40 gets a stick - v.ii

After sitting for almost a half year,

the 40's AOD transmission was slipping

bad enough to be undriveable.

The tranny always had issues even in the Lincoln,

and driving with low fluid was the last straw.

No magic fix this round,

major surgery was needed.

I weighed rebuilding the AOD with a shift kit,

but for the cost a T5 could be found,

and my heart was set on a stick.

Now the kids could work for video game time!

All that brick work had found its real purpose...

We had that drivetrain out so fast!

It was like conducting an orchestra,

child labor at its finest.

Now what....?

No quick swap...

parts acquisition wouldn't be quick.

The 40 teased me whenever I'd walk by.

The firewall was always a cringing sight,

a ton of hack work during the 302 swap of 2013.

The plan had been to remove it for a final smoothing,

and that never happened.

No holds barred here.

Welding... hammering... filling... epoxy...

Coated with the finest white rattlecan.

Ooh la la...

This was the first month,

as money was saved and parts found.

Oh yeah,

this project started at the end of May!

Little by little the parts came together.

Bellhousing, flywheel, clutch...

and most important a t-5 transmission,

thanks to the Sharp family.   

Typical family affair throwing it together...

We did this twice as I forgot the aluminum spacer plate.

Interestingly enough,

this was a Ford "world class" T5,

but the insides were chevy.

I found a common hot rodding trick 

was to use Astro Van internals,

which meant different shaft splines.

The 5.0 10-spline mustang clutch

swapped for a 26-spline camaro.

As usual over the counter performance grade stuff!

Jake found a use for the house tractor

as we prepped the patient into the operating room.

There's always a space mystery swapping trannies,

however the aod vs t5 are at least in the same mustang family.

It fit perfectly.

Better have as I whittled the X-member for the huge AOD.

The driveshaft length was perfect,

but here we found out the rear input shaft was GM.

The 28-spline ford yoke swapped for a 27-spline chevy,

which would then need a conversion u-joint.

Always something!

Jaxon learned how to change u-joints,

and why not barber pole the driveshaft...

Then what luck a care package arrived,

straight from Iowa!

Jeff had designed and cast the most bitchin custom fuel block,

and this was the 3rd one.

Perfect timing as I had misplaced the fuel line!

Tricky to mount but it fits perfectly.

Only needed  a "Mayer Speed" logo...

Thanks a ton Jeff!

The new pups tried to help...

The crucial last part was the clutch linkage.

The original pedal had to contact the arm.

My first idea was a bellcrank system,

but it just seemed too bulky,

and also a lot of work.

I tried a bendy rod first,

which would need lengthened pedal arms.

This gave the longer throw needed.

This worked great...

See anything wrong with the pic?

The angled bar is the brake pedal.

Yea.

It went into gear so smooth,

and a WTF when the brake pedal was locked up!

Holey Chit!

A little frustrated,

I found that original mustangs used a cable.

Hey,

we had all kinds of old Morse cables!

A lock bracket was whittled out,

and a lock tube slid into a bellhousing hole.

Easy!

A couple issues...

Kinda in the way of the exhaust,

and mainly there wasn't enough throw.

Holey Chit!

All this time I coulda gone with plan A.

The bracket took maybe 2 hrs to make.

Another hour for the drillium.

A couple quick linkages...

And man this was a sweet setup.

The clutch had enough purchase holes?

there was plenty of adjustment.

Yessss....

The first drive.

Always exciting.

I had the shifter on backwards,

so only had 2-4-R.

Doh.

Easy fix although I was prepared to tear the tranny apart!

Sloppy had donated a Moon fuel gauge,

topping off the fuel line.

It's gonna be cooler with a tripower!

A long '39 style shifter finished the interior.

Lotsa gold and chrome wow!

One last change was the exhaust.

The Lincoln logs for some headers.

The first day's drove with no pipes,

wasn't really that bad!

Now there's some short pipes,

I ran out of bends.

It sounds like a hot rod!

I'll need to rebuild and rejet the carb,

and then it'll be a rough daily driver.

This June bug really liked the wires!

Anyway feels good to have it back.

Hard to not chirp the tires!

TP