I dont undertand why a manual tranny wont work?

[dfast1]

I now live in Okinawa Japan. I have seen some insane turbo cars. Skylines, Siliva's, 180s-240's, twin turboed nissian gloria's, twin turbo Aristo's which are a big 4 door car. Plus the supras and rx7's and many more cars. All of these cars have manual transmissions in them that race. Go to my website and check a few vids of them drifting. They put these cars through hell. If all these cars with a small 3. liter and smaller (most have a 2.0 liter or smaller) have manual tranny's then why cant I use one with a much bigger and powerful 3.8? I know you have to have a blowoff valve to keep the boost flowing during the shifts. I also understand the buick is heavy but so are these 4 door cars over here. I plan to swap the 3.8 in my 68 firebird and I want the t56 6 speed tranny. I asked around about the compression of these cars over here in Japan and nobody really knows what they have. I know the compression of the 3.8 is really low. Is that part of the problem?
Thanks for any help
www.vannattacreations.com

 

[ijames]

A manual will work, for road racing type driving with a blow off valve. It's just that for drag racing, in the maybe 10.0 to 13 second range where the majority of us live, the automatics are quicker (especially in impromptu street driving), are much more consistent, and most importantly are already installed -)).

 

[LV GN]

i have always wanted a t56 behind a tr motor. yes it will slow you down in the 1/4 mile. but it seems to me it would be fun to drive. someone in the buick world did install one in a gn. if i could only get a parts list and maybe talk to someone that did it once. i would try it in one of my cars. i know elcamino's had sticks in them for a while. so i know there's some stuff out there. hell i would even go for a t5 . even tho it a p.o.s. whats it like over there? cold? any drag strip's? street racing?

 

[Sleeper]

No offence meant, but this topic repeatedly comes up. Do a search on it, and you will find all the answers you want.

Paul

 

[dfast1]

Yes this has been brought up before but i wasnt satisified with the answers given at all. These imports over are so freakin fun with the way they are setup. Lots of power with the turbo then when you shift you get slammed back in the seat, the car starts roasting the tires then you finally get traction then it time to shift again. Also no one uses a automatic because they cant hold the power and all the horespower you loose from them.
There is ton of street racing, drag racing and drift racing. These cars SCREAM!!! These cars ARE ALL REAR WHEEL DRIVE! Nobody races a front wheel drive. There are no stupid pimped out honda civics here. I will post some more vids on my webiste of drift racing. Its insane the amount of torture they put these cars.
Okinawa is like hawaii. Its mid 70's right now. Okinawa is 600 miles south of mainland Japan.
Some people think drift racing is stupid but damn it takes a lot of skill to do and having that much control of the car.
The cars are dirt cheap here too. Are mint rx7 cost at the highest 10,000$. Used skylines about $4000. I got a 95 twin turbo Gloria for $2700. It drives awesome.
Anyways feel free to check out my website.

 

[LV GN]

please send 2 used skylines to las vegas. asap

 

[dfast1]

Just pay 19,000$ to moto x to have them brought to compliance!

 

[bruce]

If you want a manual, just do it

Road and Track posted some numbers a few years back, average manual tranny takes .1 to make a gear change, an auto .05, a F1 car .01 sec..

Manuals are fun, and have their place, and the place is what the owner wants. Trouble is that a missed shift in a real hot rod can be really hurt alot of parts. I've seen alot more rods kicked thru manual trannied cars then autos.

For me, I can't wait to get to where I can put together a paddle shifted auto.

 

[GNVAIR]

 

[Sleeper]

Hey Lee

Paul

 

[GNVAIR]

Hey Paul! I got the beer cracked open and gonna sit this one out and watch.

 

[dfast1]

Bruce,

You are 100% correct. I simply want to have fun shifting the gears. I have always people saying it would not work installing a manual tranny which i didnt understand. I plan to install a a 3.8 in my 68 firebird and turn the car into a pro-touring car. Just want to to handle and stop great but also be able to drive it everyday.
Thanks for the info.

 

[ttypewhite]

If pulling gears is your thing then get a TH400 with a trasbrake. Then you would need a B&M Qwick Silver ratchet shifter reverse pattern and pull the gears on that. Lots of fun and tons of reliability in terms of strength. Its the best of both worlds.

 

[Sleeper]

Sorry Lee, my beer ran out.

dfast1
No one said it wouldn't work. It can, and has been done, but the car just doesn't perform as well.
I used to have a twin cam 18RG race prepped motor in my "Toy" a while back, (with a stick) and it was fun to drive. It would rev to 8000 RPM. The Buick wont rev anywhere near that. Try 5200 ish on a relatively stock motor. It produces a ton of torque really quickly and down low in the RPM band, so shifting to get it into the sweet zone isn't needed.
You can't compare the high revving import motor setups to this motor, they are completely different beasts. Theory and reality can sometimes be very far apart.
BTW
I have no problem frying the tires on my car when I punch it at 30 MPH, and I run the stock D5 torque converter.
As said many times in the past... Please, do the swap and tell it how it works out.


Paul

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by Sleeper
Sorry Lee, my beer ran out.

dfast1
No one said it wouldn't work. It can, and has been done, but the car just doesn't perform as well.
I used to have a twin cam 18RG race prepped motor in my "Toy" a while back, (with a stick) and it was fun to drive. It would rev to 8000 RPM. The Buick wont rev anywhere near that. Try 5200 ish on a relatively stock motor. It produces a ton of torque really quickly and down low in the RPM band, so shifting to get it into the sweet zone isn't needed.
You can't compare the high revving import motor setups to this motor, they are completely different beasts. Theory and reality can sometimes be very far apart.
BTW
I have no problem frying the tires on my car when I punch it at 30 MPH, and I run the stock D5 torque converter.
As said many times in the past... Please, do the swap and tell it how it works out.


Paul

Well, he could solve the high winding dilema buy building up a nicely prepped stage II block, and a short stroke crank. It could easilly be built to spin reliably to 8,000+
But, like all the imports with the high winding small motors, you'd have to give up a lot of low end grunt.

Hmmm?? A short stroked all aluminum SII with a pair of medium sized turbo's (GT3x), It could certainly withstand the high revs, and with enough boost and quick spooling, could have the low end grunt that the cam would otherwise loose???
Anybody?

 

[dfast1]

Ah I see. Didnt think about how the buick engine revs compared to a import. I understand that now. Cool thanks for the info.

 

[LV GN]

Originally posted by TurboDave
Well, he could solve the high winding dilema buy building up a nicely prepped stage II block, and a short stroke crank. It could easilly be built to spin reliably to 8,000+
But, like all the imports with the high winding small motors, you'd have to give up a lot of low end grunt.

Hmmm?? A short stroked all aluminum SII with a pair of medium sized turbo's (GT3x), It could certainly withstand the high revs, and with enough boost and quick spooling, could have the low end grunt that the cam would otherwise loose???
Anybody?

yes then you would use a liberty 5 speed and run low 7's @188.

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by LV GN
yes then you would use a liberty 5 speed and run low 7's @188.

I should clarify; when I said all aluminum I didn't mean the T/A block. I was referring to my BMS aluminum SII block. It wont handle the kind of HP needed to run 7's. Mid/low 9's maybe. Assuming I can ever get this project going, I'm only shooting for 750-800 realistic HP.