Doug, I notice that the hole in the '85 one tone master cyl. rod is much larger that the pine it fits onto on the clutch pedal. Did you install a bushing into the hole to make it a snug fit? I picked up a clevis from work that has a 3/8's threaded end that has the perfect size hole. I could cut off the end, thread the rod and use the clevis to make the adjustment.
Bernie

 

Yes but nothing fancy. I made a very simple bushing from a nut. I just rounded the corners off the nut with a dremel and then pressed it into the clevis hole. I then drilled out the thread to the pin size. I did this part at home and not in Norval's well equiped shop. Otherwise he likely would not have let me do it this way. But it worked well for me. Sounds like you have an even better solution with your clevis from work. If that does not work you can always still do what I did with the 85 clevis.

 

Doug,
Norval was kind enough to send me an aluminum threaded rod like he made for you and some dowels to dowel my adapter to the bellhousing. I know your system works and will make a bushing for the clevis that is already on the master cyl. Thanks for the info!
Bernie

 

Recently, a local pal acquired a newly-completed cobra replica kit car ... cheap from auction of defunct Busch team ... got a bunch of race car stuff too. The Cobra has 351 Ford, T5 etc from mustang.

His son owns a local circle track chassis, fab & motor shop. Son did run Busch & Craftsman series ... has spare ford Busch motors etc.

Well, the Dad has determined that entire Cobra driveline is kinda wimpy. Will replace with retired Ford Busch motor (about 550hp on 110gas), Jerico 4-speed, 9" Ford axle. Over many years he's built a lotta trans, motors & rears for race cars ... he thinks the mustang T5 trans ain't gonna be up to the stronger motor ... plus he has the better stuff laying around ... and drums of 110.

 

Jackson,
The T5 I am using is rated at 300 ft. lbs. torque based on a 24 hour run period. If I were going to race this car I would go with another more expensive tranny. But this setup is a proven, reliable choice that will give me what I'm looking for. Norval ran a T5 for several years behind a 600 H.P. blown engine. If it will take that kind of power, I know it will more than handle my engine and my driving habits. And for $1,000.00 cost, it fits my wallet too!
Bernie

 

Berinie:
$1K turn-key is cheap enough. I'm not a T5 expert ... not any kind of expert. I'm not saying T5 won't work out for your app ... I hope that it does ... but I am suggesting it ain't for everyone.

On ANY stressed part, component or assembly ... something to consider is life cycle ... MTBF ... mean time between failure. When considering MTBF, don't limit parameters to how MUCH strain ... also look at how MANY strains it can withstand. Can't imagine how to run a valid sim w/ such limited info. But I can try to envision how the stresses of traffic are quite different than ... say ... 100 passes at ds. Traffic is different ... but, over time, traffic may not necessarily be any less detrimental than ds.

 

Hey Norval,

I have often wondered why more people havn't used the T 5, but my question is why not use the G M T5 that was used in 305 IROC and the TPI rated at 300 ft lb. It has been my understanding that they were the same as the V8 ford T5. I hope you can shed some light on this. SSS

 

Triple S,
Good question. It seems that it was discussed in an earlier thread but I can't remember what the differences were. I went with the ford T5 because of all the information available from people that have done it in the past.
Bernie

 

I have done a few with the GM T5 and all were pretty easy to convert. Not as complicated as doing the Ford T5 conversion.

 

I'm a little late with this question but what did you have to do to make the conversion Sharky?
Bernie

 

If I went into our local paper looking for a T5 I would find lots of mustang T5's. The going rate for the older 5.0 version was $450 to $500 and they are getting scarce because the 5.0 guys have been buying them up. If I looked at the 94 95 there are lots of them too but the 5.0 guys can';t use them because they are 5/8th of an inch too long and they go for $400-$450. Easy to come by.

Now look for a chevy T5????? You will look a long time, guys will try to pass off the 6 cylinder versions but they don't work and if you get lucky the price is $750 - $1000 and that is something slapped together from used parts.
The mustang T5 is available cheap and the chevy T5 is expensive and hard to come by if it is in fact a V8 T5 at all.

I ran a nitrous bigblock and a blown big block through a mustang T5 without a problem. I have a 355 nitrous 89 mustang in the shop and it ran slicks for years. Never a murmur from the T5 and it pulled the wheels on launch.
No I like the mustang T5, the ease with which I can make it fit, the nice smooth shift and the price.

 

It's only complicated to the guy that doesn't understand the simple plate that is needed to adapt and if you have access to a mill it takes only a few hours to make a nice adapter.
After that there are hundreds of cheap T5's waiting for you.
I did try going the Chevy T5 route but got discourage with the price and the crap people were trying to pass off as V8 T5's.

