Can anyone recommend a reliable source and a quality rebuild kit for the fox era T5?

MS wrote:

The 93 and earlier T5 input shaft is still 3/4” longer than your old three speed, so the adapter works out perfect. Fox driveshaft is way too short for a 70. You will stil need to shorten the 70 shaft 3/4”.
If using the adapter, you will use the old three speed bellhousing and z-bar linkage. And shorter drive shaft. And a crossmember from MustangSteve.

That's what I did, but I did not have to shorten the drive shaft.  Used an adaptor.  That way I could still use the stock bell housing and clutch linkage.  Much simpler and easier installation than using the later bell housing.  But, make sure the adaptor is properly centered on the flywheel.  Some have a little slop which can give a hard to find vibration.

Test the ds for fit before you start cutting.
 

HudginJ3 wrote:

I thought that this subject should be taken out of the "What did you do to your Mustang today" post???

MS----The 94 T5 has a longer input that the more desirable (for retrofit) 93 and earlier. If you don't change out the input shaft, then you have to use the 1994-95 bellhousing, which has the cable entry bracket clocked lower on the driver side. That is great on a 94-95 Mustang, but will very nastily interfere with the power steering lower ram on a 70 Mustang. If you converted to Borgeson box, I think you are OK.
There is not a good cable clutch system available for the 70, so you have to go with the old horse/buggy z-bar or hydraulic. If you use the z-bar, you will have to use a tranny adapter plate instead of the better T5 bellhousing.

MS-----I learned my lesson on used T5’s many years ago. Since then, nothing but brand new or Buzek-built will do. And, honestly, I have had better luck with Buzek-built than the new ones.


TKO------150k miles its definitely time for a rebuild. Personally I'd just change the input shaft to the '85-'93 one. The SN95 bellhousing was a two year only offering, whereas the Fox ones are much easier to find.

T5s take a beating in use. Be prepared to replace the reverse idler gear, the 1/2 slider, and likely the 2nd speed gear at a minimum. I've yet to rebuild a T5 that didn't need at least the first two. The 2nd speed gear takes a beating from hard 1/2 shifts, usually with a factory shifter. Do yourself a favor and get a Pro 5.0.

One trick that is inexpensive to get a T5 a bit more durability is to install a billet countergear rear bearing retainer. This allows you to preload the countergear by 0.003", which eliminates oscillation induced failures common with the stock stamped retainer. The mainshaft should get the same preload. Its not going to magically make the gears stronger, or eliminate mainshaft flex, but it will be better than stock. In the right application it can mean the difference between survival and breakage.

MS. You say I need to change it over to use the shorter input shaft and an adaptor. Won't the adaptor require the longer input shaft? I installed the Borgeson power steering and removed all the hydraulics associated with the power steering except the pump. I was planning on using the Z bar but I sometimes read that it will get in the way of the shorty JBA headers. Do you know if that's correct?

TKO. I thought I would build the tranny myself. I've done a few standard transmissions back in the late 60's and 70's. I'm a little nervous about what I don't know about the T5. Like the parts I should replace vs the parts I need to replace. Is there a manual that you could recommend on the information your are suggesting?

I got the drive shaft out the Mustang that the T5 came out of and put the yoke into my old 3 speed. I also got the AOD driveshaft and it fits into the 3 speed. Knowing that will the existing driveshaft work with the T5 install?

As far as rebuilding them they aren't all that hard.  I have the Tremec service manual, which is all I've ever used to rebuild them (there were no videos or YouTube when I started rebuilding them).  There are a couple tricks, like most things.  Daze and I were talking about them on another thread, let me see if I can track it down and post a link...
 

With all the projects I have going on I'll be taking it apart later. I need to clean it before I start. It has engine oil all over it. I've watched 4 of those videos by Paul Cangialosi, doesn't seem like it will be too complicated. He had it apart in two minutes and back together in less than an hour. ;)   Thanks for the offer I'm sure I'll be contacting you TKO.
I've been gathering up everything needed to install it.   ----   So is there a seal of some sort that goes between the transmission and the tunnel to keep the oil and road trash out of the car? I know there is one that goes on the top. Am I going to need to reposition the hole in the floor for the shifter or will the adaptor plate take care of that?

    This is what I came up with , The rubber boot is a regular T5 shifter cover . Made a metal plate and covered it with two layer of Killmat ,Cut the hole a little small in the killmat sealed the edges with foil tape.

From what I've read. The shifter sit more foward.if you were to move the motor back 1/2 inch or less it may have cleared .I  just trimmed the tunnel hoop a little. Again this is a T5 .

I haven't seen a stock shifter.I used a pro 5 and would think the cover is much thicker. But by trimming it I can get to the cover with no problem.

