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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Hello all. I'm going to be swapping a T5 into my 55 Customline soon. I have a fresh T5 from a 93 mustang and I ordered the Y block to T5 adapter from John Mummert's site. I know i'll have to have a new driveshaft made, and i'll need a different clutch disc. My questions are, what transmission mount have y'all used, and what are y'all doing to make the speedometer work? I did a search here and i didnt turn up any info on this. Frankly I have a little trouble with the search function on this site. I'm not the most computer saavy. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm sure i'm not the first person here to do this. Any info is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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By petew - 8 Years Ago
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The same transmission mount that was used on the Mustang will work . A 57 or newer speedo cable and gear will get your speedo working or use a Lokar universal cable kit (available from Summit) which will enable you to cut to length.
I did this transition on my 55 Tbird last year and the full process is here on the forum .
Pete
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By petew - 8 Years Ago
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Try searching "1955 Thunderbird 5 Speed Conversion". that is the thread title, I'm not smart enough to be able to post the link !
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By charliemccraney - 8 Years Ago
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Here's the link.
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic119969.aspx
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By petew - 8 Years Ago
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Thank you Charlie.
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By Rowen - 8 Years Ago
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Canadian hotrodder wrote a pretty extensive piece about his T5 swap in his Vicky. Most likely more relevant info for your customline than the bird swap. Like Pete, I to am a tech dinasaur and don't know how to find are even post a link.
Rowen
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By Rono - 8 Years Ago
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I put a T-5 in my 56 Customline, but I'm not using stock gauges so I probably won't be much help there. I did go with an 11" Centerforce clutch and pressure plate with I am very happy with and a Hurst Billet Plus shifter for the T-5.
Good Luck!
Rono
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By Rowen - 8 Years Ago
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Rono, if you are using a bench seat, can you post a pic of where the shifter sits? Doing the swap in my 55 CV soon and looking around for a shifter. Thanks
Rowen
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By Rono - 8 Years Ago
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Rowen;
Not using the stock bench seat. Changed to Wise Guys buckets.
Rono
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By Rowen - 8 Years Ago
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Anybody else?
Rowen
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By charliemccraney - 8 Years Ago
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Refer to http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2002/09/transmissions/
The distance from the mounting face of the T5 trans to the centerline of the shifter is 19.5" Get under the car and measure 19.5" plus the adapter plate thickness. Mark the floor pan or trans tunnel with a paint pen, chalk, magic marker, etc. Now look for something you can use as reference from the top, inside the car, a seat bolt, or specific feature of the floor pan or tunnel. Measure between the mark you made and whatever you chose as your reference. Use that dimension to measure from the reference inside the car to see approximately where the shifter will be.
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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I'll be using my original bench seat. One of the guys in my car club is doing the same swap in his 57 scruby Nomad right now. He told me about "Core Shifters". Google them, they're a division of Hurst shifters. They sell some decent looking T5 shifters for a good price and they offer a WIDE array of shift levers for them. Surely we can find a shift lever that'll fit with the bench seat. Thanks guys for the info! I'm going to look over the link now. If I encounter something different i'll let y'all know! Thanks again.
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By 62bigwindow - 8 Years Ago
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Hurst makes a bench seat shifter that in combination with a B&M Pro Ripper shifter will get you all the clearance you will need.
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By charliemccraney - 8 Years Ago
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The customizability of the core shifters is awesome. If I didn't already have a shifter, I'd give them a try.
I've heard great things about MGW shifters, but they have a unique design that don't lend themselves well to custom applications.
I have Pro 5.0 in my Firebird and Steeda in the truck. I can't tell any difference between the two. No complaints for either. The Steeda has 3 mounting holes for the stick, so 2 positions. That's useful for fine tuning the overall height.
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By Canadian Hot Rodder - 8 Years Ago
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I am using a stock bench seat and used a B & M Ripper shifter on the T-5. I however welded a Hurst Stick to the shifter to clear my bench seat and give it the nostalgia look. If anyone wants a copy of my article, they can PM me.
P.S. I used a stock 65 Mustang 10"clutch, but you can also use the Borg and Beck clutch. I also used the stock 56 trans cross member, just turned it upside down. Thanks 
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By Canadian Hot Rodder - 8 Years Ago
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Cross member 
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Canadian hot rodder, Your setup looks good! Thanks guys for the input. I'm hoping to start on my swap early Feb.
