Injuneer

My car had the T56 when I bought it new in 1994. When we built the stroker I installed a McLeod Street Twin and a ballistic nylon bell housing blanket. The drivetrain seemed to hold up to the abuse of 5,000+ RPM clutch dumps, but I didn’t enjoy the idea. Eventually, I seemed like the 12-bolt was starting to sound different. and I was missing the 2->3 shift occasionally. Hit first instead and the rev limiter doesn’t protect the engine fron spinning to 8,000 RPM.

I had been driving manual cars since my (purchased new) 1963 Chevy Impala. But after a couple missed shifts with the Formula, I decided to swap for a TH400 with a reverse pattern manual valve body, and a converter that would flash to 5,000 RPM when the nitrous hit. All my shifting woes disappeared. And, even though the TH400 increased the drivetrain losses from 13% with the T56 to 22 with the TH400, the car wasn’t any slower. Just brought is uti 3,000 RPM on the foot brake, nailed the accel pedal when the lights came down. The nitrous hit and the converter flashed to 5,000 RPM, and just needed to bang the B&M Pro Ratchet shifter twice, and hit the button for the Gear Vendors O/D approaching the traps at 130 MPH. My aging brain/hand/foot coordination could handle that a lot easier than shifting the T56. But I did love the T56 on the street. Nothing like downshifting next to a Jersey barrier and hearing the rumble of the exhaust as the engine braked the car.

I sold the T56/Street Twin package to someone who wanted to convert from a 4L60E. After he got the setup installed, he found some of the tranny bearings were going and it needed a rebuild. Apparently the T56 wasn’t happy with the abuse. I even refunded him $400 toward the rebuild.