Getting close to done on the aod to t-5 swap, few pics

[AaronATX]

Awesome weather here last night, so I decided to skip soccer practice and make some headway on the swap. Just FYI, I bought this entire kit from v8only, that came out of the wrecked blue one he was parting out for a few months. He did a great job removing everything intact, and even took the time to label bags full of bolts (psst BTW man, might want to use something besides white paper and pen from now on, the paper gets totally covered in grease from the bolts and you cant really read it. No big deal, after 5 minutes I remembered where everything went)

Here's what I started with last night:

http://img137.exs.cx/img137/8387/dscn04322zq.jpg

Yay, just another stock 5.0, but a little different view than you might be used to seeing. Shes got 150k on her, so dont kid yourself, the back of the motor has been cleaned off :)

Heres a quick shot of the interior, now complete with a clutch pedal! Looks like my carpet could use a steam cleaning :oops:

http://img137.exs.cx/img137/8087/dscn04355xx.jpg


I'd just like to take a second to make my displeasure with the EGR tube known:
http://img137.exs.cx/img137/3325/dscn04389hj.jpg
Stupid thing is constantly poking me in the head, or smearing dirt on my face, and just generally getting in the way.


Here is pretty much where I stopped last night. I spent a solid hour with shop towels and simple green cleaning the inside and out of that stinking bellhousing.

http://img137.exs.cx/img137/7973/dscn04374nr.jpg

Fear the uber cobra PP and stock disk!


Here's a shot of the car where I have done the whole process so far...thats right folks, thats as high off the ground as she gets ;)

http://img137.exs.cx/img137/5064/dscn04395qt.jpg


Lets see, what do I have left to do:

attach starter

Install clutch cable and MM firewall adjuster, and dust shield

Reroute, lubricate speedo cable

Remove automatic shifter plate thingy

Pull carpet back and swap the manual harness connector to the trans inplace of the automatic one

Put t-5 in w/ crossmember ( ooh reminds me I need to change the tailshaft seal )

driveshaft

h-pipe

fluids.....and I think that will about do it!

[anthonydalrymple]

Looking good there partner. I remember doing the swap....several times;)
\By the way; that same "donor car" you got the swap stuff from also gave up it's motor for me to build for my buddies '66 Falcon! I have a thread in General BS; I rebuilt & fired it up last night. Small world, huh? :lol:

[50 Proof]

and even took the time to label bags full of bolts (psst BTW man, might want to use something besides white paper and pen from now on, the paper gets totally covered in grease from the bolts and you cant really read it. No big deal, after 5 minutes I remembered where everything went)


LOL thats funny. I remember jeremy labeling everything too. We were feeling pretty good thinking you'd be all stoked about the labeled bolts. haha it's all good.

good job on the progress btw. looking good under there.

[mfpmax]

A pair of rear jackstands would make that a whole lot easier. Believe me.

[AaronATX]

yeah, I have done it both ways before, im only 6 foot 170 pounds so I fit under there fine as is. If I had 2 other jackstands I trusted I probably would have jacked up the rear also.

[mfpmax]

$25 for jacks, GO GO GO. You're gonna want them when you're line'n the tranny up to the bellhousing.

And i'm about your height, and yeah, I bumped my head a few times, not including pulling the tranny and it slipping and hitting me in my head.

And make sure you have an easy(read SAFE) way to put the tranny in. I'm kinda weak so I had to bench press it in and probably could've killed myself.

[AaronATX]

I could try the manly way of pressing it up in there, but that never really works for me. Much easier to just toss it ontop of my floorjack and raise it up and then PRAY that the stupid thing stabs. I've had horrible luck in the past getting the input shaft past the pilot bearing and usually end up using the bolts to pull it flush.....yeah yeah I know. I'm not gunna do it that way this time no matter what.

[mfpmax]

When I tried the jack, it

A) Kept trying to fall

B) Kept trying to fall

C) Couldn't get the jack under the car good enough

But that is the best way to do it, I was thinking of buying a ATV jack for that purposse later on, but haven't....mostly cause its kinda bulky to.

[Hooptie]

Aaron, quit being a girl. T5s are light.

[AaronATX]

The weight isnt an issue :p

[Hooptie]

then what is tough guy?

alignment?

[mfpmax]

I'd say alignment is a PITA!

I used a mini pump jack, the type that are just the pump...and put it under the tranny on a block and pumped and wiggled till it was in...






<insert random jokes>

[Hooptie]

no ones going to comment on you pumping a tranny.

I know its a PITA, even just getting one lined up sucks.

