Manual to back up a SBC - Anyone tried the NV3500?

So my most recent project involves a SBC (my first), and coming up with a cost effective 5 speed has proven difficult. The T5 World Class from the Camaro will fit, but they have a clocked bell housing and the shifter way in the back. S10 T5 will work, but it's weaker, and I've had a hell of a time finding one, apparently 4.3 2wd manual S10's are hard to come by in the junkyard.

What I'm finding plenty of, though, are newer 4.3 S10's or full size trucks with the NV3500. Anyone tried one of these in a more performance oriented application?

In the Jeep community, they are considered stronger than the AX15, which usually doesn't have any issues behind a mostly stock SBC.

I haz a S10 2wd T5. Its available?

My Silverado has a 3500. Works fine, shifts fine...for a truck. Competition car, I think it would drive you nuts. Maybe with a light puck style clutch it would be better.

how about an F body WC T5 with the S10 T5 top plate and shifter bolted to a regular non rotated bellhousing with an aftermarket hydraulic throwout bearing? or maybe a remote mount shifter instead of the S10 top plate?

is there any reason why this wouldn't work? what's it going into?

novaderrik wrote: how about an F body WC T5 with the S10 T5 top plate and shifter bolted to a regular non rotated bellhousing with an aftermarket hydraulic throwout bearing? or maybe a remote mount shifter instead of the S10 top plate? is there any reason why this wouldn't work? what's it going into?

That's basically the ideal situation, except use a normal throwout/arm with the non-rotated S10 bellhousing, just haven't had much luck finding one locally. an NV3500 seems to be a readily available cheap alternative, so I was curious if anyone's gone that route already.

Streetwiseguy wrote: My Silverado has a 3500. Works fine, shifts fine...for a truck. Competition car, I think it would drive you nuts. Maybe with a light puck style clutch it would be better.

its not......been there, done that with my s10. Only thing that made it better was a short throw.

Mine held up well with the equivalent of stock ls1 power to the back.....and 2nd gear launches at the dragstrip. Only thing in the driveline that didn't need changed.

Our lemons boat/truck is a 4.3 with an NV3500. It has been trouble free through 3 races, and we haven't even changed the fluid. T5s don't seem to hold up as well.

I had a nv in my s10. Durable enough.....but in a car? I don't think I'd like it.

Project is a rat rod truck that'll be set up to handle the occasional autox and maybe eventually a track day if I can get it presentable enough.

Oh, and I'm aiming for under 2k....

I agree with the sentiment thats already been expressed a few times.. Its a fine trans... unless you want to drive it sporty.

The NV3500 is great... in a truck. Ratios are a bit spread out 1-3 and shifting is trucktastic.

IMHO, getting the proper T5 is often not much cheaper than a good used T56. I snagged one for $250 that needed synchros, and one for $800 out of a 36k-mile T-boned F-body.

The NV3500 came with 2 different 1st gears, 4.something in fullsize trucks, and around 3.5 in the S-10. I've thought of one for a budget 5-speed, but no one seems to use it for sporty builds. If you can get one cheap, give it a go and see what happens. i think it's worth a try.

So, from the non-sporty standpoint, is the synchro action, the ratios, or the 'feel'?
Lot's of otherwise plebian transmissions have been repurposed to sport duty by remorking the shifter mechanism.

I really couldnt tell you how to fix most RWD transmissions. To me even a t56 feels like crap compared to the cable shifted FWD stuff i learned to drive stick on. I guess a miata trans doesnt feel like crap..

Its possible an nv3500 might shift better with a shorter car shifter. But one thing ive noticed about truck transmissions is they dont like to be shifted quickly, and thats not really a shifter issue. If you try to shift quickly and get a lot of resistance through a 15" long shifter, it's only going to get harder with a shorter shifter in a car app.

Truck transmissions have larger gears for strength so they can handle the loads they are put through. Unfortunately the increased mass of the rotating assembly makes is harder for the syncros to do their job, thus the slower shifting. The S10 NV3500 has the better gear ratios for cars, the full-size NV3500 has steep low gears and quite a ratio spread which would not be fun in a car. One bad thing is the shifter is quite a bit forward on the trans compared to a car (several inches compared to a T56), which may cause issues as the shifter will be almost under the dash.

The less inertia a synchro has to overcome, the quicker it can do it's job.

Higher capacity transmissions typically have heavy gears and use heavy clutch discs. Not only is the synchro is trying to slow down the selected gear for engagement, but all the forward gears are connected by the cluster, and also to the input shaft. All that has to be slowed down to complete an upshift (or speeded up to complete a downshift). T56 synchros have a lot of work to do

Selectively lightening gears where possible, removing gears not needed, and less clutch disc inertia are all moves in the right direction to improve shift quality.

81cpcamaro tree'd me on the inertia thing.

A rod end, couple clevises, a little tubing/plate, minor fabrication...remote shifters are not that hard to build.

I was thinking strictly of the gear ratio's, not shift speed/effort. Good points though.

The forward shifter location is actually a plus for me, I think, as it's going under a truck cab. I haven't had too much luck though with finding measurements to confirm whether this is a plus or minus yet, though, as it could be advantageous to have the shifter farther back. Hurst apparently used to make a short shifter kit for the NV3500 but it appears to be out of production.