T56 swap revisited

I recently noticed an intermittent rattling sound coming from the clutch area, so on Sunday I yanked the transmission to check it out. I realized that I didn't take many pictures during the original swap process so I decided to take some now. It looks like clutch wear on the McLeod RXT twin disc led to the pressure plate bottoming out against the hydraulic throw out assembly, which in turn ate the input shaft bearing. So, I pulled the front plate off the transmission and sent the clutch assembly off to McLeod for a rebuild. I also am having them upgrade the pressure plate from the 1000hp rated unit to the 1200, since the car is so heavy and the clutch slips when the nitrous kicks on. Transmission spec recap-

BW T-56 out of '95 Camaro SS
Tick Performance heavy duty Tremec internals
Billet shift forks
Faceplated (dogtooth) gearset 1-4th gear
All gears and countershaft re-heat treated and nitrided
B&M short throw shifter with custom dogleg handle
McLeod RXT Twin Disc clutch with ceramic discs
McLeod 1400 fully hydraulic throwout bearing
1/4" aluminum spacer plate on bellhousing to accommodate clutch stack up
Pedal cluster from 96 Camaro
Tubular steel crossmember from Dan Ferraro
4" aluminum driveshaft with chrome-moly yokes and oversize u-joints

The faceplate gears are a little ill mannered for street driving, but I got tired of replacing the fragile oem synchros after a few hard weekends of racing. I will add pics to this thread as I put everything back together

Oh, wait. No, that picture is for a different project. Forget you saw that...

Sleeperwagon wrote:

please explain!? looks like a turbine in there, does it actually spin? or just to help direct air/fuel flow?

It is a Turbo impeller, driven by a hydraulic turbine slaved off the serpentine belt. So essentially a centrifugal supercharger INSIDE the manifold, so it can be run with a conventional carburetor, or a throttle body type fuel injection system. Rather than a pop off valve or wastegate, boost is managed by a pressure switch in the manifold that bleeds off hydraulic fluid prior to the turbine to prevent over-boosting

Drive system is contained entirely in the lifter valley, with 2 innocuous looking hoses going to the hydraulic unit hidden in a power steering reservoir on the accessory belt. Easily overlooked once the air cleaner is installed. My intention was to eventually have my own manifold casting to eliminate the removable top plate, since it is the most obvious sign that something funny is going on in the manifold

Very cool!!!