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When I bought the car it had the original C-4 transmission in it. The trans drove fine and
I put a shift kit in it but it was never what I really wanted. Even on a new car there is nothing
like the feel of a manual transmission for a car with some power. For my daily driver sure I prefer
an automatic, but for this car it wasn't the right option. Especially when you throw in the fact that
the auto had no overdrive (and I had 3.89 gears) and I could never get every last leak out of the 40+
year old transmission. I went through several stages with rectifying this situation...
Phase 1 - part together everything for
a T-5 swap... this lasted a while, but at the time I didn't have the funds to do what I really wanted
so I scrapped this.
Phase 2 - I purchased a good working AOD out of a fox body Mustang with the idea that
atleast I would have the overdrive and it wouldn't break the bank to get it fully functional. I had
read everything about it and was told it can work with the Hedman Headers I had. After doing some basic
measurements of the beast of a transmission and looking at the rest of my setup I realized that best case
this was gonna be tight.. after re-consulting with my source it will work with my new Headman Elite headers,
BUT I will have to cut the headers at the collector and angle them differently and have them re-welded. Ok,
scrap that too, because I am on a budget and don't want to even think about hacking into the new headers that
look great just the way they are. That and the entire back half of my exhaust was going to have to be custom
built as well. This "budget option" was no longer in budget. Luckily when you buy used stuff you can
usually get out from under it without losing money :)
Phase 3 - Now quite a few years down the road and in better position budget wise I started the process back on
a T-5 swap. I got lucky and found a guy that wanted to sell a complete working setup still in car for like $600.
It was in a 93 Mustang GT with incredibly low mileage (like 32K and this was when it was over 20 years old). I got
to drive it and then go back and pull it and drive home with it that night. As a bonus it had a Lakewood bell housing
(new in box), a B&M shifter, and an expensive 50oz flywheel and high performance clutch. After selling the Lakewood, flywheel,
and clutch I was sitting with a good transmission and shifter that I had driven for very little money. Now come the upgrades
and swap parts necessary:
- M-6375-A302B FLywheel
- 100-2801 ARP Flywheel bolts
- Exedy Clutch
- Modern Driveline Crossmember
- Modern Driveline Hydraulic Clutch
- Street and Track Aluminum Driveshaft
- Long Hurst Shifter Arm and Shifter Ball
- T-5 Trans Yoke, Trans Mount, Pilot Bearing
- Lokar Leather Shifter Boot
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