T50

From: Scott Davis (ssdavis1@coewl.cen.uiuc.edu)

There are three versions of the T-50 that I know of. One is pre 1979, and has a different bolt arrangement between the bellhousing and the gearbox. The 80-82 version has a the same bolt arrangement as the 83+ T-50's, but a different (smaller) output shaft diameter.
 

From: Claudio

The tailshaft or gear shifter housing on the '80-87 T-50 transmission is longer than the '70-79 models by about 6". The main reason for this change was to bring the shifter further into the passenger compartment. I remember that in my pre '80s Corollas the shift lever came out from the lower part of the dashboard, compared to my later models where it comes out of the floor, just ahead of the seats. If you run a car in competition, you may want to use the older transmission with the shorter shifter housing. The lever on these models acts directly on the shifter forks. The newer model's shifter must act through an additional linkage, which adds additional vagueness and is less durable, especially when ramming the lever during clutchless shifting. Most later model shifters ('80-87) with high mileage or hard use will be very loose. In almost all cases this looseness will be due to a collapsed nylon bushing on a ball joint at the end of shift lever in the transmission. This bushing cost less than $2US and is easy to replace. Warm the new component in hot water before popping it on the lever to prevent it from breaking. The early model shifters don't have this problem because it doesn't use the extra linkage and everything is metal to metal, no bushings. If you are replacing this bushing, you might as well remove the other source of vagueness, the rubber bushing in the shift lever rod. It is located about half way down the shifter where the rod bulges. As the years progressed, from 1970 on, this rubber bushing got bigger and bigger in order to increase isolation (vagueness). With the engine off, try to pull the lever down into any gear with increasing pressure and see how much the lever flexes. This movement is due to the rubber bushing. If you truly want to "experience" your machine, remove the rubber bushing. I must warn you, though, that if you grind a gear badly, you will "feel" the mistake all the way up your arm and hurt along with your machine. The best way to eliminate the rubber bushing is to: - remove the upper part of the lever with the bushing - weld a hollow tube to the bottom part of the lever - weld a stud to the end of the tube for your shift knob - while you're at it, why not make the lever 1" shorter for shorter throws P.S. I believe that the only difference between the '80-82 (3TC) and '83-87 (4AG,3AC) transmissions were the bellhousing. You should be able to use a short tailshaft '70-79 (direct linkage) T-50 in '84-87 Corollas by using the bellhousing that came with the car. You would also have to cut the shifter hole further forward on the trans. tunnel and likely mix and match driveshafts halves.