I have been asked by several slanters about the T-5 in my DArt. The process was to first fabricate an adapter plate in .060" styrene sheet full size that fit both the tranny and the slant bell housing. Then a machinist copied this pattern on a CNC machine, and cut the same thing out of .70" aluminum. It was not a prefect duplication of my pattern, which was correct, as I had to elongate a few of the holes n the final plate to get it to fit. The bolts that hold the adapter plate to the bell housing are recessed so they are flush with the suface the tranny bolts to. I used allen head screws to keep the diameter to a minimum. The pattern was carfully engineered to have the tranny sit with the right side to side inclination, and this pattern does makes it right.

I then cut out the transmission hump, and the center of the tranny crossmember with a cut off wheel, leaving a big gaping hole where the tranny hump and cross member used to be. I then installed the engine and tranny together supporting it to the correct height with jackstands. All the height and lateral dimensions were taken off the of the original 4 speed set up, and transfered directly to the floor below the car. The car was not moved from the time the 4 spd engine and tranny were taken out until the 5 speed engine and tranny were fastened in place. I made sure everything was square, and that the front and rear u-joint angles were correct.

With the engine bolted into the engine mounts, and the tranny supported at it's correct height, and placed correctly laterally, I fabricated a new cross memeber, and transmission hump from angle iron, and sheet metal. I did this entirely with pop rivits, and it is very strong. The metal is heavier than the stock cross member, and there are maybe five times the number of fasteners in place than there were spot welds originally. The new hump and cross member sit 2 or 3 inches higher than the original. I raised the hump and crossmember because I concluded that it was needed to keep the drive shaft u-joints at the correct angles. I made sure that the new hump extended far enough back to allow removal of the tranny, which I did once after the turbo was installed. The old clutch would not hold the turbo power, and I had to put in a dual friction clutch.

Kiesler supplied the the lower tranny crossover, and mount for the tranny, as well as an adapter speedo cable with Ford on one end, and Mopar on the other. They were slow, but nice, and I was glad to get the parts. I thought their lower crossmember was a little thin, so I made reinforcement plates for the front and rear surfaces to stiffen it. I figured they were used to GM parts and not Mopar.

The pilot bearing is a modern Dodge Dakota unit installed into the torque converter nose housing. If I recall correctly, I had to have a few thousands of an inch machined out of the center, input shaft bearing surface to make it fit the Ford tranny shaft. I used green lock tight to hold it in place, and have had no problems with it. The pilot bearing is a Ford unit, since it slides on the ford tranny. But, the fork, and all linkage are Mopar stock parts. Dart 270 used a hydraulic throwout bearing whcih eliminated the clutch linkage concerns. Both work fine.

I fastened the top of the hump with sheet metal screws so I could get to the shifter without having to pull the tranny to get to it.

A local truck service center which makes drive shaft repairs fabricated a new drive shaft with Ford at the Front, and Mopar at the back. This was only about $100. This place makes shafts all the time for truckers who have twisted theirs off.

I hope this is helpful, or inspiring to some guys who have expressed an interest in it before. I still have my original pattern for the adapter plate, and would be happy to pass it off to anyone who would look into having duplicate adapters made for anyone with a serious interest to help others on the forum. It fits the standard late model Volare, Aspen A833 bellhousing. The thickness of the plate would depend on the tranny you used, and the length of the input shaft, and this can be fly cut to it's final thickness later if needed. This is what I did.. I think the plate started at .750, and after I got everything together, decided to cut it down to .60 in order to get maximum support for the input shaft.

Sam

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I get the same questions as Sam about my car.....hell... Sam asked me questions for months before he dove in. Sam and Lou took a higher road than I did putting a 5 speed in their cars....and prolly spent a tad more cash.......

The reason I swapped to a 5 speed was because my kids who were learning to drive could not get their heads around the "three on the tree" the car came with....they thought I invented the column shift...

I used the RAP trans and 9.25 clutch because thats what I could get or had. Total cost about $300....installation time 2 days. A week after the swap was done we drove 5 people 1000 miles to Ontario in 24 hours....a week later we drove back....no problems (this was in 2001)

Since then I replaced the orginal Ford Ranger disc with a Turbo T bird disc...a much better piece ($75)

I used a "RAP" trans from an 82 Mustang 2.3L. My car(65 Valiant) had a stock aluminum bellhousing which I used as well as the stock clutch arm/linkage and throwout bearing.A stock Volare wagon driveshaft adapted to the stock Mustang slipjoint with a combination u-joint(NAPA).I used a clutch disc ( 9 1\4") from a Ford Turbo Tbird and the stock Valiant pressure plate.
I had the input bearing retainer machined down to fit the Valiant throwoutbearing. The bellhousing register(big hole the trans fits into) was enlarged using hand files(about 5 hours)I had to do a little grinding inside the bellhousing to allow the holes to be drilled for the trans bolts(Mustang bolts through bellhousing into trans)I used Mustang bolts and then "clamped" trans to bellhousing using the stock Valiant bolt holes,total 8 bolts!,,,pretty rigid.
The tricky part was extending the trans input shaft to mimic the Valiant one,,I had an extension machined and then shrunk it onto the Mustang input shaft(heat extension,,,cool input shaft) we used some high temp Loctite to make us feel better.
It is a little tricky getting the trans/bellhousing combo into the car,,,but it all fits nicely,,,my car was a 3spd originally so the trans hump is pretty small.I had to modify the trans mount and add my own "cushion mount".

