Hello!

I'm building a '31 Ford roadster with a 289 V8. I'm posting here because I'm interested in a Ford truck transmission--the M5R2--that no one but Ford truck guys seem to know anything about.

The thing I like about the M5R2 is the shifter location. The shifter location on a Mustang T5 ends up underneath the bench seat on the roadster, and I dislike the boomerang-shaped shifters I've seen hacked together to work around the problem

Price is also an issue. Either a T5 with a modified shifter location or a Tremec 3550 with a forward-mounted shifter will work, but they both cost well over a thousand dollars.

So I'm looking at the M5R2 as an inexpensive, lightweight, readily available option, but I've never driven a car with one.

What is your opinion of the M5R2? Do they shift smoothly? Should I get something else?

 

I have the M5R2 in my 93 F150, replaced at 115K miles, these transmissions aren't cheap and will also cost around $1K for a rebuilt unit. I personally dislike the transmission, it is very loud and shifts poorly.

 

I dont think I'd like one of those in a car either. They dont always shift real nice. The T-Bird SuperCoupe that my wife drove had the same basic transmission and I really disliked it in that. A T5 shifts much nicer. Jeeps use a T5 with a forward mounted shifter but I'm sure it would be too difficult to make any of that work. I thought I saw somewhere that there was a T5 with a forward mounted shifter and a more normal extension housing but I cant remember where I saw that.
You might want to check out the forums at www.fordmuscle.com and see if anyone there has any ideas. There are some major gearheads there

 

Ah, that's what I was afraid of. Oh, well.

By the way, I think I know the T5 you saw--it's probably the way I'll end up going:

http://www.moderndriveline.com/images/t-5shifterfor.jpg

It's a Mustang T5 mated to an S10 T5 tailshaft. Costs about $600 over the cost of a rebuilt T5 for the conversion...