I am planning on swapping the 3 speed manual in my 73 comet to a t5. I was wondering if anyone here has done this and has run into certain problems that I should know of like transmission tunnel clearance or the shifter coming through the floor in a bad place or is this a fairly easy swap? Let me know, thanks.
If you get a Fox body T5 there is a plate you can buy that allows it to bolt to your original bell housing. If you buy the later Mustang transmission you can still do that after an input shaft swap to the Fox shaft. You will need to make some room where the floor support is from what I've read.
I used an adaptor plate and kept my old bell housing and clutch linkage. Modified a V8 cross member (the T5 cross member mounting pad is about 1 1/2" farther rearward). My 70 has a smaller trans tunnel and I had to split open the top of the tunnel and add metal to clear the T5's shifter tube. Don't know if that's an issue in later cars or not. I would recommend popping for an aftermarket shifter, the stock shifter sucks. https://www.cjponyparts.com/cpc-t-5-adapter-plate-for-6-bolt-bellhousings-1965-1973/p/T5AP/
I put a T-5 out of a foxbody in my 73 Comet, mine was a 3 speed on the floor so the hole was already there. I used the T-5 bell and a Mustang Steve weld on quadrant with cable. I really only had 4 main issues (meaning more difficult). 1) I had to clearance the tunnel about 1", I just flattened the floor pan brace for the height. 2) I had to modify the cross member, I welded a plate on the cross member where the tranny would bolt up, I also had to modify the holes where the cross member bolts to the car. 3) I had to modify the hole in the floor where the shifter comes through, on mine I had to cut about 1/2" from the front and left side. 4) After I welded the quadrant on the clutch pedal I had to provide clearance for the pivot. This was probably the most difficult step in the swap for me because all of my interior was still in the car, I ended up using an air chissel with a very flat/blunt chissel and low air pressure to get about 3/4" needed. One thing to note, if you go with a cable clutch get the extra long cable so it will clear the oil filter better. I hope this helps some. Chuck
See http://mmb.maverick.to/resources/c4-to-t5-swap-with-250-six-cyl.102/ I also had to slightly crush a little section of the floor pan brace to get transmission up in the tunnel.
Does this adapt the t5 to a 302? Also, the 302 I’m using came out of a 77 ford pickup. Does that make a difference?
The adapter plate bolts to back of original bellhousing to maintain correct depth for longer T5 input shaft or you can locate a T5 specific bellhousing. Using the 77 302 from pickup is fine as the engine/ bellhousing bolt pattern is the same. http://transmission.moderndriveline...89-302-351-1967-200ci-Adapter-plate-7p137.htm David
From the link in your post: "Note: We don't recommend using Ford truck bellhousings as they are deeper making the pilot shaft not engage into the bushing as deep." Didn't know that myself. So what bell housing is being used?
I noticed that too, did not think there was a difference between 302 car and truck bellhousings, I guess you have to stick with the 302 car bellhousing or use one of those "stepped" pilot bearing, just like when you use a big block Toploader behind a small block engine. Big block Toploaders had a shorter input nose than the small block versions, so there was a special "stepped" pilot bearing that could be used to make up the difference. Perhaps just locate a correct 302 T5 bellhousing, seen them on eBay for about the same price as an adapter, just make sure you get the release fork too! David I think you would be OK using your 3 speed bellhousing with that adapter plate, at least you would have the clutch release fork etc., would recommend putting in a new/rebuilt clutch pressure plate/disc assembly and new throwout bearing too.........
I used the Modern Driveline one made specifically to fit the Maverick. I really like it. Make sure to reinforce your firewall to prevent flexing. No pedal mods needed with this setup.
The T5 - I used their Maverick kit and their external slave kit - here is their website - scrol down and you will see the Maverick kit. I did have the proper T5 bellhousing and used that slave kit. The only thing I added to the kit was a heavy duty plate to reinforce the firewall to prevent flexing. http://transmission.moderndriveline.com/speed/pc/Hydraulics-c25.htm
