Chevy & GMC Vans

Hi; My Astro presently has an L98 TPI V-8 which I plan to upgrade to an LT1 stroker. Before that, I want to sort out the drive train. First, I want to install a 6-speed in the van.

Questions:

Has ANYBODY done a 6-speed yet? I was hoping to use the T56, but have no idea where the shfit lever would need to emerge from the floor. I know some of the T56s have optional shifter locations; has anybody researched that?

I even thought about adapting the Astro 5-speed shifter to the 6-speed, but the 6-speed shifter location is more a problem with fore-and-aft than lateral.

SINCE I ALREADY HAVE A V8, I don't need the regular 5-speed Astro bellhousing. The T56 bellhousing for the LT1 already will bolt right up.

Thanks, all. You're my heroes!

Jim

Nobody has done a 6 speed yet. I guess you will have to be first!

Think maybe Merlin is working on this project.

Thanks, Rebel. PM sent, and let's see if that's what he plans.

Anybody else considering a 6-speed swap?????

PM sent. Still going to do this but maybe a 5 speed. The 6 speed I got to try from a friend has a set position for the shifter and it didn't look to work. Shoulder trouble is slowing me down so mine will take a while. Good luck and let us all know how it works out.

SS Astro, you are a pioneer at this time, cruising uncharted waters.....

We can help you with metal fabrication, and help / advise with any problems that you may encounter.

Plus there are alot of technical guys here, that would love to see this install.....

Thanks, Merlin, and Socalli V8,

So I'll be boldly going where no (fool?) has gone before?

I'm sure it will be a fun project, and a lot different from the original conversion to the L98 V8.

That was back in 2000, and the cutting-edge intel then was how to get the TBI V8s to run off the TBI V6 computer. With the L98, that was never a possibility, so I approached the project with a stand-alone computer for the engine. Meanwhile, with the electronic dash and ABS on my 1992 Astro, I was pretty certain I had to keep the original van computer as well, to run the chassis. It's worked great, just that way, from Day One, except for the gas gauge, which never operated after the engine swap for reasons I could never figure out, so I replaced the gauge with an auxiliary gauge to the left of the instrument panel, between the dash and the door, which worked out quite well.

Now, in 2009, the old 1992 van may be fairly ancient by some people's standards, but I still enjoy it as if it were the current year's model. Once again, I'll go with a stand-alone LT1 harness, but this time, a wiring harness for the engine alone, just like the street rodders use. Back in 2000, I used a whole-chassis harness and cut away the excess stuff I didn't need. THAT was a big project, in and of itself. The LT1/T56 conversion actually seems less-daunting than the first conversion. Merlin, I'm eager to find out what you learned about the 6-speed shift lever placement....was it a T56 transmission you were checking out?

One setback was learning, just yesterday, my van doesn't have the built-in mounting points for the clutch pedal that the earlier vans appear to have had. I attempted to upload a picture I obtained from a fellow Astro van enthusiast over a year ago. If it shows up in this post, you can see the two sheet metal "ears" which support the shaft of the clutch pedal. This must have been trimmed out of the Astro unit body, very early in the 90s, and it probably saved GM 10 cents per van in fabrication costs. Without these built-in mounting points, I'll have to fabricate new structure on which to affix the clutch pedal. Has anybody else dealt with this? Yet?

I still hope to obtain the original clutch pedal and master/slave cylinder, and hopefully also a manual-tranny steering column from a 5-speed Astro, along with the miscellaneous parts which go along with these main items. I won't need the bellhousing, since I should be able to use the regular T56/LT1 bellhousing. Does anybody have a 5-speed swap kit laying around that they don't want to use?

Right now I'm hoping to find a source car already equipped with a 383 or 396 and a T56 6-speed. I'm hoping to find this setup in a modded 94-97 Camaro that's been lightly crashed in the rear, whose owner now wants to get rid of his LT1 stuff and pursue a newer LSx car. I found a great candidate car, a year ago, but he wanted more for his car than I figured for the entire project. Still, it still would have been a great deal, compared to building the LT1 stroker from scrach and sourcing a new T56 transmission.

It will be a fun project, and I'm looking forward to getting to know a lot of you in the process. I'll document the whole process, in the hope that it makes the path easier for others.

Thanks, all, and let me know if you have a manual tranny setup out there,

Jim

Jim, Have you had a look at this thread yet...viewtopic.php?f=5&t=146 I'm not sure exactly how much will relate to a 6 speed build, but it may contain something of interest, unfortunately the pics are gone BUT the info is great ( for a 5 speed ) and there are numerous links which may possibly be helpful to you, just a suggestion.

Astrozam, thanks for drawing my attention to that thread! There's a lot of great information there, that I can make great use of.

Jim