Also, let us know what your cruising rpm ends up on the Highway, & how the cam & other combos tolerate pulling in  OD.

Will do!  I'll be using bucket seats but I'll throw the bench seat back in for some pics.

It should work out to something like 2250rpm at 70mph.  That should have it in the power band.  We'll see how it is in reality.  I like that the 1st gear will make it like putting a 4.11 in!

          sure wish I could afford to put one in my truck. Any used ones I find out  here in Vegas are like $500.00 with no garrentee's. I'd just buy a new one if I'd do that anyway and then I know what I have. Thats a big step on your truck though, getting that put in. I'm sure they'll be quite a difference when you get done.

                                                   Michael

It's not the most elegant.  I have to do a little bit of grinding to get it to fit a little easier between the brackets.  I can't offer much tech on the crossmember because, frankly, I don't know what I'm doing.  This is my first crossmember so it is a learning experience.  I am glad to say that my welds are getting better!  Still not really nice to look at, though.

One other thing I did before torquing the rear motor mounts is centered the transmission between the frame rails.  There is some casting flash that runs down the center of the transmission.  I used that flash, at the output shaft to get it all centered.

         make sure and save the patterns/templates that you made up. I think there would defiently be a "market" for those down the road for other people doing the same thing. I for one would be interested once I get a little more $$$ saved up. That is an excellent job your doing on it, very very professional work.

                                                                                 Michael

And started work on the shifter boot.  I got a Lokar unit that should look quite nice once installed.

A friend helped with this one.  I had him mark the holes, trying to keep the pattern square with the bead in the floor pan.  Note that there is not enough room for the front two holes.  With this particular shift boot, it cannot be avoided.  The hole in the floor is barely large enough to get the shifter bolted to the transmission.

To overcome this I had him make an adapter of sorts out of 16 gauge steel.  This will be held to the floor with all but the front 2 bolts.  This will allow me to completely fasten the bezel to the floor.  I'll make a rubber gasket to seal this to the floor.

I decided to cut out the circle rather than making it exactly like the bezel for two reasons.  It should add a significant amount of rigidity to the front and hopefully make a good seal with the gasket.  It will also keep more road crud out.

It's starting to look Good!  I should have the shift boot completed this week.

Here are a few pics with the bench seat in place.

It will require a shifter with an immediate bend forward.  It is not as far back as I had expected.  I think I'll need something that bends a little toward the driverside.

I try to CAD model anything I can get the appropriate measurements for.  So if anyone needs patterns I may be able to help.  Many of these are one off sorts of things that may not apply to every truck.

I then made a rubber gasket for the adapter plate.  For this I just placed the bezel on a sheet of rubber and carefully cut out the shape with a razor.  I marked the centers with the scribe and cut out the holes with a hollow punch.  A leather punch will probably be easier but I don't have one.  Hopefully this will be enough to seal the plate to the floor.  I used 1/32" thick High-Strength Multipurpose Neoprene Rubber.  It is oil resistant, abrasion resistant, impact resistant, weather resistant, and flame resistant.  All sound great for use in a car!

And here it is all together!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished adapter plate.  I'm sure you can guess by now that I painted it black.  Note the completed floor pan!  The old speedo cable and drive gear seem to bolt right in and seems to be real close to it's original location.  I'll see how that works once I am able to drive it.

Now I just have to figure out what's going on with the clutch.  I'm sure I'll have more to post about that.  But this should pretty well cover the installation of a T5 in a 61 F100 and is probably mostly the same for the other years.

I'm not sure if this would have been an issue with an original style plate.  I'm calling original the ones which have a screw in each of the 3 fingers which is adjusted and welded.  The plate I'm using has no screws.  I'm not sure, but I also suspect that the wear pattern of the 3 fingers will be closer to center on the bearing surface with an original pressure plate.  I have both plate styles and I'll try to remember to take a picture.  I also have my old bearing somewhere.  That will help confirm my theory.

I'm going to try to have my friend remove the flange on his lathe and tig weld the sleeve into the bearing hub tomorrow.  I've also cad modelled the hub for the stock 1 3/8 input transmission with stock bearing, and T5 using the stock bearing.  I will also design one for the T5 and and Mustang bearing ,which will work with the truck clutch fork, when I get a hold of a Mustang bearing.  This way sleeves won't have to be dealt with and Mustang clutches will be easy to use.

