'05-'10 V6 manual trans upgrades
 

Bear with me, this may take a while...I'll get to the upgrades eventually.

Simply put (and out of pure frustration), the manual transmission in the 4.0 V6 Mustangs (as it comes from the factory) is a steaming pile of poo. It is weak, balky, has wonky gear ratios , and doesn't like to be rushed (especially into 3rd). Feels like driving a truck.
This transmission is the T5OD, and is a derivative of the T-5 available back in the Fox body days, so it shouldn't be as bad as it is. A quick shift into 3rd under power, or at higher RPMS often results in a missed shift. For those who haven't experienced this, is hard to describe...it's almost like you are "locked out" of 3rd...the shifter hits a brick wall at neutral. I don't remember the Fox body car being hard to get into 3rd, rather, it was hard to keep 3rd gear IN the transmission, lol. Oh yeah, The gear ratios in the T5OD are 1st: 3.74, 2nd: 2.19, 3rd: 1.43, and 4th is 1.00. 5th/O.D. is .73. No wonder it feels like driving a truck. With anything more than 3.55s in the rear end, 1st gear is pretty much redundant.

More to come...

Solutions:

To help shifting in this platform with this transmission, there a number of things that can be done, though no one thing has proven to be a complete cure.

Shifter: Going with an aftermarket shifter such as the ones from Hurst or MGW does help to some degree. The shifter in these cars is considered "remote" as it is bolted to the car body and the transmission, as opposed to the older t-5, which had the shifter mounted directly on the end of the transmission. Having the shifter connected to the body and the transmission at the same time seems to cause some binding issues under load. A tighter aftermarket shifter with harder polyurethane bushings will help to limit unwanted movement. Poly engine and transmission mounts or a pair of torque limiters will also help, but this engine is known for some weird harmonics, and engine/trans mounts will really bring them out. I have a Hurst in my car, and it did help a bit with the 3rd gear thing. If I could do it again, I would gladly spend the extra $100 for the MGW.

Fluid: I've experimented a bit with fluids from a lightweight Dexron IV through light gear oils like synhromesh and Redline's MTL. The transmission does feel a bit different with various fluids, and seemed to work best with a thicker Dexron III type ATF (Amsoil's Torque Drive to be exact). The lightweight gear oils (thicker than the Torque Drive ATF) did cut down on the rattle that comes from the transmission in neutral at idle with the clutch engaged. I think this rattle is another by-product of the harmonics mentioned above. Ford attempted to remedy this sometime in the '07 model year by switching over to a dual mass flywheel (more on that later).


There is one known solution...swap the transmission for a TR3650 from a GT, or a TR6060 from the GT500. This is made possible by Gaylon Nunn (Nice Pony on some of the other Mustang forums), who makes an adapter plate for the 4.0. More info here... http://www.actionadaption.com/v6-tra...n-adapter.aspx I have considered this option for a couple of years, but never got the push I needed until recently...

And again, Just for you Chris. :D

I have reservations why those posts were reserved, can anybody get in, or do you have to get past the bouncer at the velvet rope? Watupwitdat? IB Confused, which don't take much on a good day. :?

Sorry AP...I'm very slow at putting posts together, and with all the things I'm working on for this thread, it will flow better if everything stays at the start of the thread. For example, it took me one hour to put my thoughts together and type out those few lines in post #1.

Roddy may slow at typing, but he's real fast at getting any part's to those who need them. :tup

Too bad I can't get my own parts here any faster...I've been watching my transmission do laps around the 4 Northwestern states for the last week...

That transmission will have more miles on it then your car by the time you get it. Do they not know where Canada is? :banghead:

Got it,makes sense, thanks.

Damn you smart, I wouldn't have thought of that

Not smart enough (or quick enough). I have lost the ability to edit the last 2 reserved spots...could I get a moderator to either allow me back in, or remove those 2 posts and I'll continue below? Thanks.

Thanks AP.

Now for the fun stuff...

