had some questions for some of you thatve swapped their trucks...long story short as stupid as its going to sound i cant launch an auto consistantly to save my life, ive grown up with stick and have raced one since as long as ive been driving so needless to say im a bit more consistant with one. as of right now i have a 4l60e built by my sonnax trans builder paired with a custom 4k converter through tct. its a great piece but im unconsistant in an auto and with the huge stall paired with the big tires generates a ton of heat and as much as my builder claims i can tow with my setup it doesnt seem ideal

i had a nv3500 with a hays super truck clutch in my old 90 behind a healthy 355 and i could NOT break the thing no matter what i did, clutchless WOT shifts, flatfoot shifting and beating the ever living hell out of it burried cab deep in mud. i know everyone knocks these transmissions but it definitley makes me wonder wether itd hold up to my h/c/i setup or if id be better off forking out the 4k for a rockland standard viper spec t56 and getting the quarter master twin disc ls clutch for cost(work for them). id just rather not spend 5k on a trans swap lol

my trans builder says he can build me a pretty nice mg5 but i really dont know how well the trans will shift with such high rpm. also if i do go mg5 i dont see any issue with using the hays super truck clutch again from an obs unless the depth of the pressure plate is different? also i know id need a clutch pedal asy, master slave etc but is there any other option other than the plastic pedal? im almost half temped to pull an obs setup out of the junkyard and use that if itd work


id like to hear some opinions so feel free to chime in

thanks in advance

T.J.

 

started with (forgive his open diff)
04 1500 Silverado with a vortec 454 - YouTube

then
Inside burnout - YouTube

then cam
then turbo


stock nv3500
Vortec 8.1 496 BBC into 2004 Silverado SCSB

 

Is that the obs style 3500 or our body style?? Also how hard was the swap? Mechanical I'm pretty good with electrical not so much lol

 

the nv3500s're the same from 94-06. maybe 93, can't remember now. your 90 has different shift rails & other bits that make it not quite as nice as the newer ones, but i'd bet it'd still work. i know it'll bolt up. if you buy another one, just make sure to get it from a fullsize because the S10/S15 models have different output shafts.

Ed's truck & mine both came with the 5speeds from the factory, so i can't speak to the trans swap.
from what i understand, it's cutting holes for the MC & shifter, installing hardware, maybe changing crossmembers, and modifying the wiring harness a little, then retuning.

 

Hmm I think I'm gonna go through with this would the obs style clutch work? Honestly the hays super truck clutch was my favorite clutch I've ever had and would love to go back to it

 

which truck is this going in again... the 01? i doubt a SBC clutch will match up that good with an LS flywheel, so good luck reusing the one you have.

and if you're building this thing for racing, you're much better of doing the T56 swap because the NV3500 just ain't much of a racing trans. the 2-3 shift is really wide & that's where you're really gonna make your money down the short track. that & the truck hydraulic clutch line can't recover fast enough for 2 good shifts without double-clutching.
another consideration would be gearing. try to find a trans with M12 gearing from a GTO. your 4.88s would be okay with that one, but if you go with viper/vette gearing, you should consider 5.13s to make up for the taller 1st and probably a 14bolt rear so you get a bigger/stronger pinion gear

 

If I do go that route I'll just get the twin disc we manufacture at work the only thing that worries me is with the t56 rs claims you can't use a 5 or 6bolt tcase so I honestly don't know if I could get away with not having to run a divorced t case etc. The truck will be used for racing so mabey that 3rd hear wouldn't be ideal. I forgot how steep it was in my 90. The viper spec does have the option for which gearing the 2.97 or I think 2.78? The truck will be going boosted so rehearing may not be ideal on a 5.13. I do wonder if they'll just sell some sort of adapter to work with our style tcase

 

in the months i spent researching this same swap for my truck, the only mated t-case i've ever seen on a T56 required a custom-built tailhousing.

 

That's the only one I've seen as well other than the ones on Google lol. Unfortunately since I don't have that kind of time I don't think that'd be in my best interest. It's either stick with the 60e or go nv3500. It does make me wonder wwether the t55 and nv3500 have the same size/spline Input shaft

 

Also do you guys know where I can find a 4x4 mg5? I can't seem to find one anywhere