Calling the truck gods

[Big J'72 GMC]

I got a '72 GMC I'm workin on, tryin to get done this summer, all I have for a drivetrain is my good ol 12 bolt, or engine or tranny, still have the stock driveshaft kickin around to, I'm not all the knowledgeable whe it comes to engine an tranny combos an I was just wondering if you guys culd tell me what my best bet is to get a smallblock an matching 4 or 5 speed fairly cheap, thanx in advance

[fine69]

Define "fairly cheap".

[Nova_Cobra64]

I am starting to research this route a little bit myself. Likely the cheapest option would be a 305 or 350 and T5 out of a 3rd gen F body. The T5 won't handle a whole lot of power though, so if you are looking at doing a basic v8 daily driver this should hold up.

Another option is finding a wrecked newer F body with the LT1 and T56 (6 speed), I think I may go this route yet as they can be had fairly reasonable (under $5000) and there is a fair bit of information out there as far as running the LT1 as a carbed setup.

Probably the best option would be a Tremec TKO 500 or 600, but those aren't cheap (probably run you as much as a wrecked F body).