A few weeks back, I started having trouble getting the trans to go into ANY gear. At first I suspected the lightweight gear oil I had put in earlier in the summer was causing synchro/engagement issues as the weather was turning cooler...no such luck. I went back to a thinner ATF type fluid, but things only got worse. This led me to suspect either the clutch slave, or the pressure plate. Sigh...transmission has to come out either way. I don't have a hoist. Just jack stands, and a cold hard concrete floor. It's been almost 20 years since I last did the "T-5 bench press", and I'm not looking forward to it, lol. On the bright side, I got the push I needed to pull the stock transmission, and pitch it.

Options?

Nice Pony's adapter plate and TR3650 (GT 5-speed), or 6060 (GT500 6-speed).
Both transmissions require the corresponding shifter and shift linkage, as well as a driveshaft (my nice pretty aluminum one would have to go), re-locating the front O2 sensors, and some minor wiring changes.

The 5-speed swap would likely cost me $2500 if I do all or most of the work.

The 6-speed also requires a cross member and a custom 26 spline 10" clutch disc to be made. This is the option I would prefer to take, but it's just too pricey for me at this time (~$3500).

Another option is to have a T5OD built with a better gear set.

I'm going to try my luck with option number 3. Modern Driveline put a T5OD together for me with a 2.95 1st, 1.94 2nd, 1.34 3rd, and 1.00 4th gear set, and a taller.63 overdrive. Yay! I'll be able to move more than 10 feet in first gear now.

Now to get the clutch stuff figured out...

Ah, the mysterious 4.0 Mustang clutch...good for all kinds of head scratching. If you own an '05 or '06, you're golden. '08-'10, a little less so. If you have an '07, I'm sorry. Get ready for an exercise in futility. Somewhere in '07, Ford switched to a dual mass flywheel (DMF), and no-one (including Ford) seems to know when. The two types are not compatible with each other, and can not be mixed and matched unless everything including the flywheel is changed. My local Ford dealer says cars built after Dec./06 have the DMF (some aftermarket companies say June/07). My car was built in mid-Feb/07, so it should have the DMF, right? Wrong. I have the older style, which is actually a blessing...there isn't much available aftermarket for cars with the DFM, unless you get a pre-'07 flywheel, and order a clutch kit for an '05 or '06. There are at least a couple of aftermarket companies that make aluminum flywheels for the 4.0, but most people I have seen use them really didn't like them. The S197 mustang is a bit of a heavy pig, and the weight of a cast iron flywheel helps get you rolling.

Enter LuK, a well known aftermarket clutch supplier (and one of the largest in the world). I've used their products before, and never had an issue. They offer a solution that will work on all 4.0 cars from '05-'10. The kit comes with a new iron flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, slave cylinder/throw-out bearing, alignment tool, and a pilot bearing. Most shops wanted $700-$750 for this kit, but I found a local supplier that could get it for $500. Sweet. This is a good OEM type replacement, but if you are pushing a lot of torque through it, it may not be enough (this coming from a clown with a blower on his engine). For those with higher power levels in mind, the Spec stage 3+ is tried and true in the 4.0 cars. I decided to go with the LuK kit after seeing that the friction surfaces on my stock flywheel, pressure plate and the clutch disc were in really nice shape. Once I got everything apart, it took me a minute to figure out what got me to this point to begin with...one of the "straps" that holds the two halves of the pressure plate together was FUBAR. This wasn't letting the clutch fully disengage.

Here's a few pics. pic 1 is how it should look, pics 2 and 3 are how it does look, 4 and 5 are the front and back sides of the original clutch disc respectively.

I wonder how many miles your transmission has on it now? Is it still going around in circles? :rolleyes:

No...it went right past Belleville, on to Montreal, then disappeared of the face of the earth...UPS has lost my transmission. Last scan says arrival at Lachine (Montreal hub) Sunday night. I called Montreal, and it did not arrive. They say call Vancouver, I call B.S.

:wtf: Oh man, I would be some pissed. What is problem? Let's hope you get it all in one piece. :banghead:

They told me they couldn't do anything for me...the shipper has to call them and put a "tracer" on the pkg. I spoke to the shipper and they called UPS, mentioning that it was 2 days past due, and they are entitled to a refund. Suddenly, after sitting in Lachine for 3 days, it now has a departure scan on it this morning...we'll see. If you are an employee AND a customer, you get a big-ass double order of disrespect. I pulled 166 stops for those poo heads yesterday...didn't even get back to the depot 'till 10PM.