HudginJ3 wrote:

With all the projects I have going on I'll be taking it apart later. I need to clean it before I start. It has engine oil all over it. I've watched 4 of those videos by Paul Cangialosi, doesn't seem like it will be too complicated. He had it apart in two minutes and back together in less than an hour. ;) Thanks for the offer I'm sure I'll be contacting you TKO.
I've been gathering up everything needed to install it. ---- So is there a seal of some sort that goes between the transmission and the tunnel to keep the oil and road trash out of the car? I know there is one that goes on the top. Am I going to need to reposition the hole in the floor for the shifter or will the adaptor plate take care of that?

It took me a lot longer than 2 minutes to dissasemble mine. And many hours to put it back together. I purchased all the parts from www.thegearbox.org. 

I used Dr. Tranny Assemblee Goo to put mine together. 

I used a 1967 ford Mustang shift boot to cover the hole in the trans tunnel.

 

I am not a user of Metric hardware so am not totally familiar with it. I need to know what bolts hold the shifter cover on and what bolts are used to attach the mount to the transmission. They didn't come with it.

Got the T5 mostly broken down yesterday. It's not without it's issues. Sorta glad I did it. This Tranny has a synchronize reverse and I am guessing that it was put into reverse at to high of speed. There is a piece with a tang on it that goes into the tail shaft housing casting that is gouged it out and the tang is cracked on both sides of it. The little gear that sits by itself (Reverse??) is ground down pretty good. The gear it goes against looks OK though.?? I haven't disassembled the main shaft yet but I found several pieces of what looks like might have been a shim stuck to the magnet. The synchro frictions are all one piece. The bearings look real good and feel good. I can't get the little gear shaft out. Guess I'll have to destroy the bearing to do that. But I'm wondering why do I need to take it out. The gear shifter paddles(?) are worn to wide according to Canialosi. Is that what the Pro 5.0 is supposed to fix?

Reverse works by engaging an idler gear which allows the mainshaft to rotate backwards.  The is diving the input shaft, which is driving the countergear, which is driving the idler gear, which is driving the mainshaft.  The mainshaft is being driver by the idler spinning the 1/2 slider.

The small gear that is trashed is likely the reverse idler (inside the maincase off to the side on its own small fork).  If that gear is roached, chances are the 1/2 slider is also torn up.  If the teeth are not crisp and pointy replace the gear and slider.  This occurs from people not putting the trans into 2nd before engaging reverse.  The proper technique is clutch in, shift into 2nd gear, then into reverse, clutch out to move in reverse.  This aligns the 1/2 slider and allows reverse to engage without gear clash.  Failing to do it results in gear clash, and you've seen what that causes. 

Reverse is sometime referred to as synchronized in certain T5s, though its extremely rare, and no Fox era T5s were synchronized in reverse.  Those that were had two brass syncho rings, one on the 5th gear, and one on the other side of the 5th gear slider.  Most T5s have a stamped metal plate there to keep the keys from moving forward, followed by a snap ring.  Those with the two brass rings are considered to be synchronized in reverse, which is frankly absurd, since this slider doesn't have anything to do with reverse, as reverse has its own fork.  Given how reverse is engaged, thee is effectively no way to actually synchronize it. 

The pads on the forks are replaced by the rebuild kit.  The Pro 5.0 shifter prevents you from doing things like say hitting reverse instead of 4th gear, which is likely what caused the damage you are seeing.  The Pro 5.0 also provides positive gear engagement and limit stops to prevent overtravel of the sliders and bending/breaking a shift fork. 

Get a rebuild kit.  There's no point in having it this far apart and not doing a full rebuild. 

The reverse idler gear shaft is removed by driving out its retaining roll pin. 

The OEM bearings in the T5 were actually Koyo, but any common kit is going to have either Koyo, Timken, or SKF; all very good bearings.  A full rebuild kit is going for about $350 right now regardless of source.  One thing most of kits omit is the 1st gear caged needle roller bearing and race.  I always replace that; it adds like $25 to the cost, but its good peace of mind. 

You do indeed have what they refer to as synchronized reverse.  You will likely need to buy an additional 5th gear synchro ring, as mot kits only have 1.  The inner cone should also be replaced, and will need to be purchased separately.

I would smooth out the damage to the tailshaft and reuse it.  It could be welded and remachined, but I don't see any reason to do that.  The damage to me looks like it was caused be someone bolting the tailshaft housing on with the tab on the inner cone for the reverse synchro in the wrong place.  Judging by the damage to the tab and the case I'm 90% sure that's what caused it.  That tab has to be clocked right or the tilshaft housing won't seat fully.  This looks like someone drew it onto the maincase with the bolts and gouged the case while fracturing the tab on the inner cone.  The damage is in a noncritical area.  If the bore was damaged I'd say replace it. 

The fork pads will be included with the rebuild kit.