Hey, I'm planning to swap a chev 4.3 into my 82. But I'm not sure which tranny to use. I'm definatly gonna want a manual, But I'm not sure which T-5's I can or can't use with the V6. Will the T-5 out of the old S-10's and Blazer's work with the 4.3? or do I have to find one out of a camaro/firebird. I'm not looking to build a super-high powered beast, so I'm not really concerned with having a non-world class T-5, I just need one that will bolt up and work. Thanks.

 

Anything that mates up to a Chevy V8 should work. The 4.3 is, quite literally, a smallblock with two cylinders removed, and many parts interchange, at least for the pre-Vortec, pre-balance shaft units.

The V8 transmissions have much nicer ratios than the truck units, though, and the shifter comes out in the right place. The truck transmissions, IIRC, have the shifter coming out in the middle of the case, putting the shifter inside the dashboard in an RX-7.