I had to do all this work (with the help of my dad and great friend Travis, otherwise the car would still be sitting in the garage) since I smoked the clutch several times and it was worn out and I had lost the synchros for second gear. I decided to go ahead and do everything right before the racing season got started. I knew I would need a clutch kit and flywheel since my current stock one had already been milled 3 times. I found out that milling the stock flywheel is bad since it weakens it tremendously. If it is bad enough to need surfacing and you race, go ahead and spend the $99 for a new one. I opted for a billet flywheel.

I ordered the FMS HD clutch kit ($179), FMS Billet flywheel ($249), and Pro 5.0 shifter($189) from D&D Automotive located in Whitehall, Pa. It took about two weeks to get the parts since the shifter was back-ordered.
The transmission was taken to Mike D'Elena of Southwest Motorsports in Plano (972) 491 9977. Currently Southwest Motorsports is Mike's garage at his house but he plans to open a shop in Plano later this year. In addition to a normal rebuild, he replaced the 2nd gear, 2nd gear slider, and 5th gear slider. Total cost was $470 and took about 2 weeks. He says its normally 4-5 days for a normal rebuild but I needed parts and D&D was late shipping his order too. Mike's a great guy and I think he did a great job.

Tips from Mike:

• Use the cheapest transmission fuild you can find. The T-5 uses Dextron Mercon automatic tranny fluid. Using synthetic fluids actually wears your transmission out faster. It is so slick that wears out the blocking rings & sliders the worst & then the syncro teeth on the gears. The gears are always immersed in fluid anyway so the bearings will not wear out!

• Take off the exhaust hanger braket before bringing it in. It makes his job harder to have it on there and he doesn't want to lose it.

  

  I got the Lakewood bellhousing off of the Auction boad at The Corral. I paid $140 for it and it had never been modified. This is important since you will have to modify it or run the risk of wearing out your tranny input shaft bearing very fast. Make sure to ask if it has been modified before buying it. The steel bellhousings are NHRA legal for only 2 years after which they must be replaced. Since I don't care about that as much as I do safety, the used one would suit my needs. In case you are wondering what makes it NHRA legal, the test is to rev a motor to 7,000 rpm and cut the flywheel until it flys apart. If the Bellhousing holds in the parts, its NHRA Legal.