5.3 little known fact...

[northcreek]

Well, little known to me. I was surprised to read that the 5.3 was never offered with manual shift in any application but, there are a few 4.8 engines that were fitted to manual transmissions. Seems odd that with the wide spread use of the 5.3 in trucks, all were automatics.

 

[TollKeeper]

That doesnt really surprise me any. GM did that same thing back in the day with the 3rd gen Camaro. You could only have the Auto with 350 V8's and the Stick with the 305 V8.

 

[Mooseman]

Maybe fitting a manual to the more powerful engines would be cost prohibitive. You couldn't stick the T5 5 speed to just anything without blowing it up.

Manuals are heading the same way as the dodo. A manual TB would have been cool but manuals were already on the decline.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

That doesnt really surprise me any. GM did that same thing back in the day with the 3rd gen Camaro. You could only have the Auto with 350 V8's and the Stick with the 305 V8.

On the 3rd gen I think a handful of the first Iroc 350s were 5 speed and a handful of the 92 Firehawk were manual...I think actually a 6 speed. I was looking to convert my old 3rd gen 350 TPI z28 to a 4 speed I had access to and remember there was some oddities that existed. bet they are holy grails if any survived.