T5 is in! Slight issues for the gurus to weigh in on...
Hooray! (I think...)
I just finished my T5 install. It took a little while because I ran into a few snags along the way, but so far I'm still glad I did it.
The car: 1984 245 GLT, originally with M46 (first tuned by tuff240, came to me by way of jackbombay)
The parts: junkyard T5 from a '91 Mustang, McLeod throwout bearing, v-performance.com adapter plate, clutch, pressure plate, and lightweight aluminum flywheel (clutch and pressure plate are therefore the clutchnet models), B&M short shifter, stock mustang tranny mount
I'm planning to write a step-by-step guide (of sorts) for this swap for the 240 series. I'm very much indebted to Doug and the others that came before me and have provided me help with this swap. I figure that the least I can do is take all the knowledge they've discovered and make a nice write-up so all the vital information is in one easy format.
Before I get to that, though, I have a question for the guys who've done this swap.
I'm having trouble shifting into gear. As I said, it's the Clutchnet clutch and pressure plate, and I understand some people have had problems with those. I'm using the McLeod throwout bearing, so the bearing height should be correct. I've tried adjusting the clutch cable quite a bit. If I adjust it so that the fork is as far forward as possible, the throwout bearing obviously rides against the pressure plate so much that the clutch won't engage at all. If I adjust it as far back as possible, the clutch engages fine, but I find that the gears are really hard to shift into. I've got it set somewhere in the middle right now, and the clutch engages fine. The gears are still really hard, though. I have to completely shut off the engine to get into reverse without grinding. The other gears sometimes just take a little nudging and sometimes take the strength of an ox.
(I should note that the transmission shifts fine into all gears with the car off.)
Now, I know a few people said that the Clutchnet pressure plate is thicker, and that some shifting issues go away once the clutch wears down a bit. I want some opinions, though, on whether that's what my problem likely is. So please, weigh in.
I've been rushing to get this done before this weekend because I would really like to take this wagon on a long trip. That would give plenty of miles to break/wear in the clutch, but I want to be sure that I don't have some other issue before I get out on the open road.
(As an aside, is everyone using the stock rubber shifter boot? I've yet to install anything, so I can still see the open road (and smell my clutch!) through the hole... I tried to put the stock rubber boot on, but it doesn't seem ideal for the new shifter position. So is anyone using anything else?)
Thanks,
Aaron