You gotta love Bill and Reed’s sense of humor.  Shifter is made out of piece of rebar with a bicycle handlebar grip which definitely keeps with the ‘hillbilly’ theme of the truck.  For those of you that haven’t seen it, the turbo charger and associated piping under the hood is a work of art and runs good too.  Here’s pics of both.

    The truck is really neat, the tubo setup is going to be awesome when they get it dialed

However, I've discovered another problem.  The throwout bearing hub is too wide and has no play between the fingers of the pressure plate and the transmission.  So the clutch slips.  I don't know if this is the case with every T5 or just the Ford Racing T5.  I had noticed that getting the transmission the last 1/16" was difficult.  I just did not notice why until today.

Anyhow, after seeing this I figured it would slip but I had to take it for a drive around the block.  Even with the clutch slipping it felt awesome!  I think, once I have it all figured out, it will be about the same magnitude as the new engine last year!

So the next step is to find out how much shorter the bearing hub has to be and, probably, to have a hub made.  I don't think the stock hub could be reliably made shorter.  Is there a minimum or maximum freeplay I should aim for.  I think 1/8" shorter will do the trick.

I did get a good video for youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-N1uP7m3b4  And I'm working on the Y-block Shootout videos.  I have 4 up so far.

        Is it possible another throwout bearing or pressure plate would be shorter?

It just occured to me that I'm assuming the 86 - 93 Mustang Pressure plate will just bolt up to my flywheel.  Anyone know if this is the case?  They use the 10.4" diaphragm clutch.  I'm using an 11" long clutch.

        I dunno! Maybe a parts store would let you match one up to your Long PP.

The Mustang pressure plates typically use metric bolts of the non-shouldered variety and use three dowel pins equally spaced to maintain pressure plate alignment on the flywheel.  If the pressure plate bolt holes can be made to match up with the existing threaded holes in the Y flywheel, then the holes in the pressure plate may have to be made slightly larger in which to accommodate the shouldered bolts.  If only three of the holes align up, then it's easy enough to drill and tap the remaining three holes using the original three as a centering reference.  I’m an old hand at redrilling flywheels for completely new pressure plate bolt patterns when the bolt holes do not line up so that’s a possibility also.

       You reminded me of something, I've got one of Mummert's wheels also. I'm using a diaphragm pressure plate with a Kevlar disc behind it. I know the diaphragm isn't supposed to be strong enough for anything serious, but it works, breaks u-joints! Anyhow you can get a diaphragm from a local driveline dealer or if that fails I'll get one fom South Bend Clutch or Fort Wayne and ship it......or try RAM, they're in NC. The real question is, is it shorter? John Mummert might have that answer too.     

I used the 10.5" 5.0 mustang application on one of Mummert's steel flywheels.

I cannot believe how tough that clutch is!  I have really abused it and have a ton of street miles as well as dragstrip launches and it does not miss a beat.

The clutch worked so well I was able to break a bunch of T5's until I went to the Tremec TKO.

Powershifting into 3rd is where the T5's let go, so be gentle on the 2-3rd shift with a T5 and it should last awhile. It was knocking the teeth right of the gears.

You will love 5th gear on the highway.  Mine cruizes at 2150 at exactly 70 mph with 4:11's and 30" tall rear tires.

The low first gear is a major plus driving around town as well.

       Tremec transmission from the t-5? My F-100 has the hyd. clutch and

       I am using Mummert's adapter.   

                                            Thx Bill

So, if you do this conversion get some clutch kit with a diaphragm plate.  If you can afford it, have your flywheel drilled for the 1986 - 1993 mustang or, even better, get one of Mummert's billet flywheels which are already drilled, so you open the door to a seemingly limitless number of aftermarket options.  Also get one of Mummerts throwout bearing assemblies.  It is a hub which uses a mustang bearing and allows the use of the trucks fork.  And always make sure the flywheel is flat - even if it is bran new - and get it balanced - It will be worth the extra money.

I'll add some pictures and try for a more fluid and clear post later.  I'm tired and I'm going to bed. 

And here are some showing Mummerts truck T5 bearing compared to the stock with the reducer sleeve installed.

The bearings hubs are about the same height but the diaphragm plate comes out about 1/2" shorter at the fingers so there is plenty of room.  All of the linkage seems to work fine.  I have about 50 miles on it now - been driving it every day - and it is great.  I can tell the engine really likes it.  So now, those of you contemplating a T5 swap should have a very good idea what will be involved.  It's not as difficult as you might think and it's definitely worth the time, sweat, and money.