Mopar Muscle Association UK

Will definitely be a cool pit bike

Need to watch how many beers have been consumed before riding the Goped though I suspect!

well i had done nothing for over a year so took friday off a messed about with T5 gearbox.

2001-2004 mustang box
i want to be able to trial fit, in car, any one of the 3 housings i have chevy truck, Aussie GM, and Aussie ford.

The chevy S10 truck housing is a hot-rodders favourite. Perfect for putting a T5 in a truck with a bench seat. (or a TVR) trouble is most hot rodders stick with the older weaker chevy t5. they can bolt them to chevy 350 or 4 or 6 cylinder using oem bell housings
this gives me a problem. i wanted a last-few-years ford t5 for its 300 Ftlb strength and much younger age.

$400 transmission was purchased ages ago safe in the knowledge that it was probably Knackerd
turned out it wasn't bad at all, apart from some chipped teeth on the input shaft no other visible damage...

i want to try this housing because i am perfectly happy to cut a new stick hole further forward in the tunnel. in the area that they hit with hammers and cut-n-shut on the production line. what i don't want to do is cut out the torsion bar chassis member in the middle of the tunnel.

trouble is the Chevy housing won't fit a late mustang t5 due to a problem with housing depth in the spiral section that goes behind 5th gear
it also has the speedo drive in the wrong place. engineering shop needed

The Aussie GM housing is almost perfect except the shiftrail wants to go through the torsion bar cross member. the idea was to cut the shifter rail housing out and use a kinked shift rail off an Australian Chrylser specification 4 speed single rail. this is still the plan however i saw the Aussie ford housing which is longer has a further back shift gate box, ford style as well, and may facilitate the same work with a bit more space to spare. so it is a new arrival.
trouble is it does not have the speedo drive boss machined as the car it was used in, used a magnetic pickup in a hub or diff. engineering shop needed

the latter 2 housings fit perfectly, they are designed for a late ford style 5th gear with reverse idler brake, the spiral in the housing is flat and has a section cut out of the perimeter for the tab on the brake retainer, but both will need a different bush and seal for the yoke i have

the input shaft teeth are chipped. not the end of the world and quite common. BUT having mis interpreted an assertion by a well known US expert regarding spigot bush/pilot bearings, and had his idea backed up by lots of internet postings confirming, i purchased a pilot for dodge and one for mustang and found out via TIB3300 that you can't just do the swap of the bearings. it turns out this only works if you buy both from a specific transmission specialist in the US.... annoying.

so it gave me an excuse to get a new input shaft.

T5s die when the counter shaft tries to exit the case in a south easterly direction. the bearing retainer is a pressed steel spider that also stretches and you loose preload. so i will take off 5th and use the 8mm thick steel plate from Paul at 5Speeds.com. shimmed correctly should be good for 320-350 ftlb i.e way overspecified for my little motor. standard 4 speed good for 250 continuous.

after a morning of dismantling and measuring the work to add in the new retaining plate was supposed to take place in the afternoon but instead it took a few hours to find a local engineering shop willing to undertake some off the other bits of work

vising the local guy was a waste of time 1/2 hour spent explaining only for him to say i'm really busy as he stood smoking, in front a a silent and empty machine shop.... he wanted the whole job, fit box to car, or none of it. The reality didn't match the website of smiling classic car owners and interesting bits of car being milled drilled and welded

eventually found http://www.denebank.co.uk/ who only do one off jobs

perfectly happy to:-
machine down and shrink fit 3/4 inch sleeve to end of new input shaft in a material suitable for use in a roller bearing
replicate the spiral shape of the ford housing behind 5th in the chevy housing
make me a speedo drive hole in the aussie ford housing. you can't really drill it when one side of the hole breaches the output shaft tunnel in the case. need a proper milling machine

They were even happier when i said i didn't need it by monday... seemingly most want it back next working day

1 tail housing will be used and the rest will go back on ebay when the day comes...with a few of their inadequacies fixed.

with the gearbox on the bench every time i pass maybe i'll get on with it this time


Dave

Whilst I understood about 20% of that (I am getting better) I'd just like to add that a good machine shop is an awesome thing. I needed something skimmed on the charger and fellow did it in a fully-kitted workshop in his garden !
I think at this level of modification though Dave you are 'committed' - no takebacks !

morgan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 21 7:49 pm Whilst I understood about 20% of that

I agree, I am continually amazed at Dave's technical knowhow and explanationness (I just made up a word).

