Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

If I recall 20b end plate is the same as auto rew. Which means auto plate should bold better.

I'm pulling my engine in 2 weeks. I'll have to check this. Also using auto bell housing does the t56 pretty much a bolt on than?

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

"using auto bell housing does the t56 pretty much a bolt on?"

speaking from my 2 rotor experience w an auto rear and a 99 F body T56...

the auto bellhousing needs to have a quarter inch lopped off the rear mating surface. this positions the input shaft further into the pilot bearing . the input shaft fits the OE pilot bearing.

a mating adapter plate makes it a bolt up. i do sell the plate ($350 plus shipping). it has, if i recall correctly, 14 drilled and tapped holes and the first plate cost me $1000. i don't actively promote the plate sales as by the time they ship i am close to break even. i am however happy to accomodate.


the plate may need to be modded slightly for a Magnum. this just involves making a few holes in the plate. easily garage work.

there are a number of transmission "solutions" for the 500+ FD and my T56 is just one of them. i am not saying it is the best just that for my purposes it works very well. i love the gear ratios. it does change the feel of the car a bit. the stock FD trans is really light to maneuver and the T56 has a different feel but mine shifts perfectly. four years of service to date and i have never touched it since install. 9000 rpm shifts no problem.

i also love my clutch. Quartermaster (like Tilton) real racing stuff and since they are around Chicago i had a number of face to face meetings w them to get it right. i have a double disc cerametallic non sprung 8.5 inch "Rally" clutch that has more (18%) area than the Exedy and can use less spring pressure. i am at 2000 pounds which is very leg friendly.

flywheel is the 3 pound auto flex plate w a purpose designed alu button frictional surface.

a bonus is Quartermaster's pricing is right.

after some jerky starts i datalogged the engagement area and found it was lean. i richened the engagement area and it drives like a Dynaflow. (look it up).

howard

Rxmfn7

iTrader: (4)

Howard Im a bit surprised to hear you say that 9000RPM shifts with the T56 are no problem. High RPM shifting was one of the main reason I had went with a dog-ring built trans for my 20B. My original idea was a T56, but I had spent a good bit of time back and forth with emails as well as phone calls from some of the major T56 builders and retailers of T56s and all had told me there was no way they would shift smoothly above ~7k or so. They even told me that the magnum would have issues over 7500. Again, this is not from any experience personally but just from what I was told from supposed experienced shops. I probably would have went the magnum route if I knew shifting would not be an issue.

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

"surprised to hear you say that 9000RPM shifts with the T56 are no problem."

i was too.

we did some runs thru 5th on the dyno shifting pretty fast and it seemed like into fifth you had to let the syncros catch up just a little... the other shifts were drag type at 8850 and were no problem.

at the Texas Mile i shifted at 9000 first and second, 8800 third 4th and 5th as fast as i could and had zero problems. this is w a boneyard 50,000 mile F body trans. GTO shift linkage.

hc

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

I am trying to improve reliability as earlier stated and not spend another fortune (see 20b build threads) on the car.. OS Giken has a gear set for the FD including an input shaft. These are helical cut which would help with drivability (noise). Liberty also has gear sets but are straight cut. Does anyone have experience with either of these in the 750 whp and 550 tq range?

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

So, with my 20b, if I could use an auto bellhousing with a t56, I would need to mod the clutch to fit the GM input shaft, use auto starter, new driveshaft, and cut some length off the auto bellhousing as you stated. Is that all? Do you have an adapter plate available to bolt the auto bellhousing to the t56 trans? Thanks for the help

Howard Coleman

iTrader: (6)

"So, with my 20b, if I could use an auto bellhousing with a t56, I would need to mod the clutch to fit the GM input shaft, use auto starter, new driveshaft, and cut some length off the auto bellhousing as you stated. Is that all? Do you have an adapter plate available to bolt the auto bellhousing to the t56 trans?"

pls see post one.

hc

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

Got cha. I was just trying to make sure I had everything covered. I am currently using the manual bellhousing so I may have to have an adapter plate on both sides of the bellhousing to avoid replacing the endplate.
Thanks for your patience in helping

zbrown

someone who gets it!



fail


i cant believe someone would go through the work to switch to a t56, seems absolutely pointless for a rotary

shift like a damn dump truck and can you even use the .50 OD on that thing with a rotary?????

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

zbrown, are you running the times in your sig on a stock T2 trans?

lt1_rx7

iTrader: (13)

I have a T-56 from an '04 GTO, auto bellhousing and one of Howard's adapter plates I will sell... if anyone is interested... i plan to make a FS thread this week

zbrown

No I am a v8

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

Well, I fit the T56 in my FD yesterday. It is just a mock up as I am still waiting on the clutch and accessories. However, The trans fit in nicely (yet some close clearances). I had to trim a tab near the top of the trans. The driveshaft was the perfect length. I will ba able to modify my Banzai diff mount to hold the foot of the trans with little problem. I have a Samberg Diff mount on the way.