[AaronATX]

Yep its the alignment. Generally I keep the trans in neutral and have someone get in the car and press the clutch if its being a pain, which it always is. I dunno sometimes I just cant stick it in the hole!

[Hissing Cobra]

Great job so far! Keep at it until you're burning out. Then, we want a pic of a nice big, smokey burnout. :lol:

[moelll]

hmmh... the gas pedal in your GT seems different than in my GT. did mustang autos come with a completely different gas pedal aswell as a different brake pedal?

cos that gas pedal is more fit in my van than anything else

[mfpmax]

Automatic brake pedals are larger.

[MurPHy]

Great job so far! Keep at it until you're burning out. Then, we want a pic of a nice big, smokey burnout. :lol:

Or burnt clutch, if you do it wrong. :lol:

[v8only]

shoot, sorry about that labeling, I was all proud of myself too. next time bigger piece of paper, and maybe folded and stapled.

Looks like you are about 2 hours give or take from being finished, how exciting.

use the jack to get it in, but I've always had the best luck having someone step on the clutch pedal to pull the clutch fork back while benching it in just for that last inch. That combination timed perfectly will insure it sliding in effortlessly.

hope you finish this soon, keep us posted, Jeremy

[AaronATX]

Bleh, well I had to cheat again. I didnt have the luxury of someone helping me....so I was able to stab the tranny all the way up to the pilot bearing, then popped the bolts in, and gave them each 1/2 turn at a time until flush ( took forever ). Owell, done it this way 5-6 times before and have never had a problem.

Also got the MM adjustable clutch cable deal installed, ofcourse along with the cable.

Also spent forever figuring out how to rip the plate thats sandwiched in the trans tunnel for the automatic shifter. Turns out its pop riveted in 2 places that I had to pound out. ( and I had to remove the center console )


Also noticed that the neutral switch sensor on the t-5 was busted, fortunately I had another on and old busted tremec I had lying around, gunna have to splice the connector to the harness in tho.

Looks like i'll have to trim a bit off the trans tunnel to get the shifter to come thru the floor correctly.


didnt work on it sat or sunday, other stuff kept me buzy. On the home stretch however, im ready to get this dang thing DONE.

[AaronATX]

also, does anyone know what size plugs, or where to get them, for the radiator, where I removed the AOD lines?

[mfpmax]

also, does anyone know what size plugs, or where to get them, for the radiator, where I removed the AOD lines?

Any hardware store.

I think its around 3/8s...can't remember. Buy 2 or 3 plugs of different sizes.

[v8only]

the lazy way around the shifter tunnel is to clip the edges with snips, and that'll allow access. we drilled a hole on each side, and sawed a sliver out.

the shifter indeed was a pita to remove. I got so pissed off at it, I just tweeked it and bent it in half and pulled it out. Not sure how some people swear up and down that they removed it without pulling the center console.

for the plugs, I went to autozone, and got a couple of packs of plugs, they had a pack with a bunch of diff sizes in it.

[AaronATX]

Blam! She works. Started the first try with no problems. Heck I even eyeballed the clutch adjustement right the first time, hadnt had to adjust it yet!


Going to type out my thoughts on the whole thing a little later, right now, my fingers still hurt.

[50 Proof]

sounds good, let us know what you think.

[Zap's 85 GT]

You did install a pilot bearing into the end of the crank with the clutch kit, right? I didnt see it mentioned before.

[v8only]

that's awesome. enjoy, that trans should shift like butter, and it should save near a full second off your timeslip. can't wait to read up on your thoughts about the whole deal.

[AaronATX]

*this isnt a how-to, as that can be found all over the web, these are just the thoughts of someone who did it for the first time*

First and foremost, like others had suggested to me, I agree with the idea of doing the pedal assembly swap first. If you are smart you'll remove the steering collumn entirely, I didnt, but I had to hold it up with my knee or spare hand ( whenever I got one ) and it was certainly in the way, alot. Yes, all those connectors on the steering collumn have to come off and yes some of them are extremely hard to grip.

I would also suggest taking a picture of how the brake light switch assembly goes together, as well as anything else that you might not be comfortable with when it comes to tucking all the wires back in there.


Under the car is pretty straightforward. I had never touched an AOD in my life, or any automatic for that matter. Just get under there are start removing stuff. The most important thing is to make sure you drain as much fluid as possible and DONT SPILL IT. If you do, take the time to clean it up, otherwise life will be miserable the rest of the time.

Once you remove the tranny crossmember and driveshaft the engine is going to want to tilt back quite a bit and could cause your fan to hit the shroud. Might want to remove that.