I very much consider myself a parts fitter by comparison. I stop at filter changes for transmissions and will venture no further.

gearboxes scare the bejeesus out of me but luckily i can change the bearing support with a big screwdriver some torx bits a dial guage and snap ring pliers


the kit has peal-able shims

you stick in the original with too much new shim and peal it down with a craft knife until you get a preload in bounds with the book

i think it will be awkward but do-able

input shaft on the other hand is a bit of a pig. internally filled with loose roller bearings which if they fall into the case will stick to a magnet in its base, which is only easily accessible if you take out the main shaft, luckily i have a spare set of rollers .

shaft also needs a cup n cone bearing fitted which i think can be done with a bit of pipe and a mallet.
it too needs to be shimmed.... but only once the other end is done and the rear case is bolted up..

i had planned to do it this weekend but, we have a big damp patch in a wall in the wooden building in the garden that liz uses as an office plaster board behind book shelf is a right mess, investigation proved good if rippled exterior paint with not a lot of wood behind it rotted out from the inside, like a volvo 740, presume water getting in somewhere up top and sitting in the internal insulation.
so i have about 30 meters of ship-lap coming and my weekend will be shed/garden office restoration. once done though i can build a shed next to it and it will be MINE all MINE..it will be donated to everyone else so i can have the other shed with electricity and the workbench in, they just don't know the plan...YET

method to my madness

Dave

time flies when you get nothing done

first weekend in a very long time where i could get some uninterputed time to work on the car
so instead of getting a proper job done i fiddled about with odd jobs. anything to avoid taking out the motor to fix the rear main seal...wierd how that happens when it is cold and wet.

I had replaced the accelerator pump rods with longer throw after the HRDs last year, the aim was to get rid of an off idle flat spot
some winter driving has indciated that it did indeed, get rid of it, but the pump shot is now too much when the air and engine is cool, and i can easily flood it. Which i found out at the lights right in the middle of town...

Carbs orginally came equipped with 10 mm pump shot rods which were for a DCD not a DCOE. flat rods ! ? pic to illustrate, dunno why, must have been a parts shortage or something.
I moved to 15 mm rods in october... and sitting in ethonol rich fuel since then has corroded off their plateing.
I wanted DCOE style rods with the round shaft...i waited 3 months for some appropriate 10mm shot rods to arrive and fitted them.
reset Float height and droop
height at standard is 12.5mm from top cover... set at 11.5 to raise level in bowl 1mm. which should bring in the main circuit earlier
all good.
Went for a drive flat spot reduced, at least by different means and i don't drown my plugs with an over long pump shot.

next up to avoid having to do any hard work i hid in the shed and messaed about with the T5
Its been sitting on the bench laughing at me for 18 months and progress has been slow

I've decided to go with the front shift tail housing
this is a 1980s housing and the transmission is a 2000-2004 version
previoulsy i had the housing modified to fit
I'd also removed the 5th gear, its syncro and slider and the 5th reverse shift fork to fit a steel counter shaft support kit.
all work appeared to be successful.
the rear housing and shifter was all fitted up about 9 months ago and i selected every gear and found i could not get into reverse...
i walked away....
since then all parts i have touched have been dismantled and rebuilt numerouse times to establish what i'd done wrong...until i was well and truely fed up with the whole lot...
top cover 5th gear sycnro slider and strut pins etc etc
still couldn't get reverse.

So Turns out it was a simple fix. I just needed a long period of inactivity

The reverse/5th shift rod that holds the aluminium shift fork on the back of the trans is longer on later versions of the transmission becasue the tail housing orginally fitted is of greater volume...
the issue was when changeing into reverse the shift fork movement was not great enough to engage 5th gear becasue the shaft it was on was running in to the housing when bolted down.

3 ways to fix....
Dismantle transmision completely and swap to early set up.. NO
bore case to greater depth... rather you than me... looks to be 5mm thickenss that i'd need to take down to 2-3mm.....
remove the unused profile to the end of the shaft without removing the smooth section that is of appropriate bore for the hole in the caseing it fits into....That will do it...

so the trans was dressed in dust sheets and out came the grinder the file and some 1200 wt-n-dry....

in my excitement i failed to take photos but I now have a trans that will shift into all gears...Yay!

next was to put on a better shifter than the rusty old chevy one

shifters for ford transmissions cheap and often chinese
shifters for chevy transmissions different size and bolt spaceing and way more expensive

I chopped up a ford base and drilled it to fit the chevy housing
then disovered bad threads in 1 hole in the housing. the only failure on the day... i can deal with that helicoil here we come.

Topped it off with a CUBE "get your shift togther" Its an Aussie Brand, swept back stick, and a Scat branded T handle off a custom VW shifter

Now the whole thing needs to come apart (gears will stay in place) for a flush out and the application of the torque wrench and appropriate sealant

Dave

Ready for The Ace Cafe then?

well it should get there without flooding

would be a bit akward if i got stuck at the lights at hanger lane...

