Manual Transmission for Lightning?
 

Hey everyone,

I'm not a lightning owner, I usually hang out in the 4.2 forum.

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone like tremec makes a manual tranny for the L.

I've seen an 04, with 5.4 supercharged with a 6 speed tremec.

thanks,

Rman

I've never seen an L with a ManTranny....You prolly just saw a concept or custom ride
Scott

I don't see the point of it myself, but I bet the t-56 would work/fit

77 why don't you see the point? just curious....wouldn't a 6 speed or even a 5 manual be better?

I’ve almost always driven a stick, but a manual would not work well in the Lightning. Even if you had a clutch and tranny that would stand up to the torque, you could not shift it fast enough and the quarter-mile times would be down. It’s why most drag racers run automatics.

I agree here, unless you had a really good transmission and could drive it well/correctly, the manual will lower your 1/4 times. There are however, plenty of trannies out there that can take the power....
Scott

I duno, kind of feel like the manual tranny would be better....but whats the definition of "better"....everyone's different.

The lightning's auto tranny isn't too bad, it's one of the better ones I've driven but drag racers use a different setup on their automatic that is strictly for drag racing.

I still would rather see a 5 spd or 6 spd in the lightning...I just have a thing against automatics lol

IMO automatics are best for drag racing and thats about it. However, the automatic has to be setup properly to perform for that to be true. IMO, everything else, including other forms of racing/street driving, the manual tranny is better.

I did like the way Ford setup their automatic in the Lightning, but...still doesn't hold a candle to a stick IMO.

Right.... Race automatics will usually have valve bodys and shifters that makes them function almost like a manual, minus the clutch assembly. No manual could beat the c6 in my mud truck. It has a 3000 stall TCI converter up front, full manual valve body and a B&M ratchet shifter(along with a few other small goodies) This transmission has a VERY fast shift speed(mostly because it is an auto), and no manual could come close in shift times. However, it's still in the gear I want it to be in at all times. Basically the best of both worlds by adding the full manual valve body IMO.
Scott

before they opted to kill the 05 lightning, the concept was to offered with a short-shifted 6 spd. How would this benefit over the 4spd auto in the current L, or vice versa?

Well ill tell you now any automatic robs 15-20 hp at the wheel which is significant. The thing is a manual runs straight through and the only loss if any is in the gear, driveshaft and axle flex (Very Minnute) so in relativity the manual would benifit greatly if you were an * to your trans, I mean reefed the bitch like crazy, powershifted out of it and kept your foot on the gas. This method works great in the mustang. The thing is you gotta have great clutch timing, In and then out as fast as you reefed the shifter. its really cool when you get it and dont miss shifts. Thats the only way youll beat an automatics shift times, and a plus about that is you get a mad launch after the clutch is let out cause its sitting at 6000 and then boom the needle goes down to 3500-4000 and all the centrifical force is exerted on the rear end giving you almost a feeling of boost as your heading down the strip. Check it out sometime, just not something youd wanna do all the time, cause synchros do wear out.

That would be the method with a conventional sychronized tranny. There are aftermarket dog collar transmission usually used in Mustangs. Its a T-5, T-56 and T3550 upgrade.... It consists of "sychros" that are zig zag shaped and you got the conventional shift pattern as a sychronized tranny, but instead of using a clutch (which you could use anyways) you just pop it in gear and after that you slam it into gear because the engagement just pops the drive gear into the driven gear, no grinding jsut pops in. Its in the july or august edition of muscle mustangs and fast fords, very interesting setup.

When you see the language filter trip, please go back and edit your post. This is a family friendly site, please ure appropriate language. ~ FTE

Dumping the clutch on a manual tranny Lightning would just leave you sitting there, spinning up a smoke cloud, while your opponent heads down the other lane. A gen-2 with a pulley and a good dyno-tune has 400 RWHP and 500 Foot-pounds of torque. Believe me, you don’t need to pop the clutch to jump off the line. Once moving the auto is going to make two shifts in the next six-point-something seconds. That’s pretty fast shifting for the average joe.

I just don't, unless it is going to be a 5-6 speed for fuel economy reasons. I think ford put the auto behind the L for a reason. The viper-spec t-56 is more than capable to harness that L's power. But I honestly don't see the point in having a manual trans behind a high-HP pickup that isn't intended for pulling, or something that will be in 1 gear. And for those of you that say that auto takes up more HP, that is true, but the ability to launch an L with an auto/vs 6-speed, even with a more sophisticated clutch/shifter setup would beat tough to be the auto with.

Back to the guys first question, yes a Tremec trans can be used with the 5.4L, the T-56 and the TKO-500 and 600 would all take the torque. I think McLeod even makes a bellhousing to make it all fit nicely. Part of the reason Ford canned the 06 Lightning was because there wasn't an autotrans in Ford's parts bin that would take the extra torque in the new engine. And as you can tell here, there are lots of people who want auto's in their L's.

What tranny one prefers...depends greatly on what the person would be doing with the vehicle. A lightning with a stick would do excellent on the race track....the properly setup automatic would do excellent at the drag strip...

Traction is hard to find on these trucks....so the automatic does help in this situation. They have a very flat torque curve...so even at low RPMs there is a lot of torque available to spin those wheels off the line....I've got about 2-3 thousand miles behind the wheel of an 02 lightning.

I'm not into racing on tracks as of atleast yet....who knows if i will in the future...but atleast for the present, I enjoy the manual tranny (as u can see both of mine have manuals). I like the feel of the way the power is applied, and I feel the need to shift my own gears. Mine are daily driven, so that's probably a big factor. When my F-150's motor gets done and installed, it'll have more power than a stock lightning. I'm curious to see how well it does in accleration, with my gearing I am only using 2nd and 3rd til I get past 80-85 (I probably won't go over 90-95 on a truck like mine...). I only have 1 upshift to get to 80-85 atleast....so as a preliminary thought (obv havn't driven the combo yet, but I've driven the trans I'm gonna use)...my F-150 may be pretty fast for a lifted vehicle. 1st gear is too low for me to use on a take-off, so I start in 2nd and go to 3rd after 45-50.