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By PF Arcand - 8 Years Ago
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Fastbill: In a recent article in Y-Blk Magazine issue #137, J. Mummert posted a reminder, to ensure that the Pilot depth into the Y-Block engine is correct, when converting to a later transmission. Apparently T-5 transmissions and others, have a longer pilot snout than any original Y-blk transmissions. Failure to trim it can result in excess pressure & binding of the engines thrust bearing & in some cases can cause a major engine failure!!.. Also, there can be trouble with T-5 aluminum front bearing retainers if worn. The later 1994 replacement style retainer can cause the throwout bearing to bind, resulting in clutch slippage... Also, care needs to be taken to get a correct clutch disc spline, as several different sized splines were used over the years. Apparently some 1-1/16" spline discs have been installed on the 1" shaft, for Y-Blks, but are too loose.. I'm just passing this info on, I don't have any personal experience with this subject..
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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hi all. sorry for the delay. i have a lot on my plate and my projects go kinda slow sometimes. i started on my swap a week or so ago. i've just about got it wrapped up now. should be finished tomorrow. i've taken a few pics along the way of things and i made my own trans crossmember for the swap. i'm going to whip up a few of them and offer them up for sale if there's any interest in them. the crossmember i made uses the stock frame mounting holes and the stock fox body transmission mount. PF Arcand, i did definitely trim some off the end of my input shaft. i've got pics of all that to post soon too. i just wanted to finish it all up before i post. just checking in with you guys
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By Rowen - 8 Years Ago
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That's fantastic "fastbill"!
Looks like the rain here in NorCal has ebbed at least for a while, so I will start my disk brake conversion and the T5 swap soon myself. I look forward to your pics and descriptions. I may be interested in one of your X members as well.
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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I re-read petew's install link that charlie mcraney posted. Pete covered the install very well and I don't see any need really to go over how I did mine all over again except to maybe touch on the few things I did differently or offer a few tips. My car is kinda rough and is daily driven so forgive some of my pics if it's not all that pretty. One of the things you have to do for the swap is shorten the input shaft. For backyard types like me, I put a yoke in the tailshaft, put a ratchet through the yoke, put the trans in gear and had someone rotate the output shaft while I ground on the input shaft. I know that seems sketchy, but I did it a little bit at a time so as not to create a lot of heat at once. This also let me recreate a consistent bevel on the end like it originally had. p
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Once I had the trans in after much grinding and trying and grinding on the input shaft because I didn't want to grind too much, I fabbed this transmission crossmember. It uses the factory holes in the frame and the stock mustang transmission mount. I actually made two of these. One is in the car and the other is so I'll have a model to duplicate from if you guys have any interest in these. My car is a 55. I imagine that a 56 and possibly t-birds would be the same. I've been driving the car for a few weeks now. Everything seems to be rocking on just fine! 
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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The underside of the trans crossmember
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Like I said, my car is a daily driver work in progress so forgive the ratty interior. It'll be nice one day. I chose to use a shifter from summit. It's a generic summit brand billet shifter for mustang T5 for about $140. It may be Chinese, I don't know, the box says made in USA and it looks like a quality product. The reason I chose it is because it had adjustable stops. I didn't order a shift handle until I'd finished the job because I wasn't sure where it was going to come up through the floor. I didn't want a potentially long shift handle applying excessive pressure on the forks and wearing them out prematurely. So, once I saw where the handle came out I got on the Core shifters website and ordered the Hurst shifter handle I liked which bolts right up. In the pic I have the stock bench seat in the rearmost position and the shifter is in neutral. I'm 6'1” so my seat is staying there haha. Looking at it now with the shift handle I got, I think it might be for a truck but I'm happy with it. I don't think it looks rat roddish (which I hate). I can shift through all the gears while sitting upright and no leaning forward for the upper gears. Plus once it's in 5th I still have room for a female to sit close. Now that I have done this setup, I don't feel that the shifter with adjustable stops was quite so necessary. Especially if you're going to use a shorter stick. 
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Forgot to include a pic of the crossmember installed. Crude pic, I don't have a lift yet so undercar pics are tricky. 
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By charliemccraney - 8 Years Ago
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Nice job on the crossmember. The only thing I'd do differently is put the bolt holes on the side opposite the tubing weld seam. 
If you have not already, smooth that seam so that the washers and bolts clamp properly.
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By fastbillsgarage - 8 Years Ago
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Charlie you're a sharp fella to catch that! hahahah. I agree with you and I caught that during the build process. the black one in the car has the seam on the right side, the bare metal one is the model to duplicate from. good catch sir!
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By petew - 8 Years Ago
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Nice job Bill, the best part is yet to come that being driving the finished product.
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