutches would have to be smoked over to make them work well. That being said, if you happen upon obsolete race stuff for cheap, there is no reason to shun it. Before the advent of modern race designed manual transmissions, we all ran modified stock stuff that worked okay and could still be used. Part of the situation that creates obstacles for the budget is that there is not a prolific number of common mass produced OEM transmissions that can be used. T-5s are not very stout, though they could be used in low HP applications. T-45s were never built with gear ratios that are very useful. And T-56s still command $1000+ prices. Then the required bellhousings are $500+ in most cases. Your best bet would be old race stuff. If you have a good basis with a bellhousing and decent transmission to start with, you could do it. Starting from scratch would be very hard to keep it a bottom tier dime project.