My car has a pre 1972 Australian standard setup for lights.
my side lights and front indciators are in the same unit, and both were designed to flash white. i.e a standard offset bayonet twin filamnet bulb is used for candle power side lights and a slighty more powerful flash for indicator.
both white and not totally legal

I've been running around with the bulbs painted in amber tinted 2 pack clear coat, which was slowly burning off.
lumination in general was also a bit rubbish.
I've also had an issue where the flash of the indicators has got faster and faster as the years progressed and recently had reached a point of about 90% on. double or triple the standatd flash rate.

I was also conscious that lighting to the rear was also poor

A Combination of parts was purchased
for my front side/indicator i purchased a set of "switchback" LEDs. 1157 offset bayonet 2 filament
white side light
amber indciator
if side light is on and indciator is triggred side light is automatically switched off
when the indicator is cancelled, the side light is auomatically switched on, after a pause for 1 flash
1157 offset bayonet negative earth .
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/produc ... 7ae2&_ss=r

these would be good for you guys who use the same unit for reversing lights and indicators on Euro converted US cars


for the rear indicators, i have a single filament 1156 bulb. normal bayonet single filament
so after measuring the depth of housing I had to work with, i got these
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/produc ... 6968861514.

and of course i needed an appropriate flasher unit
my car has a 2 pin flasher, so i purchased this
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/produc ... 1097903213

Things to note about the flasher. It is designed for UK classics, negative earth. Although the 2 contacts fit the Aussie connector perfectly. arranged as an L, angled, spade pair. The allocation of (X) Live and (L) to indicator switch, is oposite from the connectors orientation i.e X and L in the exact oposite from where they need to be.
The flasher unit is also mugh bigger and needs a dedicated earth


This meant it needed to be mounted under the dash, in a new position, becasue it didn't fit the orginal clip/recess welded onto the dash upright.
I had to make two small wires to cross over the connections . basically two female spades 2 male spades and assocaited rubber inuslators
I had to drill a hole in the under dash structure for a self tapper and a spikey washer to clamp the earth lead contact

I used cable ties and the natural V in the dash support structure to hold the flasher in place and wired it up.
had I been doing this on a dismantled car i would have welded or screwed down a metal mounting bracket to use with the rubber strap that comes in the box with the flasher.
That wasn't going to happen when working through the ash tray aperture and the holes in the top of the dash when the pad is removed.
in this position the flasher makes quite a good loud and sonorous click through the dash box that reminds me of a mk3 cortina.

needless to say, success...
The front side lights are as bright if not brighter than my dipped headlights
the side light swiches out, and the idicator takes over perfectly, within a fraction of a second and switches back afterwards
at the rear if i'm turning left or right you can see me from space....

while i was at it i stuck in a set of LED 1157 RED/RED tail/stop bulbs i had purchased off ebay ages ago.
These too were very good and give a nice red glow. however they feel cheap and the detail from the order about brightness/ luminosity is obvioulsy a fabtrication when compared with the quality bulbs i got from classic car LEDs. The classic LED bulbs are 600 Lumin the red tail ones are supposed to be 700/900. lies lies lies and decite.
so the ebay purchases will get replaced with these

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/produc ... 0ce8&_ss=r


On the whole, a couple, of hours well spent.
provided they last
supposed fto have a 50,000 hour life compared with 5000 for a bulb... we'll see.

apolgies about the rear indicator photo, trying to catch full flash and the brightness just messed up the auto focus every time.

Dave

Nice bit of useful tech Dave!

if i had the hands of a tiny child and an elbow mid way up my wrist i could have swapped the females in the grey plastic connector and just plugged the flasher in.
would have been OK as the flasher unit now installed doesn't care if its a bulb or an LED or any combo of the two. its a timer circuit that switches regardless, and doesn't need much if any resistance in circuit to work, does need some flow of current though so no click.. bulbs are out.

quite pleased with the results and the fact that the bulb holders, which seem to have just a card board/fibre insulator in the base betwen bulb and spring, didn't fall apart.

each of the bulbs has a beam magnifier like a fat magnifiing glass in the end which seems to disperse the light well enough. its plastic and exposed to the heat of the LEDs so might need a poilish in a few years time.
swapping it for a blue one might be interesting Blue dot tail lights without the blue dots.


there will be other flashers and other bulbs just as good.... but this seemed to work well enough and used a small UK company as well.

dave

Looks good Dave and the White/Amber LED should be useful for all American side lights.

I tried an LED a few years back for the front side, but the white would no switch off when indicator was on, so Amber was not visible as much, but this one you have seem to be the next stage of tech and switches off when Amber is on

yeah i was impressed work really well. literally like having 2 seperate lamps ...

Excellent! Need a fresh cup of coffee to re-read that, but very useful update.

I like that!