After numerous problems with the AOD in my truck i've finally decided to swap over to a T5 transmission. I've always preferred driving a manual, and the advantages are numerous such as less parisitic loss, better gearing, better fuel economy, and a higher torque capacity. It's going to take me a couple months to complete it but I can't wait to be able to hammer through the gears. Here is my current parts list.

- Block Plate
- Bell housing for 302
- T5 transmission
- Short Throw Shifter
- Shifter ****
- Shifter weather seal
- Shifter boot
- Extended Shifter lever arm
- Flywheel (50oz balance)
- HD King Kong Clutch Kit FRPP
- Pilot bearing
- Throw Out bearing
- Clutch fork
- Clutch cable
- Pedal Assembly
- Aluminum Clutch quadrant
- Clutch cable firewall adjuster
- Dust Cover
- Manual Steering Column Cover
- Rear Main Seal

Some of the things I already have that are interchangeable

- Driveshaft
- Crossmember
- Computer (Don't plan on replacing at first)

I'm going to work to find a World Class T5 for the slightly higher torque capacity and i'm going to shoot to get a 2.95 first gear ratio, and a 0.63 over drive gear ratio. The ranger station has a great tech diagram of the identification and gear ratio's for the T5.

http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/T5ID.htm

The worst part about this swap by far is going to be the pedal assembly. I spent two hours at the junk yard yesterday to get a mustang and ranger pedal assembly. The rangers was the worst, the entire dash has to be pulled in order to get it to out. Both pedals and the steering wheel cover cost 20 bucks total so that was nice! I currently plan on modifiying the mustangs assembly to fit the rangers 4 bolt pattern to the fire wall. I've posted a pic of the two assemblies side by side, the mustang on the left and the rangers pedals on the right.



Feedback and advice greatly appreciated.

 

There's an article about T5 swaps over on the Ranger Station if it helps:

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...y/T5for29.html

 

nice.

didn't you just put a built AOD in your truck not that long ago?

 

nice! now you need to get a divorced tcase and let me get ahold of that front end

 

Yes I had one rebuilt this past summer, then the torque converter went out, so the front of the trans was rebuilt in november I think, and it's already shiftin like crap.

Sounds good to me, I know I wouldn't mind having four wheel drive :-p

 

would or wouldnt?

 

Haha missed a word or 2 in that sentence, fixed now. I would not mind having four wheel drive. I'll start with the manual first, we'll go from there.

 

lol oh ok.. i was like ah...

 

Looks good!

I know where a couple divorced transfer cases are!

 

I've been researching alot to make sure everything on the swap goes well, but a couple questions if any one knows. For the neutral safety switch on the AOD there are four prongs, two for the safety switch, and two for the reverse lights. From what I have found the neutral safety switch is jumped together and not connected to the pedal. The pedal assembly also has a seperate safety switch that requires the clutch to be depressed in order to start the car. On a mustang this harness is pre-wired on all mustangs, automatic and manual, but that is obviously different on the ranger. I don't plan on wiring any of this, I see no great need to, opinions?

As for mounting the pedals i am going to fab up a plate for the mustangs pedal assembly this friday to accomindate the rangers four bolt pattern around the master cylinder. The next part that will need to be changed is the bolts for the steering column because they don't match up either.

On the mustang brake pedal, the assembly moves about 2 inchs closer to the firewall than the rangers pedals do, any issues with that as far as pushing on the brake booster? When fully depressing a brake pedal, doesn't the hydraulic pressure stop your foot from continuing or is there typically a metal stop?

-rob

 

Little Update:

Found a tranny today, comes with a hurst short throw shifter and the bellhousing, recently rebuilt, so can't wait to get it and take a look, hopefully everything is good to go and I won't need to have it rebuilt.

Ordered some parts from summit, got the aluminum quadrant, adjustable cable, firewall adjuster and a roller input bearing coming.

Been workin on the pedals the last couple days and finally have come up with a decent way to do them, should have the straightened out soon and then i'll post some pics.

 

nice its getting there.

gonna have it done before the dunes right?

 

Of course! Hopefully when i'm done with school in 3 week i'll have all the parts and start the swap.

