Hey all, I was wondering if anyone had or knew of a zf5 setup for sale. I was wanting to convert my auto truck to a manual. Also, anyone tell me what I may have to change over in this whole process? I want to do a nice factory looking job. thanks

 

I don't have a ZF-5 speed for sale, but I have done this conversion before.
Here is a copy 'n paste of my orignal posting from a while back:




I completed mine about 2 years ago, on a 1992 F-350 4x4.

First off it all depends how "orignal" you want it to look.
You dont need a steering column unless your upgrading to lets say, a tilt from a non-tilt. You just need to take off the shifter, and the column cover and replace it with a cover from a manual tranny equpied truck/bronco. Its he same column. Be sure to zip tie up the internal mechanism that the shifter used to be attached to and permentally tie it in the park position, this is so it will start.

There should be no need for a computer, just be sure to KEEP your old harness pluged in and KEEP your old plastic gear selector box that has a hole in it from the auto tranny selector (its the silly looking plastic box at the end of your pigtail), stick your finger in there and click it to neutral position. If not in neutral, it will NOT start. your computer will think your in netural and start fine every time.

Just keep the old harness intact and pluged in. put a ballon around these end plugs and the plastic gear selector box to keep it weather proof.

There is no way that I have found to splice in to the orignal reverse lights, just run a toggle on the shifter lever or dash and new wires.
You will never again have a neutral safety switch. In order to do that, you would need a complete in-dash harness which is very, very hard to convert. ( I didn't )
So you will have to remember to push in the clutch before you hit the starter, or you just might hit a car or building!

You might need a manual tranny crossmember, I did, because the E40D sits about 1" higher than the manual, doesn't seem like much, but in time it will wear your U-joints out faster and might vibrate. Also my front driveshaft rubbed on the auto's crossmsmber cause there wasen't a big clearance dip like on the manual's crossmsmber. Also you will need a longer rear driveshaft, the manual is about 5-6" shorter than the E40D. You might also need a longer front drive shaft if its a 4x4, I did cause mine is a 4x4. You did not specify if yours was a 4x4.

While the tranny is out, cut that firewall body seam that sticks down about 1.5-2".
Doing this will save a lot of headaches when it comes time to install the manual tranny or down the road when its time to change the clutch. The little "dog ears" that are the top two tranny bolt holes will hit this body seam and bind up when you are trying to align the splines on the tranny shaft to go into the pilot bushing.

Lets see......what else......

Make sure you get a shifter too.
Make sure you get a clutch fork (its the thing that the slave cylinder pushes on to engage the through out berring)

It is best to get a brand new starter, I didn't and my old one was just worn out enough to start to chip flywheel teeth. this down the road cost me about $800 in parts + shop labor to put in a new starter and ring gear on the flywheel. I was push starting my truck for about 7 months till I gave in and had it fixed, it was not fun!!!

Get a new clutch pack from Napa or Autozone. It has the 5 new things you need:
the clutch basket, disk, pilot bushing, through out berring, and alignment tool. Don't skimp on this part, you need all new clutch parts so you dont have trouble down the road. LUK brand clutch seems to be the best for me and many others, it should cost under $300.00 ( mine was $225)


If yours is a 4x4 get the shorter linkage from the manual doner truck/broncos Transfer case. the one for the E40D is WAY too long.

All total minus your time installing it, it should cost no more than $1800.00
unless you get EVERYTHING new.

Please feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.

John

 

seems like theres always a couple for sale on the "other" site in the classifieds.

 

John, thank you so much for your time, it was very helpful. Also, thanks Jake, i will check out that "other site". Only reason I was considering doing this, other than power, was it may even be cheaper than an E4OD rebuild. In your all's honest opinion, will a ZF5 with a good luk clutch setup hold up to basic power upgrades including a chip and stage 1's?

 

vwman-
I have been considering the same swap on my truck. I can't say if John350 is right or wrong, but I have gotten a few variations on what is needed to do this. I have no doubt that John350 has done this but a 92 truck and DIT truck may have more things to take into consideration. If I do this, I don't think I'm going to try this until I have a complete stick shift donor truck standing by. The only other choice is to find a ZF-5 owner who wants to convert to a E4od, and swap parts for parts. So far that has been a hard thing to find.
For all the labor involved and the potential cost, I am really starting to think that I might be better off to sell/trade my truck and buy a 5 spd truck. Even if I take a slight loss it might not be as much as my time and labor would set me back. Also consider that a converted truck will not carry the resale value that a truck in it's stock configuration will.

 

The ZF5 and the LUK clutch is absolutely capible of dealing with that kind of power.
LUK is the only clutch setup known for reducing/eliminating that annoying chatter that happens at times.

Of course there are a few variations to consider when doing a diesel truck, the big one is to get a "ZFS-547" type of manual tranny (for diesel) rather than the "ZFS-542" tranny (for gas), like I did for my 460V8.

It has a higher torque rating, different starter location (drivers side), and a different bellhousing bolt pattern I was told. I know the torque rating part is true, but the others I was just told, and never looked for myself.

As far as the basic wireing harnesses go for the E40D, they are the same diesel or gas.

A complete doner truck is always best, but not always avaliable. The best bet if your really lucky is to get a "apples to apples" doner truck, meaning the same year range, same drive 4x4 or 4x2, same cab & bed configuration exc....... so that you will just have to remove and replace the items without even having to go to the driveline shop!
But most the time the world does not work that way.

It is a worth while conversion if you are mechanically capiable and have the time. (about 2-weeks of after work evenings)

There are a lot of little odds & ends needed as listed previously, but by doing it yourself, you learn alot about our truck, and are proud of a job well done by YOU instead of a "ASE charge by the second mechanic guy"

 

Yeah guys, I guess you are right. The thing is, is that I love MY truck, and its only got 65k on it. that's hard to find. ButI just love driving a 5 speed, and I love the power. The other thing is that it shifts up and down when I want it to, not when its ready to. So guys, tell me some things I can to to like my E4Od. Whats a good converter, sonnax kit, maybe a transgo tugger? Whadda ya think? Thanks again for the replies.

 

theres so many definitions of "stage 1's"

if your talking about beans diesel performance stage ones thoose will smoke that luk, and they beat up a luk cerametallic pretty good too.

ive had best luck with the southbend con ofe for thoose injectors.

the standard luk will hold about 300 rwhp and the cerametallic is supposed to hold 400 but i didnt have good luck with it. it didnt hold 400.

 

Damn, i didn't realize that stage 1's (beans) out out that much power. Well, then answer me this. Will a beefy converter and a transgo tugger kit keep an e4OD in check? MY truck only has 65k on it. But, I must admit, my foot can get heavy at times.