 

Thanks for the info Norval, that is what I figured. I am still trying to make the tremec work in my midyear by using cv joint in the drive shaft to correct the angles. Should know in a week or 2, but if it doesn't work I am going to start working on the T5 deal.

SSS

 

What problems are you having. I run a Tremec. As for driveshaft angles they are not hard to fix. Tell me agian what is your problem? Are you one of the guys posting about vibration???

 

Norval

I have a 63 and have been working with the tko 3550 before Tremec built them with GM input and mounting. The problem in a midyear is that you can't get the rear of tranny high enough to create equal ujoint angles. I have put a tremec in my sons 73 with no problem because you have plenty of tunnel clearence to work with.

The best I can do in the 63 is 3.5 degrees at the rear of trans. I built shims for the rear end and made the rear angle 3.0 which got it pretty close to correct but I still had a load vibration and a lug vibration. Most people wouldn't care but if it isn't smooth I'm not happy.

I have talked to alot of people who have had the same problem but elect to live with it. I'll be installing a cv joint at the front and running 0 angle at the rear (like the 4x4) guys do and see how that works out, but if that doesn't work I am leaning towards the T5 tranny.

SSS

 

Will the T5 be any slimmer then the tremec??? I thought the tremec was slim and pushed mine right up until the tunnel has no clearance. I then built a rear mount and relied on the compression of the poly mount to clearance it from the tunnel. I have about 1 degree DOWN. I removed shims from the rearend to make it 1 degree UP.
The next problem I ran into was the entire drivetrain was not in alignment. The rearend pointed to the passenger front tire.
I ended up rotating the rearend on the rear mount and stringing the whole drivetrain and re aligning it.
Took a little time but I am totally vibration free.

 

I'm new to this site...and it's awsome! I've got a 94 T56 sitting in my garage from a 94 Firebird...and you guys have given me the inspiration to go with it. Here's my question: Is the stock rearend in a 77 automatic 3:55? That's what I recall....but can't remember if that was my 72. Anyway.... what can I expect running that rear end ratio?...if that's what it is. Seems to me that the 2:97 first gear should hook up! Anyway, I'll probably be asking alot of questions! Thanks in advance!

 

Hey Norval,

I did mine the same way, but the problem is not with the width of the tremec but the hieght of the 2nd shifter location on the top. It hits the tunnel right were the dash comes down and connects to the top of the tunnel. I am not willing to cut the tunnel and the bottom of the dash and fabricate all that back into place. I have seen some people go to that length to make it work on highly modified midyears.

I even explored lowering the front of the motor, but there were to many issues to address and I don't like the car out of service that long.

One of the aftermarket Tremec guys are telling the midyear guys that their floor boards and tunnel are sagging and they need to jack them up. Most midyears I have been in are very solid cars and I could not raise mine high enough to make a difference.

That is why I am working on a cv joint at the front joint to smooth things out. One of the companies in the tranny business is building it for me and if it works out they will probably offer it to the public, more on that later. SSS

 

You can get most of the parts from a T5 equipped 305 V8 Camaro donor car. You will need to find a set of pedals from a manual trans Corvette. You can use the T5 Camaro bellhousing, but you will need to buy an aftermarket 153 tooth flywheel and use the Camaro starter from the donor car. The 153 tooth flywheel from the T5 in a V8 Camaro will not work because our C3s use flywheels with the pre 86 crankshaft bolt pattern. But you can look in the Summit catalog and find the appropriate flywheel. You will need to use a clutch master cylinder from an 85 manual trans full size pickup. And you will have to make your own trans mount. The shifter is located in the proper location. On the 82 vette that I have, I used the TH350 auto trans yoke and the stock driveshaft with no problems. I did have to modify the linkage from the master cylinder to the pedals and I had to make an adapter so that I could use a steel brake line from the master cylinder to the stock Camaro clutch slave cylinder. But other than those mods, everything else worked with no problems. You also will have to figure out what to do with the speedo setup. The vette has a cable type speedo and the Camaro uses an electronic type speedo. I converted my dash to an Autometer electronic speedo and a matching tachometer. In my area, T5 V8 Camaros are plentiful in the junk yards. So finding a donor car with all the parts for under $500 is not a problem.

If you need the flywheel part numbers, I can give it to you.

Ed

 

Sharky,
Thanks for answering my question. I'm too far along with the T5 swap to abandon it and find a chevy T5. The adapter is made, I got the flywheel this morning, I have the master cyl, slave cyl and a very good ford T5. Am taking the flywheel to get it surfaced today. I'm sure there are others on the forum that will benefit from your information. I will put it in a book I keep in case the info is needed later.
Thanks
Bernie