General T5 question(s)...Help y'all

[SVOMikey]

I finally crawled under the car. Found I have an `87/88 Stang 2.3 Tranny in there. Never know what you'll get out of Paul Becker's yard!

So, as it's a WC T5, gonna rebuild this winter.

1. Is there a prefered rebuild kit? Motorcraft or other?

2. I remember Mike Fleming mentioning a shim kit. Where do I get it and is there more than one kit, if so, which do I need?

3. Chart says I have #7 spedo drive gear. SVO is a #6. I've always been off 10%. I'm going from 3.45 to the 3.55 IRS SO... I assume I would still be better off to change this to the #6 (like the TBird w/ 3.55 and my tranny). Can this drive gear be purchased? This isn't the lil plastic coloured gear is it?

4. My 1st, 2nd, 3rd ratios are different. Is is worth it to purchase new gears? Would it be cheaper to find another tranny, or should I just live with the really short 1st and keep my tranny?

Sorry if any of this was covered in a prevous thread. Mikey

[SVOeric]

I got my rebuild kit from Hanlon Motorsports.

so your tranny had a tag on it?

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Mikey, there are several conversion charts that have been posted for giving the proper drive gear/driven gear. The gear you mention is the #6 or #7 drive gear inside the tranny. The driven gears on the end of the speedo cable have more teeth (like high teens and low 20's).

[SVOMikey]

Seein colours...

OK, thanks Pat for the refresher on the spedo gears. I don't remeber what color "driven" gear I put in there years ago. I found a nice calc on line but I didn't take the time to look up the math.

http://www.crt-performance.com/speedometers.htm

It says I should have a black 20 tooth gear with 3.55s and ~25in dia tires. So it look like I'll keep the 7 tooth drive gear when I rebuild. I don't remember what I put in there 10 years ago. I've had an orange speedo gear in my glove box for many years now, just checked it's a 20 tooth (for an auto tranny? are they different?).

Yes Eric! I have the only piece of metal to leave Paul's yard with a tag on it. I really couldn't believe it had one on there when I went to look last night.

Oh, just to waste HD space, Here's also a nice pic from this morning looking out my bathroom window. I like fall in CO.

OH, I solved my living so far away problem. I've decided to have Kansas removed from North America. This Leaves Colorado 500 miles closer to the coast! Even the Left coast folks would then be 500 miles closer to KY

[Pat_in_L.A.]

I think you should be able to use the 20 tooth pencil gear that you have, but if you have a speedometer shop nearby, ask them to compare examples side by side for any differences.

[SVOPaul]

Heck, years have passed....you ought to come visit "Paul's world of scattered parts" now!!!

I remember that was a 87-88 2.3 trans...you just forgot


For a rebuild kit or any technical questions definitely call Hanlon....Linda will most likely answer....tell her I sent you. She probably knows as much or more about transmissions than the engineer that designed them and what she doesn't know Bob does....Great people to deal with!!! They also have a diy video available if you want the reference material. This would be a good test to see if you wife will really put up with you....sitting in the living room with a scattered trans on the floor watching a video on how to rebuild it....

[RTStabler51]

I assume I would still be better off to change this to the #6 (like the TBird w/ 3.55 and my tranny). Can this drive gear be purchased? This isn't the lil plastic coloured gear is it?

It can as I just picked mine up yesterday from the local dealership. It is not the little plastic one, its a big plastic on. Its black. I posted the part number in my cable or gear post.

[SVOMikey]

Can you swap the 5th gear?

Paul's world of scattered parts... Just off exit 98 of the Garden State Parkway! Obviously I left much of my brain in your backyard in Baltimore. With my luck, it was prolly packed into a box and sent down to Bama. I’ll find it next time I’m there between boxes of rotors!

So, there was a V6 Stang with a .73 5th gear. It seems to be a nice compromise for high speed touring. Taller than the 2.3, not as bad as the 5.0 5th. Calculator says it would give me 2844RPM @ 80 & 2311RPM @ 65. In CO, we drive more 80 than 60MPH as the speed limit is 75.

As long as my T5 will be all over my living room floor, Can I simply swap out to a new 5th gear or is there more involved? I remember that gears were pricy. Oh, I won’t swap my current 1,2 or 3 as they seem to be identical to the TBird 1,2, & 3 that used a 3.55 rear.

Oh, thanks Ryan! Hope life is good in NoVA these days. Do you know anyone in the NASA racing program by the name of Politi in the Clifton, VA area?

[SVOeric]

if you don't want to change 1-2-3 gears (4th isn't really a 'gear' it just locks the shafts to straight through) then you just need to change both the 5th gear gears.

to change 1-2-3, you need to swap out the counter shaft, and the drive gears.

That make sense ?

[SVOMikey]

Info...

Stolen from the web w/o permission. Here's the speedo drive gear.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2005/12/T5Rebuild/index.php

This is a nice site and has a link to a .pdf of the BW T5 TTC Service Manual

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2002/09/transmissions/LD05-0510-0199.pdf

[SVOeric]

we have that manual in the newsletter section, along with a better id chart

Im using some of the g-force parts in my T5, but I don't use their gears, cause them suckers are LOUD!

[SVOMikey]

That make sense ?

Seein how the last time I saw the inside of a T5, it was the back-alley abortion performed by Mike F. 5 years ago on YOUR tranny... err... no. It would if I took one apart!

Admittedly, Mike did a nice job under the conditions!

[SVOMikey]

More random info… I opened my mouth too quick earlier in the thread. The .73 5th won’t work with the 3.97 1st gear (I think it was the wrong number of splines).
Anyhoo, my BW Id 162 T5 is one of the only T5s that had the bigger input shaft retainer which is now obsolete and the nice aftermarket steel bearing retainer won’t fit my T5. So I ordered the nice rebuild kit w/ bearings, a 6 tooth Speedo drive gear, and a 17 tooth driven gear, which is a good starting point for a 3.55 rear w/ ~25” tires.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Erics SVO]

I think I was there that day you got it. IIRC maybe it was the one that was in Pauls car for a little while? Lord, knows I spent enough time under it pulling the trans several times when he got a bad clutch!

[SVOMikey]

Holy Flying Harleys! Eric! Good to know you’re still alive! It might have been in his car. I bought a TBird drivetrain and the tranny was bad so Paul gave me this one instead (Ithink). Ya never know, Paul has a parts breeding program!
So…I ran across a thread the other day that you commented on YEARS ago. You mentioned that you had an article that I wrote 10+ yrs ago on how to swap from single to dual exhaust on an SVO. Still got that around on the PC? Um… I gotta do it again if I’m gonna add the Cobra IRS exhaust to my 84. I barely remember the finer details of anything accomplished when I still had hair.