On my 20 b, I have the 2 thread bolt holes for the started and the starter fits in snuggly but clean of interference. The drive side motor mounts accomodates the starter very well.

I was excited that I didn't run into any show-stoppers. Geoff Tickes at Quartermaster is getting all the clutch parts together. It shouldn't be too long before I have it together. Looking forward to having this done and on the road again.

I'd be happy to help answer questions for anyone looking to go this route.

Islander

iTrader: (6)

I have a small update on my swap.

Just a quick notion as to why I'm swapping. Good or bad I needed a solution. My car makes 500ft-lbs and I've ripped 2 trannys apart and 2 diffs as well. I just wanted something more beefier. Maybe this will help maybe it wont.

I actually bought Jon, allrotor93, kit he had. He had a few issues and didn't want to deal with the headache of it all. Couple issues were evident from the beginning. The adapter plate had been cut using a torch, which warped it ever so slightly. So the shaft was grinding on the bell housing collar, making an ungodly sound. Next, we drained the fluids and it looked like we struck gold. Metal shavings all thru the oil. Once opened things weren't so bad. But the main issues were the use of old parts. So the trans was rebuilt, but they used the same gears, same synchros, and they just replaced the parts that they were upgrading... like the keys, forks, blocker rings.

I have thrown everything away and bought new gears and everything else. I got an adapter plate from gforce. Very disappointed in their customer service and time promises. Said 2 weeks. Well I gave it to them in Nov, just got it back a few days ago. Yup. But this is what they did. I sent in my input shaft, the spacer plate from the t56, and my stock fd3s bell housing. They shaved the bell on both sides for input shaft penetration, kept my new input shaft and sent me a used viper shaft, sheesh. Said it's better. Ok buddy. I have pics of everything so far. I can't upload them from my phone. But I can send them to someone and they can upload them.

But when I'm done I will do a write up with pics and everything.

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

I just completed this swap to the T56 in my 3 rotor. I pretty much followed Howard's setup. I was amazed at how few problems I had with the install. This thread is very good. I used an 04 GTO T56. I am very pleased with the setup. I especially love the close gear ratios. It feels much quicker because there is less turbo lag between shifts. I have a 74mm turbo and before there seemed to be a delay to rebuild boost on the shifts. I think the trans shifts much smoother than the FD trans but some of that could be the notchy feel of the short shifter on the FD trans.
This was still a pretty major project and time consuming but very happy with the result. Thanks to Howard Coleman for the thread and his help.

TheAsset

iTrader: (11)

How is it shifting in the upper ranges of the RPM's?

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

I made 3 pulls from 1st thru 3rd gears going to about 7500 rpm and I thought if shifted better than the FD trans. Now, I didnt hold the RPMs at redline between shifts but I wasnt granny shifting either. This trans has the triple double syncro setup. I was told by my guy at Liberty that it might get more difficult above 7k.. Before I drove it, I was thinking about have a T56 faceplated at Liberty's for better shifting...But after I drove it, I dont think I will.
Hope that helps.

Killamotorsport

Thought you guys might be interested in something I put together for a guy here in New Zealand. I fabricated a steel bell housing for a T56 to 3 rotor. The 3 rotor is supercharged and uses S5 plates. It is running a twin plate clutch assembly modded to mount onto a Mazda flexplate this was supplied by owner of car. The bell housing runs a rear mounted Road Runner starter motor, and is set it up to use Mazda fork and S4/5 slave cylinder.

vincentrx7

iTrader: (2)

That is really nice. Which generation of RX7 did you put this in?

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Now this I like. Seems more conversion friendly. By rule, you can't tease use with something like this without offering a kit. Would it be a problem to machine the mounting plate for other rotary rear plates? I have a 20b rear.

VICEdOUT

iTrader: (1)

Excellent thread ! I might want a T56 sometime in the near future if my 08 Rx8 6 speed Aisin Tranny doesn't hold up, altho I will prolly try the 09 newer model first if this one breaks before taking the big leap going the T56 route, they are beefier and stronger than the 04's.. I hear the Syncros are what break on them mostly so I bought me a Syncro Saver so we'll see if it holds out for the 500 - 650 HP range I am shooting for eventually... I already have a AT REW engine so the rear end plate won't be a problem for my setup.. I also have the RX8's LSD (4.77 ratio, which should be interesting with a T56 and REW) and carbon fiber driveshaft along with other 8 goodies in my ride...

ArmenMAxx

iTrader: (21)

Ive read that the rx8 S2 (09+) rx8 transmissions are completely re-engineered and improved. How much stronger they actually are is something ill like to know as well. I hear they feel and work very well for the rx8's.

Killamotorsport

Didn't actually go in RX7 went in RX4 wagon.

Killamotorsport

This will fit 20b rear plate as well, just has rear mounted starter instead of forward mounted starter that mounts to end plate. I have also built steel bell housings to suit Tremec TKO transmissions I have found the Liberty faceplated TKO's can handle alot of HP, I've used TKO500 in my 1st gen drag car and run 8.59@162mph behind a 13b.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Pm sent!