0 to approximately 45mph in the T5 Buick, cold

1980 Buick LeSabre Limited with a T5 manual transmission, awful sounding engine cold.

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Autos & Vehicles

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• 0
• 45
• engineCold

[brianp859]

Must have been a great job, it looks to shift as smoothly as any factory stick shift I ever owned. I never saw a three on the tree either. I had always heard these body styles were available with manuals, just stood to reason most people buying a car that size would want the auto I guess. Same with the V6 engines.

[ronanian]

@brianp859 :) Thank you for the compliment! I am very happy with the result. I was totally unqualified to do it and expected it to come out awful. I'm still expecting it to fail, either because of something I unknowingly did wrong or because I used a weak non-world-class T5. I've put 3 or 4 thousand miles on it and it's great...knock on wood!

[brianp859]

That's astounding. My mom had this year and model LeSabre when we were kids but I never saw one with a manual transmission. Hers was a Limited with 5.7 liter diesel and automatic tranny.

[ronanian]

@brianp859 According to documentation I've found, they were available with a 3 speed column shift, but I've been unable to find any report of anyone actually ever seeing one. This was a DIY job.

[brianp859]

I own a 2000 Crown Vic now, non-police package, not the LX model either but would not mind if it was a five speed. Guessing the engine and tranny would have to come from a Mustang to do it though. I remember Mom's LeSabre well, was black with grey cloth interior, the strip of idiot lights across the top of the radio.....the car got excellent mileage with the diesel engine, especially not to have been overdrive equipped.