quote Originally posted by blkcofy: To try to answer your specific question, I was strongly advised against keeping my 5sp manual getrag. Despite the fact that it is a newly rebuilt tranny w/ less than 300 miles on it the logic thought of 135hp engine match w/ now a 340hp engine match probably doesnt make alot of sense. While many folks have reported that the Getrag should have been able to handle the power, I've weighed that advice vs logic, as well as hearing many of these same Getrag loyals looking for new tranny's after a few years. I've had my car for 14 years and would like to have it another 14, so I opted with using the tranny that came with the engine (4T65e). Now, I actually ended up having Ryan practically rebuild compenents on it to handle future power upgrades as well as more aggressive shifting since I'm also keeping the TAPShift functionality. Would I have loved to keep a manual in the car? H-E-double toothpick yeah! So I did look into it further and found that the 6sp tranny in the G6 would be a possible option. I think you'd still have to do some mods to it to firm it up, as the G6 GTP is only 252hp. Keep asking and looking if you want to go manual...look into the G6 even. And if you think you actually can use a 5sp Getrag....do I have a deal for you!!

To further contribute to this discussion one of the other major reasons I advised against using the manual trans with this engine was because of the starter mounting issue. As you can see in the pictures above, the starter mounts to the 4T65-E auto transmission, not the engine. There really isn't room on the engine to mount a starter unless something was done to the oil pan. Which means the only way to get a starter on this engine would have required custom machining and fabrication of some kind which would have really run the cost of the swap up. Furthermore, nobody has proven a 6-speed G6 transmission will hold up to the power of a V8 or a healthy V6 yet. And like blkcofy said, he wants this car to be as reliable as possible. I just don't think any affordable manual transmission would be as reliable as the 4T65-E HD auto trans that came with this engine.

Aside from that, it is unclear how well this LS4's PCM would work without the presence of the auto transmission's computer (and missing auto trans); and if the DoD would continue to work without communications with the TCM.

[This message has been edited by Darth Fiero (edited 09-15-2007).]

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-28-2007).]