vegiguy
New member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2008
- Location
- Newton, Kansas
I'm doing a clutch job on my '83 242 with a b23 in it and am having a hard time bringing myself to put the m46 back in it because I hate just about everything about it: it's heavy, has a stump pulling first gear that is unusable once the car is moving from more than a crawl, and the laycock overdrive is overly complicated and prone to not working, not to mention you that that button on top of the shift knob so you have to be careful how you hold the knob when you shift so you don?t accidentally activate the overdrive when you don?t want to.
Since M47's are getting to be rare as hen's teeth, plus they aren't that great of a transmission from what I've read. I'm contemplating a T5 swap unless someone here can fill me in on any other options of transmissions that would be better or more readily available given that stickshift stuff is getting pretty scarce, at least where I'm at. I have done transmission swaps on other makes of cars so I know some of what I'm up against. My goal is to do something that uses as many readily available service parts (throwout bearing, clutch disc, etc) as possible and doesn't end up costing an arm and a leg. If I do this I plan on doing the machining work myself since I have access to this equipment and have experience making custom parts.
I didn't know whether to ask these specific question about the T5 on the old T5 thread - which I've read through - or here since the T5 thread seems to have fizzled out over a year ago and seemed to refer as much or more to 700 and 900 series cars than the 240, so forgive me if these questions should be there.
After calling salvage yards, transmission shops, scouring Craigslist and facebook marketplace it looks like the only rebuildable T5 cores within reasonable driving distance are mainly Camaro and possibly later (post 1993) model Mustang V-6 units. Also I found one older 2.3 Mustang T5 listed, but from what I have read 2.3 Ford T5s have a stump puller 3.97 first gear similar to the 4.03 Volvo 1st. I think a megasquirted NA Volvo with an "A" cam should be able to handle a little higher 1st gear.
It looks like the GM F-body and later Mustang V-6 T5s have slightly (3/4??) longer input shafts than the early V-8 Mustang T5s that most of the ready made kits seem to be designed for, so if I make a thicker adapter plate to compensate for this to get the right amount of input shaft stick out from the front of the bellhousing will this put the shifter too far back in the floor opening for the 240? Then I will either need to shorten or replace the input shaft and use the right thickness of metal to make the adapter plate, which I?m guessing would need to be be somewhere around 1/2? thick.
Re the pilot bearing: it looks like the Camaro 2.8 V-6 T5 pilot bearing ID is only .002 more than the Volvo's so the that T5?s input shaft could probably be made to fit the Volvo pilot bearing with a little persuasion. The Mustang 3.8 bearing appears to be the same as the V-8 and fits the back of the Volvo Crank since it has the same OD (as mentioned in the old T5 thread).
The T5 thread mentions several throw-out bearing part numbers: does anyone know if these are still good or are the best one to use, or is there a better one? The Camaro 3.8 clutch disc is even smaller than the 2.3 Ford clutch disc that the old thread mentions fits so either should fit the flywheel as I see it.
Basically the way I see it the later Mustang 3.8 V-6 T5 and the GM F-body 2.8 V-6 T5 look like fairly similar gearboxes as far as how well they would go behind a 240 with red block engine. I would appreciate very much any more information on this that might be helpful, or any other transmissions more readily available today used that be worthwhile to consider for replacing the m46 with.
Since M47's are getting to be rare as hen's teeth, plus they aren't that great of a transmission from what I've read. I'm contemplating a T5 swap unless someone here can fill me in on any other options of transmissions that would be better or more readily available given that stickshift stuff is getting pretty scarce, at least where I'm at. I have done transmission swaps on other makes of cars so I know some of what I'm up against. My goal is to do something that uses as many readily available service parts (throwout bearing, clutch disc, etc) as possible and doesn't end up costing an arm and a leg. If I do this I plan on doing the machining work myself since I have access to this equipment and have experience making custom parts.
I didn't know whether to ask these specific question about the T5 on the old T5 thread - which I've read through - or here since the T5 thread seems to have fizzled out over a year ago and seemed to refer as much or more to 700 and 900 series cars than the 240, so forgive me if these questions should be there.
After calling salvage yards, transmission shops, scouring Craigslist and facebook marketplace it looks like the only rebuildable T5 cores within reasonable driving distance are mainly Camaro and possibly later (post 1993) model Mustang V-6 units. Also I found one older 2.3 Mustang T5 listed, but from what I have read 2.3 Ford T5s have a stump puller 3.97 first gear similar to the 4.03 Volvo 1st. I think a megasquirted NA Volvo with an "A" cam should be able to handle a little higher 1st gear.
It looks like the GM F-body and later Mustang V-6 T5s have slightly (3/4??) longer input shafts than the early V-8 Mustang T5s that most of the ready made kits seem to be designed for, so if I make a thicker adapter plate to compensate for this to get the right amount of input shaft stick out from the front of the bellhousing will this put the shifter too far back in the floor opening for the 240? Then I will either need to shorten or replace the input shaft and use the right thickness of metal to make the adapter plate, which I?m guessing would need to be be somewhere around 1/2? thick.
Re the pilot bearing: it looks like the Camaro 2.8 V-6 T5 pilot bearing ID is only .002 more than the Volvo's so the that T5?s input shaft could probably be made to fit the Volvo pilot bearing with a little persuasion. The Mustang 3.8 bearing appears to be the same as the V-8 and fits the back of the Volvo Crank since it has the same OD (as mentioned in the old T5 thread).
The T5 thread mentions several throw-out bearing part numbers: does anyone know if these are still good or are the best one to use, or is there a better one? The Camaro 3.8 clutch disc is even smaller than the 2.3 Ford clutch disc that the old thread mentions fits so either should fit the flywheel as I see it.
Basically the way I see it the later Mustang 3.8 V-6 T5 and the GM F-body 2.8 V-6 T5 look like fairly similar gearboxes as far as how well they would go behind a 240 with red block engine. I would appreciate very much any more information on this that might be helpful, or any other transmissions more readily available today used that be worthwhile to consider for replacing the m46 with.
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