My SSR: 05 6 sp. with 4.56 gears, ZR1 clutch, Edelbrock intake, Lunati cam, Crane rockers, C6 modified pan
6 Speed transmission upgrades
As I have my trans. out for a clutch upgrade, I figured I might as well have it checked out. I'm lucky to have a master Tremec dealer, D&D Performance, close by and ran it over to them. The gentleman in the last photo is Joe Dunn the contact there and he's a super nice guy that's very helpful! Phone# is 248 735 6220.
Now for the good and bad news concerning the trans. For once it's mostly positive. The SSR trans. is highly regarded as the the strongest overall T56 ever installed in a production vehicle. Even the newer TR6060 trans. doesn't have as big an output shaft as ours! The only upgrades I made are the parts shown in photo 1. Our trans. is typical of every other T56 in that it has molded plastic shift fork pads. D&D makes bronze replacement pads that wear much better and will not break. The bronze pads are top left in the photo and the black pieces are the plastic pads that were replaced. The silver parts in the bottom of the picture are the 3/4 shift keys. The 3 pieces on the left are the upgraded billet steel parts that replace the stock stamped pieces, from the factory. The stock pieces can crack and fail under aggressive 3-4 shifting. Our trans. also has the highly regarded triple cone synchros used in the Vette trans., shown in photo 2, for slick up and down shifting. The 3 piece synchro is on the left compared to the typical Mustang / F body Camaro 2 piece synchro on the right.
The minor bad news is that they couldn't come up with an aftermarket shifter that will work. Our shifter location is higher than the others and though the F body is close, it just wouldn't align properly. The other negative, as usual, is the uniqueness of the trans. concerning replacement parts. The rear tail housing seal is one item that's totally unique to our trans., along with the output shaft itself. The ratio package is also unique, though I see the new Camaro appears to use the same package in it. The Camaro trans. is a 6060, but I believe the gears could be made to work in our transmissions.
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Last edited by Topspin; 03-27-2011 at 08:30 AM.
Reason: sp.
My SSR: 05 6 sp. with 4.56 gears, ZR1 clutch, Edelbrock intake, Lunati cam, Crane rockers, C6 modified pan
Hey Thanks Anne, I hope you and your clutch are well!! I'm getting tired of wrenching and I've found out buying a decent welder doesn't make you a decent welder.
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Veterans - all gave some and some gave all!
The rear tail housing seal is one item that's totally unique to our trans
This is bad news. Take a look at some of my first posts in 2006. I purchased my first truck from a Las Vegas dealer. It was an early 2006 and was used as a show truck. Unbeknownst to me, the tailshaft was leaking on it. I didn't know till a day or so later. Took it back to the dealer for what I thought would be a quick fix. Ha...seal had to be ordered. A week (may have been even two) or so later, I gave them back the truck and they gave me my 99 C5 Vette. The story I kept getting..."the seal was coming from Mexico and they didn't have a tracking number." I think I'm going to order a couple seals now and put them in the top of the tol box.
This is bad news. Take a look at some of my first posts in 2006. I purchased my first truck from a Las Vegas dealer. It was an early 2006 and was used as a show truck. Unbeknownst to me, the tailshaft was leaking on it. I didn't know till a day or so later. Took it back to the dealer for what I thought would be a quick fix. Ha...seal had to be ordered. A week (may have been even two) or so later, I gave them back the truck and they gave me my 99 C5 Vette. The story I kept getting..."the seal was coming from Mexico and they didn't have a tracking number." I think I'm going to order a couple seals now and put them in the top of the tol box.
Would you let us know the part number for the rear seals?
My SSR: 05 6 sp. with 4.56 gears, ZR1 clutch, Edelbrock intake, Lunati cam, Crane rockers, C6 modified pan
The seals were readily available when I ordered them from Mark (RSSRTOY) a couple weeks ago. Part# 93432523 - List price of $48.53. I did order a spare and am storing it away for a rainy day. I'm not sure, but the rubber trans. mount could be an unique piece also. I replaced mine, though the original looked fine, just because I had it out and they do degrade over time and usage. Part# 15232234 - List price $177.31. I sealed up the original to keep as an emergency replacement.
Things might not be as bad as it seems. The guys at D&D as well as the folks at RPM Transmissions really like the SSR output shaft and are pressuring Tremec to produce more for retrofitting other transmissions. The shaft uses the old Turbo 400 yoke and of course then they would need the correct seal to complete the installation. Our trans. is stronger than the Viper version that is rated out to 700 lb.ft.! The stock F body T56 is rated to 450 lb.ft.
__________________
Veterans - all gave some and some gave all!
For you 3 pedal SSR Fanatics on the west coast, Bruce, the owner of Modern Driveline located in Caldwell ID is a Tremec SME (subject matter expert.) After the T5 went out in my V8 S10 last Christmas (at 380k miles) he built me a world class T5 that's rated for 400HP. All I had to send him was my tailshaft housing and the top cover. While at Mt Home AFB this past December I stopped by his shop. Bruce knows the Tremec tranny line. Don't let his web site scare you away. Yes...he is a Ford fan and does a lot for the Mustang/Cobra crowd. He told me he wants to change his site to attract more GM business. He showed me a couple prototype internal slave cylinders Tilton made for him for GM applications. He asked me to send him pics and info on the Blazer. While I was there he had two T56 in the shop for upgrades.
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