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Camaro Tailshaft or Modified Shifter

T5 in a 745

  • Camaro Tailshaft

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Modified Shifter

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Total voters
    1
CaliMeatWagon

CaliMeatWagon

Cause of Head Scratching
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Stockton, California
I'm going to be doing T5 swap in my 91 745 Turbo. The transmission I'm going to be using is out of the Ford Thunderbird Turbocoupe.

From the research I've done I found there are two options to deal with the shifter location issue. One option is to use a modified shifter and the other option I found was to use a tail shaft from a Camaro T5, but I couldn't find which one is compatible or any information on how to make it work.

I would like to hear from people who have done either or both on which one is the better option to ease, cost, and if there is any difference in shifter feel.

And any information on tail shaft compatibility would be helpful

Thanks in advance
 
From personal experience in an '89 740, the F-body tail shaft alone is not enough. I still had to notch the floor a good 1" and use an angled shift shaft(?), the rod that connects the knob to the shifter base. I THINK, personal speculation only, that a 94-04 T5(long input shaft) plus the F-body tail housing/shifter location will probably get you in a close enough placement that you won't have to cut the floor. But that it biased strictly on available measurements, NOT first hand experience. Also the F-body tail housing gives you an angled flange to set the transmission mount. That's not the end or the world or anything, but it is kind of annoying.

In the end the 93- trans, with the F-body tail shaft worked for me, but it wasn't as ideal as early 2Ks TB lead me to believe. And the only issues I had were notching the floor, bending the rod, and dealing with the angled trans mount. So nothing epic and simple enough to handle. I think the fuse panel had to be pushed back a bit, but it's been years so the memory berries might be mushed. I was able to get the ashtray back in place, so :e-shrug::e-shrug::e-shrug::e-shrug:
 
Did somebody Relocate the distributor on the back of the cylinder, head to the side of the engine block or use wastedspark anyway, was able to move the whole engine / transmission back that “?
 
h20ham said:
Did somebody Relocate the distributor on the back of the cylinder, head to the side of the engine block or use wastedspark anyway, was able to move the whole engine / transmission back that “?
Click to expand...

That actually is interesting I do plan on going block mounted distributor with my new engine. I wonder if that would move it far back enough to not be an issue
 
I am getting kind of close to having some input on this, if you are still in the early stages of the swap. I am closing in on having all the physical parts. Here's my plan, and we'll see how it works

Wct5 out of a 2001 v6 mustang
Tailshaft housing and shift fork from roughly the same year firebird. To do this, I had to also use the firebird main case top cover, and shift rail and forks. While in there, I recommend installing a quality aftermarket countershaft bearing retainer. From what I've read, cheap insurance. And you're already there with the tailshaft housing removed.
I will have to take a look at my shifter situation tomorrow. I know I am using an MGW shifter for a mustang, and hybrid it with the stock shifter. I want to say I ended up using the MGW shifter "hub" with the stock shifter handle/shaft. Basically, I had to press out the retaining pin off the bottom of the shifter assembly (once removed from the transmission). I then slid the actual pivot point and the retaining pin over the stock shaft, and reassembled maybe with the mgw shifter base plate. The mgw handle is highly regarded, but the handle doesn't attach in a very conventional method. Its like a pipe clamp. It was hard to modify to extend rearward (maybe not needed with my setup), where as the stock shifter handle attached to the shift shaft with just 2 bolts. Its easy to use a piece of iron stock, and use it to get my handle right where it needs to be. I know doing this will have a negative effect on throw since it is essentially a longer lever, and I am hoping that the short distance it MAY need to extend, won't effect shift feel too negatively
 
This is all news to me, you guys are talking about the tail-mabobbins where as I thought if you got anything other than a V8 Mustang T5 you had to deal with the input shaft splines or that it was too long!
 
There have been several 7/9 vehicles which were T5 converted, on TB over the years. Most have silently slipped away...... the common denominator was always the "shifter collision with dash area" which was addressed with all sorts of shifter offset customizations (going at least as far back as the famed Nathan (NIW) of yesteryear)..... others have come and gone. I had a complete custom driveshaft which a guy in Maryland built..... sold that to a TBer probably 15 years ago when said member moved to TX and was never heard from again.

For sure, the 2 series T5 conversion was much cleaner and the standard FORD shifter location lined up reasonably well. This subject was argued to death 10+ years ago in PERF...... I can honestly say I never saw definitive proof that the task was properly executed and most importantly "LOOKED LIKE AN O.E. installation".

For those with money $$$ than sense, there was an Aussie only version of the T5 which had a SOOOOOOPER long tail shaft housing that appeared to be the perfect candidate for the Gentlemen's 7/9 series vehicle. Pics were found, discussion ensued, but sourcing said tail housing seemed like a remote possibility for those so dedicated. I can't say that I ever heard tell of (on TB at least) a successful conversion to this Aussie T5 tail housing.

OP, good luck to you sir. Perhaps the solution for your conundrum awaits "Down Under"
 
DET17 said:
There have been several 7/9 vehicles which were T5 converted, on TB over the years. Most have silently slipped away...... the common denominator was always the "shifter collision with dash area" which was addressed with all sorts of shifter offset customizations (going at least as far back as the famed Nathan (NIW) of yesteryear)..... others have come and gone. I had a complete custom driveshaft which a guy in Maryland built..... sold that to a TBer probably 15 years ago when said member moved to TX and was never heard from again.

For sure, the 2 series T5 conversion was much cleaner and the standard FORD shifter location lined up reasonably well. This subject was argued to death 10+ years ago in PERF...... I can honestly say I never saw definitive proof that the task was properly executed and most importantly "LOOKED LIKE AN O.E. installation".

For those with money $$$ than sense, there was an Aussie only version of the T5 which had a SOOOOOOPER long tail shaft housing that appeared to be the perfect candidate for the Gentlemen's 7/9 series vehicle. Pics were found, discussion ensued, but sourcing said tail housing seemed like a remote possibility for those so dedicated. I can't say that I ever heard tell of (on TB at least) a successful conversion to this Aussie T5 tail housing.

OP, good luck to you sir. Perhaps the solution for your conundrum awaits "Down Under"
Click to expand...

Yeah I was reading about that, I can't imagine shipping would be cheap going from upside down to right side up.
 
CaliMeatWagon said:
Yeah I was reading about that, I can't imagine shipping would be cheap going from upside down to right side up.
Click to expand...
It's not. It may be different now, but it wasn't terribly long ago I was looking into the Aussie tailshaft housing. I had 0 luck finding any junkyards willing to ship to the US. I even went on FB marketplace and set my location to Australia. I messaged a few "blokes" had a couple responses and people that were willing, but it was like close to 1k in just hypothetical shipping. Something about they would have to find a broker, and the broker would take care of actually shipping it $$, than you had to pay for the actual shipping $$, customs, and everything else that has to be done. It honestly felt like it would be smarter/easier finding a donor car and getting that shipped over here rather than searching for such an odd part. Most places want to sell the whole transmission, not essentially half of it
 
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