 

I finally finished the pedal assembly today. It took alot of work and even more thought and planning but it came out great.

First Pic you can see the two clutch pedal shafts with the rangers on top, and the mustangs below and you can see where I had already ground off the welds to get that plate off.



Here you can see what I did, i cut the ranger pedal shaft, and threaded it to the mustang pedal shafts thread size, I screwed it in so the two pieces lined up perfectly.

Here I made larger pedal surfaces that fit the aluminum pedal covers shown above.

Here the two shafts are all welded together

The finished pedal assembly with the new aluminum covers bolted on and covered in bed liner for traction




The last two pictures show the aluminum quadrant that is finally all mated up to the rangers pedal assembly. That is what all this work was for. I used a couple washers and bushing to get the spacing right.

In a couple weeks when i'm done with school i'll swap in the entire assembly, which shouldn't be so bad any more!

 

Not 2 much progress the last two weeks, its the end of the school semester and I have one more final to go. My main hold up is I bought a tranny on ebay 3 weeks ago and i'm still waiting for it.... I don't believe this guy, but suppositively it shipped out yesterday. Hopefully it will get here in time to install for the dunes. Tomorrow the pedals will finally be going in and the clutch cable will be run.

 

sucks you still have not gotten it. hopefully soon

 

Well after a long weekend in the driveway I got alot done. Took alot of modifications to get the cable adjuster installed into the fire wall and to get the pedal assembly in. I did alot of other stuff while I was at it, pulled and power washed the carpet, sealed any rust on the floor, insulated the floorboards, wired in some new gauges, but atleast it's ready for a trans now. Onto pics.

First pic is the pedals I started with

New pedal assembly fully installed

Just under the wiper motor you can see the clutch cable coming out of the firewall

 

Lookin good!

 

Well after 5 weeks the trans finally shipped out of South Carolina. It's on it way through DHL so hopefully i'll get in within a week or so.

*Crosses Fingers*

This weekend i'm going to put in my large summit order and get the rest of the parts, if all goes well i'll still be shifting through the dunes.

 

Well I got the transmission late last week. I've got it partially taken apart. Got my summit order today with all the other parts, so the trans is going in this saturday and I can't wait! Hopefully i'll have pics up soon!

 

sweeet!

 

It looks like ts coming along great. You will love ripping the gears if you cna keep it between the ditches. Mines is all over the place. lol

How much power are you making? Be careful with the T5 it WILL break sooner or later. What clutch did you order?

 

It moves! I finally get to shift through the gears! Woo Hoo! First gear is really steep though, it will light up the tires into the next state. Took all day to do the swap but that's not 2 bad, i'll have some pics up tomorrow of the set up.

The clutch I used is the King Kong from FRPP. As for power, not 2 sure, probably about 250 if I had to guess, maybe a little more.

 

You mean the king cobra one? I got one of them still in the box waiting to go in when i change out the motors. Ive heard its a pretty good one.

 

Well I finished my swap yesterday, took about 13 hours total, to pull the AOD and put in the new trans. Only two minor problems, had to modify the crossmember and I need to fix my speedometer. The gear on the ouput shaft is sliding so it doesn't engage with the speedo gear. Onto the pictures

This first one is of the flywheel I took off. If you look around the bolts its cracked all the way around and all the way through, and that was brand new in November.


A couple pics of all the new parts





Here a couple pictures from having the AOD trans out, replacing the rear main seal, flywheel, pressure plate, and bellhousing install.




Here is a pic of the modifications made to the crossmember. Had to make an extension plate for it, and this pic is midway through the fabrication.


Here is a pic of the new shift light, so when I make it out to Milan Dragway this summer, and in the gauge pod you can see where the Shift indicator used to be I wrote in Ford Ranger, in the ranger font, which all lights up red when the lights are on.


Here is a pic of the shifter. Has a Hurst Short Throw Shifter on the T5, then a Hurst shifter arm, boot and old school ****.


So far i'm pretty happy with the swap. The clutch needs to break in a little but more, and I still have to get the clutch cable adjusted better so it engages smoothly and completely. Sure is nice being able to shift through the gears, makes the truck feel even peppier. The first gear is very short, there is more power there than necessary, but oh well. Let me know what ya think.