My four speed dream has now grown by two to a six speed T-56 from a 96 Camaro.
Why a six speed you ask! Well, I needed a clutch, flywheel and pressure plate anyway. I plan to put a lot of miles on the Avanti so I'd like to be able to optimize the rear end for performance and still travel on the open road under 2300 RPM's.
And actually this trans had been setting on Craigslist locally for a long time with no offers, so I made one. It's brand new and in my pole barn now. It was purchased new from a local Chevy dealer about 10 yrs ago for use in an S-10 drag truck. After the original owner started to install it he decided to go TH400 and it set until lately. Looking inside, the innards show no sign of the gears meshing under power.
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Today was so nice in Michigan (50 deg) that I decided to try to install the clutch hydraulics to replace the old 4-speed mechanism.
What to use was the first question? Junior (on the forum) had published an great post on using a Wilwood MC and a GM slave to operate his T-5 conversion using the original floor pedal. We exchanged a PM or two and I was ready to go that way, with the hanging pedal in the Avanti, until I started surfing the web and found several sites dealing with LT/LS T-56 conversions in earlier F-body Camaros. There was about every way imaginable to put them in but the over riding consensus seemed to be to use the OEM 94-97 hydraulics as it made matching the MC and slave cylinders easy.
So I ordered the OEM setup and off we go.
The hydraulics in the F-bodies use a 2" distance from the clutch pivot to the MC plunger mount so I used that number. The MC plunger travel distance is 15/16" and building that into the Avanti clutch pedal gives a little over 5:1 ratio and a travel of 5" at the pedal.
I mocked the pedal to travel from 6" off the floor (total travel of the pedal originally is about 6 3/4" from the floor) to 1" off the floor. That should give me room for carpet and insulation and a stop for the pedal so I don't over extend the slave with to much travel from the MC.
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I then mocked up the clutch rod to give an angle that would clear the Brake MC and let the brake and clutch pedals swing clear of each other. I ended up with this configuration that keeps the clutch plunger travel almost in a straight line over 15/16" travel and clears the brake MC.
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That's the minimum clearance, I plan to build a shoulder bolt for the clutch rod attachment and that will give me about 3/8" of clearance between the pedals. The washers will be replaced with a bushing welded to the pedal. The washer stack is 3/4" so that will be the bushing length.
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Clearance below the Brake Booster.
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And without the booster.
My plan is to build a bracket to support the clutch MC that fits under the brake booster mount and also bolts to the inner fender for more support.
That will require more time than I have today so consider that a preview of coming attractions.
One last data point, the 383 stroker needs a special flywheel to connect the two piece rear seal engine to the LT1 T-56. A Centerforce 700173 is on the way.
One of the reasons for posting this early is to solicit opinions on what's been done and on further mods. After all, T-56 installs into Avanti's don't seem to be very prevalent on the forum nor web.
Bob
Why a six speed you ask! Well, I needed a clutch, flywheel and pressure plate anyway. I plan to put a lot of miles on the Avanti so I'd like to be able to optimize the rear end for performance and still travel on the open road under 2300 RPM's.
And actually this trans had been setting on Craigslist locally for a long time with no offers, so I made one. It's brand new and in my pole barn now. It was purchased new from a local Chevy dealer about 10 yrs ago for use in an S-10 drag truck. After the original owner started to install it he decided to go TH400 and it set until lately. Looking inside, the innards show no sign of the gears meshing under power.
[IMG]
[/IMG]Today was so nice in Michigan (50 deg) that I decided to try to install the clutch hydraulics to replace the old 4-speed mechanism.
What to use was the first question? Junior (on the forum) had published an great post on using a Wilwood MC and a GM slave to operate his T-5 conversion using the original floor pedal. We exchanged a PM or two and I was ready to go that way, with the hanging pedal in the Avanti, until I started surfing the web and found several sites dealing with LT/LS T-56 conversions in earlier F-body Camaros. There was about every way imaginable to put them in but the over riding consensus seemed to be to use the OEM 94-97 hydraulics as it made matching the MC and slave cylinders easy.
So I ordered the OEM setup and off we go.
The hydraulics in the F-bodies use a 2" distance from the clutch pivot to the MC plunger mount so I used that number. The MC plunger travel distance is 15/16" and building that into the Avanti clutch pedal gives a little over 5:1 ratio and a travel of 5" at the pedal.
I mocked the pedal to travel from 6" off the floor (total travel of the pedal originally is about 6 3/4" from the floor) to 1" off the floor. That should give me room for carpet and insulation and a stop for the pedal so I don't over extend the slave with to much travel from the MC.
[IMG]
[/IMG]I then mocked up the clutch rod to give an angle that would clear the Brake MC and let the brake and clutch pedals swing clear of each other. I ended up with this configuration that keeps the clutch plunger travel almost in a straight line over 15/16" travel and clears the brake MC.
[IMG]
[/IMG]That's the minimum clearance, I plan to build a shoulder bolt for the clutch rod attachment and that will give me about 3/8" of clearance between the pedals. The washers will be replaced with a bushing welded to the pedal. The washer stack is 3/4" so that will be the bushing length.
[IMG]
[/IMG]Clearance below the Brake Booster.
[IMG]
[/IMG]And without the booster.
My plan is to build a bracket to support the clutch MC that fits under the brake booster mount and also bolts to the inner fender for more support.
That will require more time than I have today so consider that a preview of coming attractions.
One last data point, the 383 stroker needs a special flywheel to connect the two piece rear seal engine to the LT1 T-56. A Centerforce 700173 is on the way.
One of the reasons for posting this early is to solicit opinions on what's been done and on further mods. After all, T-56 installs into Avanti's don't seem to be very prevalent on the forum nor web.
Bob
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