I was under the impression that you could not get a stick shift on a Chevy or GMC if they had a 5.3 motor.

I come to work tonight, and a friend of mine says he finally found a truck that he wants to modify. So at lunch we go out to the parking lot, and he shows me a 99 Silverado standard cab, short bed fleetside truck, with a 2/4" belltech drop. No big deal until I get inside, and walla........A floor mounted 5 speed. So I say what size motor, and he says 5.3L. I say and pop the hood, and guess what. A 5.3L motor! True duels with cutoffs on Magnaflow mufflers 2 1/2" outlets. Got about 80,000 miles on it. The truck is an obvious stripper, manual windows, rubber floor, and a long bench seat. The shifter, and all parts look completly stock!

Did they use to make this? Man think of the performance with that 5 speed. Besides the dual exhaust, the engine is completely stock. We take it for a spin and I relize that it is open diff, and it felt like tall gears. 2000rpms at 80 on the freeway, just putting. It runs like a rapped ape with the 5 speed.

Am I missguided, and this is no big deal, like a factory order or what? Does anyone know what type of tranny it is, and what kind of power it can handle. Cause we are going to run it. Taking it to the track next week, or do we need to do some searching for info. He bought it at a Chevy dealer, so no idea who it belonged to. It looked like a regular 8.5" rear also. I was thinking it was a V6 version with a 5.3 dropped in, but the tranny and suspension and diff all look just like mine under the truck!

Any info would be appreciated

I wish I could put a 5 speed in mine, it would make me want to my truck!

 

I did not know they made that truck!! Very rare!

 

Did you look at the VIN? How could you tell it was a 5.3 just by looking at it. A 4.8, 5.3, and 6.0 all look identical externally. You could get a 4.8 with 5 speed. As for the tranny, why do you thing they didnt offer it with the 5.3. The New Venture trannys can handle less power than the 4l60. And dont expect to be speed shifting with that thing. Just not what it was designed for. But it would be and easy swap to a T56 once it blows up though.

 

It's probably a 4.8

 

I pulled up the GM codes that are listed in your glovebox for your vehicle, and I will check this tonight when I get to work. I found out through the Chevy site that you can get a 5.3 flex fuel(L59) motor with the 5 speed tranny(MG5) in our trucks, but not the regular 5.3 motor. And yes you can get a 4.8 motor all day with the 5 speed. According to a chevy rep I just talked to, you have to order a truck like this, cause no one seems to have them in stock!

 

Ok, found out that this is nothing special, I compared all the codes in the glovebox. It has the New Venture 3500 tranny that comes in the S10's and Jimmy's. It is 4.8, open diff, 3.42 gears. Ratios 4.01, 2.33, 1.40, 1.0, .73

It comes off of the Base model ordered specific.

 

the only good thing about that truck is that you can swap a t-56 in with very little effort

 

A friend had a 4.8/5 speed that he hopped up with heads/cam and blower. It was pretty fast, but it would wheelhop so bad on launch that it would pop out of gear! (and it caused him to break something) And like someone else said, you can't exactly bang gears in it like it's an F-body or something.

 

Yeah, I read some reviews on the 3500 tranny, and it don't got much good to hear about it! Some S10 guys are running in the mid 13's with the stock tranny and just a clutch upgrade, but those trucks weight next to nothing, compared to a full size pickup!

Is there a place that can tell us how to swap in a T56! He actually wants to do this in the near future, and I wouldn't mind getting the experience in doing that myself! Now two of you said that it is real easy, so how do we go about doing this?!

 

get a flywheel and clutch for a camaro, bellhousing and t-56 from a camaro. bolt in, make new tranny crossmember or modify stock one, shorten or lengthen driveshat, whichever it may need. Start up car and drive


It will be a pretty simple swap, the only things that will require effort will be making a custom length shifter to put it where you need it, and the trans crossmember, i dont know how much difference there would be, but it cant be much. And you make need a different trans yoke, because the one you have in the truck now is probably different. I really dont think it will be that hard at all. there is no computer issues to deal with so it shouldnt be bad