I finally came across a good deal on a freshly rebuilt (by someone I trust) 1990 Mustang T5 to put behind my Y block. I love the shifting of my 3 speed and the nostalgia of having it on the column but am ready for the benefits of the 5 speed overdrive. If anyone has completed this swap in a mid-fifties truck before I would love to hear what you did as far as clutch pressure plate, shifter selection and driveshaft shortening. I am planning to send a spare bellhousing I have to John Mummert but I'm in SC so I'm not sure how hard the shipping cost are going to hit me on that...I plan to take a lot of before, during and after pictures to put in the gallery as well. Wish me luck!

 

Not mid 50s but I can't imagine that the process will be a whole lot different:

The T5 is in!

 

Thanks Charlie, this really helps. I drive my truck everyday and want to have all my parts and a good plan together before I begin in order to limit down-time. I will try to document my adventure as well as you have in case it serves to help someone else along the way.

 

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Time to get to work! Pulled the 3 speed and swapped the bellhousing with the modified one. Mounted the T5 and measured for the the driveshaft shortening (51 inches). Sent it to the shop today and hope to have back in a couple days. Cut the floor board enough to clear shifter and made new shifter. Have had a rear main oil seal leak for the past 7 years and the oil got into everything. There was so much oil in the bellhousing and all over the clutch that I am suprised it ever grabbed. After the tranny swap is complete fixing that seal will be the next mission.

 

What's your plan for the 3 speed? I'm considering one because finding speedo gears for the T98 with 3.50 rear gears just can't be done. I really don't want to go with an electric speedo and a 'magnets on the driveshaft' sender. GPS speedo's are coming down in price, but come on, this is an old truck. To me, that's like paying a 2 bit hooker five bucks! Plus when I find the proper OD trans I'm set. I already have the 3 speed bell housing

 

Its the original 3 speed so I will probably store it in case I ever decide to go back all original or ever (not likely) sell it and the new owner wants the original equipment. I have a spare 3 speed that could use a new home. I have never seen it in action but it is clean and moves freely. I am in SC.

 

Just curious… Why don't you do the rear main seal while you have it apart? Waiting for the drive shaft?

 

I had the engine supported with a block of wood on a jack stand under the oil pan. Since I have to drop the pan to get to the seal I had to wait until I got the new bell and tranny installed to get to it. The plan was to do the seal during the wait but by the time I got that put on and the shaft to the shop I didn't have time to do the seal (work and sleep and family). I got the shaft back yesterday evening and it fits great. I am going to give it a test run and make sure all is well and then go for the seal. The shop did the shaft in one day which was better than the 2-3 day estimate.

 

Many oil leaks get blamed on the rear main. You are at an excellent point to verify the source of the leak and to take care of it while the transmission and flywheel are out of the way. Since it is a truck, you can have the engine mounted and running without the transmission installed which makes it much easier to spot leaks. The rear main is not a job i would want to do, only to find out that it was not the problem.

 

My thinking was since you had everything out of the way and the engine supported by the bell, it would be a great time to do the rear main, or as Charlie attested to, verify the source of the leak.

Who needs sleep?? Work? Nah!! Family, OK I'll give you that one.

When doing the seal make sure everything is squeaky clean. I like to use The Right Stuff instead of the side seals but everyone has their own preference. Make sure you seal the seal retainer bolts and pan bolts also. But thats for another thread…

 

thanks for the tips. I did verify rear seal while I had the flywheel and clutch off and hope to test run the tranny tomorrow and then get to work on it. I will snap some pictures during the process. I put several in an album yesterday of the T5 going in.

 

Man, what a difference! With the 3-speed I was churning 3200 RPMs at 65 MPH. With the T5 I am around 1800 at 55, and around 2250 at 70. The vibrations, engine roar and noise level are sooo much lower. Should have done this swap years ago! Twice already while driving I forgot to go into 5th gear at highway speed because I was so used to the sound of the engine at that level. Thanks for all the tips from everyone, you all made this project so much easier!

 

I bet most of the vibration was due to the driveshaft. I noticed the same thing when I had a new shaft made, for the 3 speed. Actually, I didn't really notice a vibration with the old shaft but after installing the new one, it was much smoother.

Which rear gear do you have?

Post as much about the install as you can, pics, how you did things, any issues you may have had. I'll make a link to it in my thread about my install on Y-Blocksforever.

 

Here is how I swapped a 1990 Mustang T5 into my 1955 F100. My truck has its original 239Y and 3.92 rear gears.

I would like to say first off that if it had not been for the help of a very good friend (with good tools) and the comments and suggestions of the people on this site and Y-blocksforever, I probably would not have been able to accomplish this task.

I had one week to get his done as my truck is a daily driver and I was using my daughter's car for work while she was home on spring break.

I purchased the rebuilt T5 (yoke and shifter) and had a spare truck 3-speed bellhousing that I got at a swap meet for $20. We modified the bellhousing ourselves because the one I was going to buy from a guy selling one of Mummert's on craigslist didn't pan out and I no longer had time to send mine from SC to CA and back.

I made sure the T5 mated up to the bell before hand and shaved 1/8 off the input shaft and beveled it. I also already had a spare flywheel resurfaced and purchased a Brute Force clutch kit for a 1970 Torino as it worked for my application. (the same clutch kit works for several vehicles). I called John Mummert and got one of his throwout bearings and the clutch linkage bracket ahead of time also.

I disconnected the battery and lifted the truck up onto 4 jackstands. Drained the tranny and disconnected the driveshaft. Unbolted the starter and disconnected the column shifter linkages and speedometer cable. Loosened the motor mounts and raised the motor enough to support it with a block of wood on a jack stand under the oil pan. Removed the 3 speed, then the bellhousing, then the pressure plate and flywheel. They were saturated in oil as I have had a rear main seal leak for 7 years.

I cleaned everything up really well and installed the resurfaced flywheel and new clutch kit. I bolted the modified bellhousing on (clutchfork already on) and then slid the T5 on and bolted it up. I measured for the new driveshaft (51 inches) and took mine to the shop to be shortened and balanced and new U-joints. The shop had it back to me the next day ($135) I filled the T5 with Royal Purple synthetic ATF and then bolted the starter back up and adjusted the clutch linkage.

Had to cut the floor for the shifter to fit and used a clothes hanger to mock up the bends the shifter rod was going to need. We used a 2 foot piece of 1/2 steel rod and heated/bent it to the shape of the hanger. We then threaded one end for the ball and welded the bottom of the original shifter to it for the bolt holes.

While the truck was still in the air I cranked it up and shifted the tranny into first and also reverse. All was good so we dropped it down and took for a spin. Wonderful! The tranny has a long-throw shifter which makes for a wide range of travel on such a long shifter rod. I ordered a short-throw off ebay last night.

Here is the link to my album with some pictures.

Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - Blue 55's Album: T5 swap