Guest Anonymous Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 A mechanic at a wrecking yard here that specializes in corvettes and late model camaros says that you can use the t56 with stock flywheel and clutch on a pre 87 block - (i.e. pre one piece bearing). He says all you have to do is machine the flywheel. Any comments on this? I know most of you are using centerforce/aftermarket flywheel and clutch setups which really does drive the price of the conversion up. This yard sells low km t56 for $2000 Canadian (about 1200 USD). I can get machining done cheap (my dad is a retired machinist) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 I don't understand how... the balance is different as is the bolt patern and the mounting pad... If I remember GM went to the one piece main in 85... if you are looking at doing a t56 get a later block.. there are aftermarket cranks and other acc. available for them..and you save the cost of the Centerforce Flywheel.... Good luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 FYI - the one piece oil seal crank I bought to stroke my motor to 383 cubes had the OLDER style flywheel mount on it! Can you say Centerforce flywheel anyway?! I bought the one piece seal block in order to avoid that (sigh). I no have a spare flywheel for an LT1 I can't use... I'm honestly not sure why the older flywheels wouldn't work with a T56. I'm no Chevy guy though so I used what I was told would work correctly and got an SFI rating as an added bonus. Keith Craft felt bad about the flywheel mixup and sold me the Centerforce unit at their cost - including sending along the invoice to prove it. They also got it expedited from Centerforce - they were VERY cool about helping me out.... Kripes, bad enough I don't touch type but this keyboard's keys have to be POUNDED to wok right (sigh). [ August 27, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 Like Jim said, I don't think the flywheel part would be that big a deal, probably just a matter of redrilling the flywheel for the T56 pressure plate (which is unlike any your likely to see elsewhere). It would probably also require mods to where it bolts to the crank, the diameter of the crank flange is different between early and later small blocks. I'm not sure if theres a difference in bolt pattern in the crank flange. If it could be done cheaper, I suppose it would be worth it. The centerforce flywheel ran me about 265.00 from Racesearch. Good luck with it, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 can't say this is rocksolid info...but I recall having seen that a new flywheel could be converted to be used on an 'old' motor but an old flywheel could not be used on a new motor....something about adequate clearance/material to be machined present on one and not the other...if that yard knows how to do that they should share the full info or source of who's done it if possible. FWIW, a few places in WA you could cource out for a nice chunk of change less for a T56. It was posted here a long time back around Spokane & Tacoma AIR. They're far more abundant stateside and no ICBC their to drive up the rates (our provincial insurance/repair system). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted August 27, 2001 Share Posted August 27, 2001 I think there's some confusion here. What's desired is to use an olde rmotor with the two piece rear seal, it's native flywheel, and then stick a T56 on it. Question becomes can you bolt a clutchpressure plate to that unit and have it work right? I'd say no without machine work but I'm NOT a GM guy. since there exists a flywheel just for this purpose I'm betting that it has to be used. My case was special - one piece rear seal block but a crank hat expected th eolder style flywheel. I had to but th SFI Centerforce wheel as a result - bleah. I CAN tell you that the LT1 flywheel will in no way shape or form bolt up to the older type crank. Keith Craft called Eagle to verify what the screwup was in my case - Eagle makes the stroker cranks in both seal types for the older style flywhel - I have NO idea why! Clear as mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 I spoke again to this mechanic; he said what his customers had done (two that he knew of) was use the T56 transmission, clutch and flywheel and had the T56 flywheel machined and adapted to fit the earlier style block and crank. He himself hadn't done the work and he couldn't give the name of these machine shops or I would have chased this information further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 How thick is the stock flywheel? The after market flywheel is at least 1" thick or maybe more. It maybe that thick to bring it closer to the tranmission for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.