Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train suggestions needed for transmission swap donor

The glamour of my old Borg Warner T-96 with !Overdrive! and !Twin Stick! has faded, I'm left with a nicely rebuilt transmission that shifts as slow as molasses on a cold day in Boston. It's gotta go.

I can adapt a T-5 to it fairly easy -- the problem is the lower gears are far too low. I need overdrive (currently 70%, 60% would be OK).

I've got 24" tires, 3.78:1 axle 70% OD makes 2600rpm at 70mph. This is pretty close to overall perfect.

The T-96's first is 2.61:1. The T-5's that fit are 3.5 to 3.97:1 -- too high. Hmm, so I could drive it like a 4-speed... but 2nd is 2.14, which is too low! Screwed. Etc.

I can't find a manual rear drive trans with OD that has anything close to a 3:1 first gear. Am I just S.O.L.?

oh never mind, i'm an idiot -- a bunch of T-5's have entirely reasonable ratios. Plugged them into my spreadsheet, 3.35 first gear is OK. What was I thinking.


Mustang Depot has an adapter MD-401-2103 that might mate up my two components -- trans and bell -- where it matters (bearing retainer) and maybe some of the bolt holes are correct. There's also a CalPony TRA-657-627 that is sorta close.

http://www.mustangdepot.com/OnLineCatalog/Transmission/t5-conversion.htm

So far haven't found the dimensions of the T-5 mounting face. Anyone here have that? Some websites use the four bolt holes to ID a trans but don't give the relation to the center hole (bearing retainer hole) to the four mounting bolts and that's exactly what I need to know.

The ratios I need are available on the 7.18" and 7.85" input shaft transmissions. (The 7.41" shaft transmissions the OD ratio is too low.) The T-96 input shaft is 7.0", so I could shim the short trans iff trans bolt holes overlap the bell housing; the long shaft trans a .85" thick would work, then I could tap or through-bolt to the adapter. I think though the T-5 is MUCH wider pattern than the T-96 which is tall and narrow.

I'm hoping the short-shaft transmissions work out, as there's numerically more versions that work out and being earlier, "weaker" transmissions they're likely cheaper and easier to find.

I will call Mustang Depot tomorrow and see if I can get numbers from them.

I have ran a T5 from a mustang and chevy's. The ford used a longer in put shaft. Chevy's were shorter.
Believe the bolt pattern is like a Chevy muncie or saginaw 3/4 speed.