Fellas,
Anyone here have any experience with the Kenedy Engineering T-5 transmission swap into a 1st gen car? These trannys are pretty strong and have a wide selection of aftermarket gearing so I thought it might be a good solution to upgraded power requirements.
Cheers,
Peacedog

 

"Not I" said the fly.....would be sweet though.

 

if kenedy makes it it should work great they have been making adapters for a long time. but most likely require some fab work and whats it run?

 

(World Class WC) T5's are not known as a strong trans, ~300lb/ft to break

I broke 2 with my relativly stock Stang.

That said it will prolly work alright with the usual charisterics of a rotary engine

 

but the adapter opens up a realm of transmission like TREMECs that are easy to find and cheap used.

 

In lighter cars a given transmission can usually handle more torque. Also, turbo cars load with less jerk than a big NA/Supercharged car does.

Case in point? #3400 Thunderbird Turbo Coupes with fords 2.3T often last a good long time. And no, I dont mean at stock power/boost levels either...

 

Yea,T-5s arent very strong at all compared to the TII tranny,which is a direct bolt up to any rotary block and has a proven track record.
In the world of trucks,jeeps and offroading,T-5's are considered a "light" duty 5-speed.They are iffy behind a V-8 in a Stang or T-bird,especially Non-World Class versions of the 80's and early 90's.The Cobra had the strongest version,I believe is was the Z version,rated around 330lbft......easy enough for a turbo rotary to break that mark,although itd probably be alright if you happend to get a hold of one and didnt beat it. A run-of-the-mill T-5 wouldnt be a very good choice in my opinion.
I have a T-5 in my Samurai behind a 150HP V-6...itll never break with my power and driving habits,I choose it because its small and simple.Your right about the gear ratios,there are a lot of availible sets.I took a low set of a CJ T-5 and used a Chevy T-5 case and input shaft that bolted right up to my little V-6.Its nice to work on a tranny thats almost completely interchangable with other versions, within about a 10 year period.

 

one problem with the t5s ive had is powershifting is a big no-no they like to chuck the 3-4gear syncros and sometimes the whole gear cluster. and if you dont have an aftermarket shifter with adjustable stop points you can shift to far and wreck some gears.