I hear you. Not much you can do when they have you by the short and curlies. I learned my lesson from the Agent 47 mirrors I bought. Brokerage fees cost me as much as the mirrors and when you call them to complain they are of no help with their it's "policy" attitude. :deal: :mad: I sucked it up that time, but now I play the game by my policies. I never tell them the true value of anything, everything is a gift or cost less then $25.00 CDN. But in your case, different situation. That is just unacceptable for a company as large as UPS. no:

That's my rant for the day. :bleh:

Meh, it is what it is...can't do much about it, and stressing over it doesn't help. I did hire my own customs broker though, and that saved me over $100 VS what UPS would have charged me. On one hand, I feel bad for not supporting the company I work for, but on the other hand, if they can't even give their own employees a break on brokerage, well, enough said.

Woo Hoo!!

That caught me by surprise, I for some reason thought your car was a convertible. Glad to see you got your trans though.

Thanks. Me too.
Sigh, It's 3AM and I don't have any more energy left. The bell housing, slave cyl, and other little bits are transferred over to the new transmission. The transmission, mount, and cross member are back in the car. New braided stainless clutch line is hooked up, and that's as far as I can make it tonight. I haven't been able to bleed the air out of the clutch hydraulics yet...pumped the pedal a couple hundred times, but no dice. I have a vacuum pump, so I could try that if I had a stopper large enough to plug the brake fluid reservoir. I meant to take some pics as I was going along, but the battery in the camera died. It's charging now.
I still have the shifter, driveshaft, starter, and exhaust to go. Hopefully I'll be able to get out for a cruise on Saturday. The short 1st gear in the original trans was always a sore spot for me, so I'm really looking forward to trying this one out.

Exactly what trans did you buy, I missed it?

Glad to see you got it. Did you tip the UPS driver? :D I wish I was off this Saturday, I would have liked to check it out. Enjoy!

A built version of the trans that was OE in the car (T5OD), with better ratios. I believe it has the T5Z Ford motorsport T-5 gear set in it (same as the '93 Cobra, IIRC). Stock ratios were 3.74, 2.19, 1.43, and 1.00 with a .73 overdrive. The ratios in the new trans are 2.95, 1.94, 1.34, and 1.00 with a .63 overdrive. Now I can pull the 3.55s out of the rear end and swap 'em for some 3.90s or 4.10s.

Yeah, I gave him a tip...don't ship UPS, lol.

I got the clutch bled with a home made tool (3rd one since I started the tranny swap). My wife might miss the drain plug out of the utility sink in the laundry room though...sorry babe, MacGyver needed it.

The weather doesn't look too promising for Saturday, so I may not get to check it out either. Sunday looks better, but I have a group drive with members of an FR-S/BRZ forum. About 20 of us are getting together to go strafe some backroads north of Kingston/Napanee

Whew! It's in. Just waiting for dry roads so I can take 'er for a spin.

Good luck. Be easy on'er, but not too easy. :D

New clutch...must be gentle.

Are you working nights? I may take a cruise over to B'ville this eve.

I am on nights. I'm off Sunday night and then off to Battle Creek Monday morning for 3 days. Home Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. :D Back to work Monday morning. :frown:

I put about 80km on the car last night and it feels much better. The clutch engagement is a little softer than stock, and the new ratios are a vast improvement. The new overdrive (.63) is pretty much useless at anything under 90-100km/hr, but I expected that. Now I have an excuse to throw some 3.90s or 4.10s in the rear end over the winter. I'm not sure if I'm going to tackle that one myself, or not. Setting up differential gears takes a special hand, and I don't want to end up with gear whine.

How fast do you want to go? Have you figured out the ratios and such?

That's great news. I bet it's just like driving a new car.

Nicely done, glad to hear you're happy with the new gear.

It's not so much about going fast...I prefer acceleration over outright speed. I've wanted more rear end gear for some time, but the 3.74 1st gear in the old trans would have been useless with more than the 3.55s I have now. Also, I don't spend much time on highways (like the 400 series) that have a 100km/hr limit, so adding more rear gear will allow me to make use of 5th while cruising country roads at 80-90 km/hr.