No, you cannot get a wrench or a socket on the top bolt to the starter by normal means. You'll need about 1 1/2 feet of extension, a wobble and go under the motor mount to get to it.

When it comes to removing the automatic shifter and plate assembly, I had to remove the center console, and used a flathead screwdriver and BFH to pound the side of the 2 pop rivets until they broke, in order to remove it. There are alot of screws that go to that thing ( the console ) ....dont lose them or your console wont go back on tight and that is extremely annoying.

Once everything automatic is out and headed for the recycler, i'd take the time to degrease the back of the engine and oil pan. Replace the rear main seal if its leaking, and dont forget to install a pilot bearing. Just take a socket that fits over the outside of the bearing and slowly tap it into place.

From there its just a simple clutch job. Loc-tite the flywheel/PP bolts. (I wouldnt use the flexplate ones, they are shorter) Make sure you use a torque wrench for the pressure plate bolts (thats the only thing I used it for)

Replace the rear seal on the back of the t-5 if its used.

Once everything is bolted back together under the car ( I use loc-tite on my driveshaft bolts also ) you'll need to trim the floorpan away just a bit. I used a simple pair of tinsnips. BECAREFUL DOING THIS around the open shifter for the transmission. I had a chunk of metal fall in there and spent 20 minutes fishing it out.

Pushing the speedo cable back thru the firewall proved to be a big pita also. When you remove the grommet you'll see some thick insulation/cardbord like stuff that will prevent you from pushing it thru. I used a flathead screwdriver to break some of it away enough where I could ram that thing in there. It took me a while. Once you get it in, you'll probably need to disconnect the speedo cable from under the car where its bolted to the frame in order to get enough slack to get it back to the gauge cluster to reattach it.

I reused the automatic speedo gear as I knew it was correct for my rear end, if you do this you'll have to cut a bit off the tip of the gear to get it to fit in the t-5.

Oh, and the clutch cable goes under the motor mount.


Those are just a few things that stuck out to me while doing this. I would not suggest this for a novice to do by themselves. I previously had 100's of hours working on these cars before attempting this. Its nothing that is THAT hard but it will require quite a bit of patience in some parts. No patience = stripped bolts and broken parts.


My new best friend is a creeper. I'd CERTAINLY get one of these if you are doing this with no lift.

[50 Proof]

funny about the starter bolt. I've actually removed that bolt previously with a very minimal amount of extentions. Maybe it all depends on what angle you get in there at and how bad your engine mounts or worn because I've also worked on Mustangs that seriously need 2 feet worth of extentions and all kinds of other crap just to get to it.

[AaronATX]

Ahh good point. I always put convertable motor mounts in my mustangs. That could change things a bit. Infact motor mount R&R was the very first thing I did to this car.

[AaronATX]

Oh, and my AOD driveshaft with the dampner on it fit fine with the t5.

[mfpmax]

As it should

Just the V6s I think and the 4 bangers have different length stuff...until you get to 87-93 when the 4 banger N/A came with T5s.

[50 Proof]

very interesting about the driveshaft. We measured the AOD and the T5 driveshaft and the AOD one is actually physically longer. The AOD driveshaft would not fit onto my 88 Coupe after I swapped the T5 in.

[v8only]

the dampener on the yoke itself is what is longer

[AaronATX]

Doh! Last night when figuring out a way to rig the shifter boot on there I was using a hammer to pound the edges of the metal part flat against the trans tunnel.....apparently I moved the trans tunnel just enough to where now when I hammer the brakes the floorboard barely touches the tranny which transmits all kinds of engine vibration into the car. Bleh. Owell, i'll get back under it and "clearance" it back into position.

[Iwantone2]

thread hijack! what with the convertable mounts? do the mount the engine lower or something?

[blown85gt]

The convertable mounts set engine lower and are captive.
They wont let the engine destroy your shroud.
And actually cost less than orig. style mounts.

[85 Notchback]

thread hijack! what with the convertable mounts? do the mount the engine lower or something?

Theyre stronger and cheaper than original replacement mounts, I bouth them when I swapped in my 5.0.

As for driveshaft lengths. The 4cyl C3 driveshafts were longer than the t5 driveshafts. When I swapped my 5.0 C4 combo in I ran the C3 driveshaft squeezing it in (d'oh) I ended up replacing an Transmission extension housing seal (between the tranny and driveshaft) which are not fun to try and tap in at all. So I went out and found a driveshaft from a v6 T5 stang, measured to make sure it was shorter and slid it in an bolted it up to my C4. Turns out the C3 Driveshaft was something like 49" and the T5 Shaft was 47 1/2" which made a huge differance.