late T5 from a 90s-early 2000s mustang is rated at 300ftlb.
thats a dyno rateing focused on longevity i.e if i run this at 300ftlb of torque for the length of time that ford think it should last. it will last that long. I presume that some extrapolation was done. i don't think anyone ran a t5 at 300 ftlb for 3 or 5 year warranty period that a mustang will have had. so its a guestimate based on shaft size, materials, gear pitch size and distance bwteeen centres and bearings etc. Therefore a shock loading rateing will probably be higher (with a subsequnt reduction in component life). i take the attitude that Motors don't break gearboxes. people do.
Most people don't drive at the maximum torque output of their motor and if they do in many cases they approach it slowly. seconds or minutes rather than instantaneous
drag race situations, obviously different. but if you don't shift it like you are punching the aggressor in a pub brawl. well i think it will last
T5 in an A body with the tunnel/floor style that will take a small block 727 or a 3 or 4 speed manual. Mine is nearly in and this is what i have so far.
Australian Valiant charger with Hemi 265 I6 runing 12.5 CR approx 300 ftlb and 280 bhp
2002 mustang T5 WC with reverse idler/5th gear brake and electronic speedo
1980/90s chevy s10 tail housing for geared speedo drive. Tail housing needs to have the oil funnel scroll milled off flat like the one in the mustang housing and you need to mill a rectangular space in it for the tab on the reverse idler 5th gear brake retainer. it can go anywhere where you have enough meat in the housing on the now flat circle of the scroll area
ford shifter fits if you cut the cover plate and add some chevy positioned holes
you need to use chevy speedo gears on a sleeve clamped to the output shaft with a split collar and a modified clip so they line up with the hole.
get a roller bearing pilot bush and retainer for a dakota truck with a 1.75 inch bearing.
Get a new input shaft and a new steel IBR. Get the pilot end of the input shaft shrink fitted with a sleeve that takes it out to 1.75 inch so it fits the dakota pilot
and put in the new shaft with no. play properly shimmed only once the tail housing is torqued
this mustang box has the longer of the 2 input shafts, its still too short to fit it to the olite bush in the end of the crank so the pilot roller bearing in the crank register is ideal. it moves the "contact" area back by an inch or so to cater for this.
I used a standard aussie mopar bellhousing that fits my motor. (like a 225 size with 318 pattern and dowels inthe wrong place for v8) with a 14 mm aluminium plate adapter i got from modern drive line, it was not for this application (nothing ever is) so it was modified. you want the end of the spline on the input shaft, aligned with the friction surface of the flyhweel..or as near as you can
My bellhousing register was machined to fit the adapter and the adpater was cocked a few thou 1 way to allow an easy drill and counter sink of holes for the bellhouseing, which is unique to Australian chrylsers. just get an adptor that covers all t5 mounting holes and heas solid metal for at least 3 bellhouseing holes (you can allways drill and tap two more into the bellhousing face to cater for a wayward one that sits off the adapter, and choose one with a flange that is as close to your bell housing hole as possible, to minimise the boreing the bellhouseing needs, yo do not want to run into the clutch fork mounting area
i use a 10 inch clutch with a ford 10 spline plate and the throw out bearing from a jeep which works with a mopar clutch fork but has a similar bore as a US hemi style a833 IBR.
tunnel needs hitting with hammer up front for the edges of the box
and a hole is needed in front of the chassis cross member for the front position shifter which ends up in a "bench seat" "forward" poistion, use a swept back shifter. i still need to make a rear mount but will use 73--> spool mount piece to do that.
mustang LONG yoke and a combo joint (ford x small dodge) gets the orginal tail shaft in the right place, just position the joint the same distance from the tunnel as it was. result is same angles at both ends as you had
Other Options
Holden or Ford Australia BTR tail housings, BTR made T5s under licence in OZ, BTR inherited an ex Borgwarner Factory which is now closed, but was owned by Dana spicer after BTR. they also made the light weight robust axle used in the 82-92 Iroc Z and TA called a 9 bolt in US, but a borg warner/BTR/Spicer Axle M78 to the rest of the world
The aussie T5s had different gear pitch for stength as the aussies don't seem to care about gear noise. so internal parts don't swap easy, only as a complete set.
but the tail housing options provide more stick positions than US offerings which make the stick come up behind the torsion bar cross member on an A body
you can get ford style shifter gate positioning:-
a) 1 inch back from mustang
b) right at the back level with end of housing
c) over hanging the end of the output shaft and normal output shaft housing end by 1.5 inch
you just need to swap the yoke bush and seal to fit the yoke you wanna use, both ford and GM parts fit
speak to
www.Austrans.com in Perth if you want one give them the measuremnets and they wil turn something up with speedo gears and a speedo cable if you ask
all world class with reverse idler brake so no machining to fit.
all have the boss for the speedo drive but it may not be milled if the speedo on the orginal car was driven from a tone ring in the diff. its a £60 job 1-2hour, set up machine and mill through into the output shaft tunnel at correct angle and bore, polish and drill and tap retainer hole. your labour rates may differ.
all need to use aussie speedo gears as the hole is in the oposite side (gears need to be reverse screw becasue of this, and you will need to re route or custom build a speedo cable)
to get a box with one of these housings to fit a mopar, with no cutting of the chassis, you need to cut out the shift rod houseing on the tail shaft housing.
put a seal and aluminium or brass bush in each cut end, and use a custom shift rod that you have kinked down to the, now exposed, top of the output shaft tunnel so it fits under the torsion bar cross member hump. normal retail clevis and pin connectors can work with narrow flat bar for this. Thus replicating the set up on an Australian Chrysler Valiant borgwarner single rail 4 speed, used in their Chrysler A body cars from 72- 82 (Valiant, valiant Charger, Dodge, models VH-VK and CH-CM)
so while a chevy s10 gearbox may work its a weaker box, i'd go for the 1999-2004 Mustang box for the best rated torque handling outside of race only boxes or expsenisve shorter shafted v8 mustang boxes from the early 90s and i'd modify it to fit my mopar without having to chop its chassis about. easiest done with the hot rodders favorite The Chevy S10 tailshaft housing. The manual speedo gears housing will not directly fit as discussed. the world class eletcronic one does.
keep an eye out on ebay for a guy in florida who sells ex insurance write off boxes for £400-600, don't belive anything said about recent rebuilt etc they are not, but they are in decent condition.
if i don't power shift it or side step the clutch at 4000+ i look forward to years of T5 use, the box it replaces is the austrlian single rail 4 speed rated at 250 ftlb which was used in Australia behind 265 hemi 6 and LA 318 i just upped my torque handling by 50 ftlb and added an extra gear by moving to its later mexican cousin
if chrysler Australia used a 250 ftlb rated box behind a 318 i'm happy to use one thatis 50 ftlb better behind a 265 that made more power and much the same torque as their not yet SMOGGED 1971 LA 318 V8
Dave
