245 T5 Swap Driveshaft Rubbing?

Squad:

Car is 93 245 with a T5 transmission swap. Auto to manual.

Was able to drop the trans, peel all the crap off and get my ring gear installed today and bolt everything back together. Only took about 4 hours tbh.

Moved the car for the first time and the driveshaft (aluminum 1 piece mustang driveshaft with adapter) scraped on my passenger seatbelt bolt. I added a few washers to space it out, but it seems like it's still going to hit on bumps.

Whats the logic here? Do I have my trans too high? Grind the bolt down? Hammer the tunnel? What?

Grinded the rear seat belt bolts down and cleared with no issues. Also had the mustang driveshaft and yoshifab adapter.

Edit: Wait, what's the diameter of your aluminum driveshaft? I remember them being a little bit bigger than the steel driveshafts. See below for the steel driveshaft info.

Same situation. Probably ok for a street car but not going to work for my rallyx car. I trimmed the seatbelt bolts and did some tunnel hammering but still gouged a rut into the driveshaft at the last rallyx using the yoshifab adapter and steel foxbody driveshaft.

Again, not likely an issue on a car that doesn't see full articulation so trim the bolts and get out the 3lb sledge and you should be good to go with the setup.

I have a one piece steel driveshaft. I trimmed the seatbelt bolts, hammered at the back end of the tunnel, and last but not least added a spacer to the diff nose bump stop.

Check the condition of your trailing arm bushings (and others). Worn out ones can reduce the clearance in the tunnel by more than an inch.
Dave B

Good intel.

The aluminum DS is the one from Summit, and now that I look at it... I think it's actually 3.5 inches. vs. the stock Mustang or Aerostar ones are 3 inches. FML.

I added a bunch of washers to the seatbelt bolt to move it outboard a bit. I'll probably grind it off today then.

Dave... good info on those bushings. My rear end is basically new EXCEPT for the trailing arm bushings (which I have here) but GD does it look like it's a pain in the dick to do.

I suppose the trick then will be to get out there with the grinder and the sledge.

Unrelated/kind of related. My shifter (stock V6 Mustang T5 Shifter) is REAL close to the drivers side. So much so that I trimmed a bit of the opening in the body so I could put it in first and second. If I raise the case any more, stuff hits. If I move it car left/passenger side more stuff hits. If I lower it... I'm worried the shifter will be too low and such.

What options exist there other than doing what I did which was trim the body? The position isn't really ideal, I'll probably try and grab a different shifter stick once I get things sorted. I was just wondering if maybe I have the thing in a weird spot?

I ran a one-piece shaft for a while years ago and changed to a two piece because of the rubbing issues on every tiny bump. This was before I learned about how the bushings affected clearance.

After installing all new rear bushings I was curious and reinstalled the one-piece shaft. I was surprised to find the car would suddenly go all the way to the bumps stops without the driveshaft rubbing anything. My one-piece was not 3.5 inches though (only 3 inches I think), but this shows how significant new bushings can be.
Dave B.

Why do you suppose OEM was 2 piece?

I had to raise the back of the car just a little to keep mine from rubbing with a 3" as well, worked out fine, like the stance on it. That said, yes, the 3.5 will rub, hence numerous threads have commented on the same thing.

For the shifter, I swapped the shift lever from the left side of the shift tower to the right side, got me all the clearance I needed, but yes, it does sit pretty close inside the tunnel.

gsellstr said:

I had to raise the back of the car just a little to keep mine from rubbing with a 3" as well, worked out fine, like the stance on it. That said, yes, the 3.5 will rub, hence numerous threads have commented on the same thing.

For the shifter, I swapped the shift lever from the left side of the shift tower to the right side, got me all the clearance I needed, but yes, it does sit pretty close inside the tunnel.

Click to expand...

This is a genius idea!

And John... I read lots and lots about the pros/cons with a 1 piece vs 2 piece driveshaft. Ultimately, I think the 2 piece would've been a better option but I just didn't have the time to invest in messing with it. The adapter provides an off the shelf option.

That all said... my swap took a lot longer than anticipated because of clutch availability issues, and life... we'll see how it is and I'm sure you'll all hear about it should I switch back.

I guess those damn bushings are gonna be next then.

You might have to adjust your transmission side to side. I mad my own cross member by modifying the stock one. I slotted the holes so the transmission could be centered.

^^+1
After centering the rear axle in the fender wells I used a plumb bob and marked the centerline of the crank pulley, centerline of tailshaft hsg and centerline of pinion on the garage floor and then strung a line between crank and pinion which revealed the trans needed to be moved to the pass side ~.25".

By the way, my driveshaft is 2.75", and I have a 8.8 rear end.

mopar318 said:

By the way, my driveshaft is 2.75", and I have a 8.8 rear end.

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Lol... real. There's NO REASON to have a driveshaft this size. It was just the DS that I could find when I needed one. I know this seems preposterous to everyone who's swapped T5's in years past, but they aren't always around and they're def not around at dime a dozen prices any longer.

Still... we'll see how it goes. I suspect my mount has some slight lateral play in it. I'll need to employ swapping the stick to the other side of stalk for that to work though. For now... I'm in shakedown mode.

ALright. Got the hammer and grinder out and I feel good about it. Took it over some speed bumps and it was fine.

2 follow up questions.

1. WHat did people do about that foam thing in the shift boot that keeps noise and such out? I just shoved a piece of plastic in there but... that was a temporary solution lol.

2. I'm getting some whining. Am I correct to assume pinion angle issues would cause vibrations and not whining? Everything is angled pretty well ATMO, and it isn't any louder than my Evo's gear whine... but uhh... that car has like one of the noisiest AWD drivetrains ever so... would like any input.

*also ordered bushings for the rear. Everything back there is new except the PITA trailing arm fronts and rears. But I'll make that tool to get it sorted in the short term.

** don't tell my wife her seatbelt bolt is ground down lol.