The only hole I cut in the car was for the shifter. I can change a clutch in about 1 1/2 hours. The 9.25 clutch works fine ,,,,,but keep in mind I never drive the car in the city. I do banzai burnouts all the time....the car makes mebbe 200hp.

I have since installed a Ford Explorer 8.8 rear axle and went back to the original 65 driveshaft (NAPA conversion u joints on both ends)

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Yep, Sandy, Your car was indeed the inspiration for my T-5 swap. And, Lou and I were in regular communication when we were doing this. I had forgotten that you used a "RAP" tranny. My "old guy brain" can only be a genius for very short periods of time these days.

There are many versions of the T-5, and I picked the one I did because it was common, and had the longer input shaft. I never went anywhere without my tape measure just in case I ran into a junk yard with a 5 speed sitting on the shelf. When I found this one, out of an 87 Mustang or T-bird turbo coup, I snatched it up at $200. Prior to that I had looked at and measured dozens of different 5 speeds of different makes and models.

My long range plan involves putting a Tremec tranny in eventually, if I live long enough, and if everything else gets done that I intend to do. One of my car budies said a couple of years ago, "Why don't you leave it alone, and just drive it?" Now that's the most rediculous thing I ever heard.

Sam

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I may be interested in this. If I need to copy it anyway for my swap, I might as well make a file I can pass along.

before I get too involved, can you point me to something that shows the differences between that bell and one from a 75 duster slant three speed?

I don't really know the difference. I don't know how different the bolt patterns are. I don;t know if the input shaft retainer ring is the same, or if the bolt patterns are the same. That would be important if you were intending to use my pattern. Maybe someone can comment on the difference between the two. Dan?

Sam

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I hope someone knows the answer, because if I can get a good file done it would make a great addition to the articles section in my opinion.

from my understanding in the articles section, the 75 up 3 and four speed bells are the same.

or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the 3 speed bells ALSO have the holes for attachment to a four speed?

I need to look at my 75 bell when I get a chance, I never noticed extra holes before.


I still need anyone with bellhousing info to let us know what the main differences are.

This is correct, many of the late SL6 bellhousings had both bolt patterns.
If making an adaptor plate, it would be wise to include both the 3-speed and the 4-speed bolt pattern so the adaptor could be used with any SL6 bellhousing.
DD

That is a good idea, but I don;t think it will be quite that simple. Actually, the best thing would be to take the universal housing, and position it under my pattern, and add the holes for the 3 speed from that. There is still the problem of the differing bearing retainer OD. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression that there are two or three different sizes of input shaft bearing retainer. If this is the case, I don;t think you can make one size that will fit all. One of the features of my system is that there is an indexing ring on the front side of the plate that sticks forward and into the slant housing to center things correctly. Mine fits the larger opening on the OD tranny. If you had a bell housing with the smaller retainer OD, then this adapter would not fit. I guess you could make a two piece adpater plate with an insert for the ring that goes into the Mopar bearing retainer hole. But that involves another computer program, and increasing cost. By then, you might just as well send your bell housing to Keisler, who used to modify them.

I guess another option would be to eliminate the centering ring, bolt everything together, align everything with a dial gauge, and then drill indexing holes and pin the two together. More work, but cheaper.

Sam

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okay, good. now I have a little more to go on, but does anyone know how the earlier bellhousings compare to the later ones? say a 60-something valiant/lancer compared to a 75 duster?
I agree, but with a cad file all I need to know is if they have the same center point, then I can overlap the features.

The early A 3 speed bellhousing I used is different.

The reason I posted my swap was to compliment Sams info......and to illustrate how each trans/vehicle swap will be somewhat unique.

Lous group buy bellhousing deal was the best way for a noob to get started.

My swap only took 2 days and $200.....and weeks of planning and gathering.....The planning and gathering part is the only thing each swap has in common with others.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Can you tell me what is different between your bellhousing and others?

I know you probably can't give me exact measurements or anything, I just mean is it the overall shape, block hole locations, trans hole pattern, location of centerpoint of the bearing or pretty much everything?

Thought Id throw in a pic of RAP trans on a 3speed Valiant bell

click to view full-version

This is the stock small bell used on 3 spd early cars. It uses a 9"clutch. A 10"clutch will not fit this bell.

The trans is bolted to the bell from the inside meaning you must remove the bell with the trans when doing a clutch.

I used a couple of the stock trans mount holes to add a bolt and tab to clamp the bell and trans together....I would not bother if I was to do it again.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I am writing an article on OD swaps for the next SSRN issue. I will send out to Sam and Sandy to critique and augment once I have a draft.

Best,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

click to view full-version


Here is a pic of my rans mount. That is the stock cross member.....with some grinding for clearance ....with a big rubber doughnut squished inside for the trans to sit on. I rocked it like that for a couple of years.

I found this mount for a Mustang exhaust that bolted to the bottom of the trans. It had these hook deelies that ran through rubber bushings.

I pulled the hook deelies and replaced them with bolts....one of which lined up with one of the crossmember bolts. The other bolt was welded to the crossmember.

The trans bolts through the 2 big holes.

Pretty tidy I thought.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....