Bob Palmer wrote:
> Steve (Laifman), Listers,
>
> That old bamboo slide rule must have really been smokin' by the time you
> finished your post. You may be interested, however, that there are a variety
> of gears available for the T5. The following link has the T5 data, plus T56
> and Toploader too.
>
> http://www.blarg.net/~bossbill/t_5.html
>
> The best combo, I believe, would be 2.95 first gear and either 0.73, 0.79,
> or 0.80 fifth gears. Some of the transmissions are rated at 330 lb-ft, which
> sounds marginal on the face of it. However, you probably can't get that kind
> of torque unless you build a very low-performance, torquey motor - and who
> among us has one of those. Plus, with a light car like a Tiger, the rear
> wheels start slipping before you get to 300 lb-ft anyway.
>
> I have driven a couple of Tigers with T5's and it is a sweet transmission to
> shift; much more civilized than the Toploader. On the other hand, why not
> just put in an AOD and keep both hands on the wheel?
>
> Bob
Hello Bob:
I had my new 5 speed built just like that: 2:95 1st and a .73 5th gear. I'd
asked about a slightly higher 5th gear but it was not available for my
combination.I described my new hi-po 289 to the transmission shop and they built
the trans to handle whatever the engine can put out, plus it has a one year
unlimited miles warranty on it, just in case. With some of the list conversation
on 5 speeds and having to shift to fourth gear from fifth to quickly pass or
embarrass any inferior cars on the road (Corvettes, Porsches, Ferraris and the
like), that's no problem. The idea of the 5 speed for me is to be able to cruise
at 70-80 at around 2,000 RPM or so, save some gas and have the engine run a bit
cooler, have a relatively quiet ride, and shift into 4th when I need to do any
damage. Even my current 260 has decent enough torque in 4th from 2,000 RPM so
5th at the same rpm with my new 289 and an extra 125 HP or so should be even
better.The trans. shop also verifies what Bob says, that the shifting is much
smoother than on the Toploader.
Thanks for all the response for the list on my question about what intake
manifold to use on the 289. I've decided to go with the Edlebrock Performer RPM
piece based on that, plus a conversation I had with a very knowledgable guy
today at Edlebrock. My decision was to use my LAT "Tiger" lo rise from my 260,
or use the Edlebrock Performer or the Performer RPM. The Edlebrock tech guy said
for a light car like the Tiger the RPM is better since it will allow a power
curve all the way up to 6,000 (vs 5,000 for the plain Performer) and, because of
the weight of our cars (light), the Performer "advantage" off idle wouldn't be
of any benefit or noticeable. He was familiar with the "Tiger" manifold (said
it's the same as the optional Cobra manifold from the same era), and manifold
technology quickly passed it by.
Steve Sage
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