Jet, if you mean the T56 Magnum, that thing is way larger than the T-5 and would require much more fabrication that I do not have the tools or the experience to do. At least not on the truck I'm looking at. Although, I wish I had known about that transmission back when I still had my '79 F100 Supercab. That thing would have been great behind a 460. Also, considering a stock 223 puts out around 200 ftlbs at 1600 rpm, I don't think boring .030 or .040 and maybe stroking it is going to push me up to 300 ftlbs. I'm sure a T-5 will suffice.

Thanks Charlie for the help with the clutch. I'll have to wait and see what size the original is. Pressure plate out of a car shouldn't be too hard to find, since I'll be cruising the salvage yard. There's all sorts of Mustangs in there from ******* soldiers thinking they're an Andretti. I'm sure I can find a usable T-5 in there somewhere. Right after I posted the question for the steering column I realized I could just use one from a 4 speed, didn't know about the turn signals though. My '79 just had the lever and the pull up switch for the 4 ways. I've also got a classic car salvage yard near the house I might be able to find something in. Unfortunately, LMC doesn't have a full column assembly for 63/64.

 

Oops sorry that was a typo on my part.

 

Hey guys is there a seat clearance problem with a T5 in the pickups

 

To answer a few of the original posted questions.

You can get an alternator to fit in the stock generator brackets. Or you can buy a alternator hidden inside a generator body. The 223 is a good engine, I drove on CA freeways with no issues with power.

The is a few options for the distributor. Check out gofastforless.com for a few ideas on how to use a a Ford TFI or GM module to power the ignition system.

The 4 barrel will be overkill for the 223 unless you find a tiny (400 or less CFM) to add to the intake. The exhaust is one area I would invest in. The better is breaths the more use of power you will get out of it.

Disc brakes are easy for the front. You can read the article on the conversion here on this site. You can buy whole kits or a little at a time if you buy the brackets and hardware from ECI, CPP, or any other place. The rear should be simple to do but I don't think the money thrown at it will be worth the gains.

 

It is close, but it should be doable. You'll need a shifter with just the right bend. I'm using buckets but I took a picture with the stock seat in place and the shifter in 2nd, 4th, or reverse, I can't remember:



You can determine approximately where the shifter will land with careful measurement. Mark the location on the bottom of the cab, find something on the floor to use as a reference point to locate the position from the top (the bead in the floor pan is good). If it looks as close or better than mine, just use the transmission as is. If necessary, making a shift handle will be less hassle than doing the S10 tail housing swap, and you'll have a whole lot of shifter options if you want to get sporty with it.

 

You can always opt for Bucket Seats and install a console !

 

That's what I'll be doing.

I was going to add, I've noticed that some of the bigger trucks have a bench seat that is kinda notched in the middle section. If one of those seats will bolt into the smaller trucks, that will help alleviate the problem.

 

The T5 is also available in the Chevy S10 and you could get a tailshaft from that transmission which moves the shifter around 8-10 inches forward of where the Mustang shifter is. I think a T5 would be great behind my 352, I have seen a lot of T5's in hopped up mustang 5.0, I realize they are the "world class" version of the transmission, but still a T5. I am torn, keep the 4speed manual, go with a T5 with overdrive or go with an AOD or A4OD automatic. The nice thing is that the wife can't drive a manual, the bad thing is she can't drive a manual. Kind of hard to get her to let me spend money on a vehicle she can't drive.

Just remember to have fun with it and make it yours.

 

I was only planning on a 350 (maybe 400) CFM 2 barrel. I had a 400 CCID in my '79 and still only ran a 2 barrel. And I'll take a look at the brake conversion. Thanks.

I was thinking 40/20/40 split bench with the console built into the middle seat. Out of the handful of fabrications I can actually do, riveting in new nutplates to mount the seat is doable. I'm still going with upgrades that look close to stock. Plus, I can nab the rivets and nutplates from work.

I know that a lot of the components are interchangeable between different variations of the T-5, but is the tailshaft from an S-10 and a Mustang interchangeable? I'll be honest, I've never dealt much with transmissions before. The T-5 I pick up from the salvage yard is going to be my first rebuild. Luckily, there's a lot of S-10's on the lot along with Mustangs.

 

The S10 tail housing is an option but do yourself a favor and determine if the mustang transmission will work as is for your particular needs. The s10 swap may not be necessary and there are other issues that go along with it.
I think a 390cfm 4 barrel will work great, and depending on just how wild you go with the engine, bigger may even be beneficial.

 

I'm not going very wild with the engine. I'm not sure how much or even if I'm going to stroke the engine, but I'll probably only bore the cylinder .040 over. The Northern Auto Parts rebuild kit is pretty reasonably priced and I can select what modifications have been done. As I'm going along, it's looking more and more like this thing is going to be taken down to the frame and rebuilt from the tires up. Looks like I won't be getting too bored with my month or 2 of payed terminal leave.

Speaking of the tires, I found the Master Power Brakes conversion kit for the front that includes the dual reservoir master cylinder and a rear brake conversion kit. I'm not really sure what the difference in feel for power and manual brakes though. Any suggestions? Right now I'm just planning on going with manual, then maybe buy the power conversion further down the road to test it out.

 

I did the CPP conversion, and I love it, there are quite a few threads in here about it. It was worth every Penny as far as I am concerned. it made the truck very freeway capable.

 

Wow, the CPP is like 400 bucks cheaper. Thanks.

 

I have the 240 in mine with the three speed it will run freeway speeds. It has 4:11 rear gears My overdrive is currently not working. I usually drive it at 60 for the fuel millage but was in Reno with it yesterday and had a problem at home and it ran 79 the whole way with no problems other than an extra 1/4 of a tank of gas. I have a set of 3:0 gears I will be putting in it some time soon. I like the 3 on the tree it is fun and you dont see a whole lot of them out there anymore. steering is not a problem as long as i keep it lubed and don't try to get to crazy with the tires the wider the footprint the harder to turn.

 

What are the gear ratios for the 3 speed? Has anyone here changed out the gears for different sizes to make the tranny work better with higher speeds?