If any of you read my Thread on my Trans install being put on hold. You would know that the person that installed the 4 speed O/D tranny that was in my car, used a converted a T5 bellhousing and bolted it to the 4 speed O/D tranny and cut a hole in the side of the bellhousing and installed the mechanical fulcrum and clutch fork and made it work. The workmanship was a little on the shoddy side when it comes to appearance (rough edges on the hole that was cut and the spacers were a bunch of cutup pieces of metal) but as far as it holding up mechanically I certainly have no complaints. i have banged on that clutch pretty hard on more than one occasion. If I were to come up with a way to convert T5 bellhousings to fit in our cars (Mavericks and Comets) and use the factory Maverick/Comet clutch pedal and linkage would anyone be interested in one of these if it was done right and looked professional and clean when finished? It would be an alternative to installing a T5 without having to convert to a cable clutch. Even though it was a 4 speed O/D tranny that was in my car with the way this person rigged the T5 bellhousing up I could certainly use this to install a T5 in a Maverick and still use the factory mechanical clutch setup. I just though if it were done "right" and not all hacked up looking and with a nice machined spacer instead of a bunch of washers and hacked up pieces of metal used as spacer it may be somethingn that would help some people. I probably wouldn't have time or resources to work on a project of that magnitude but if someone were wanting to work with me and use this rigged up thing I have as a template.... Let me know
I'm pretty sure someone already produces a machined spacer that allows you to bolt the T5 up to the older style bell housing.
yep they sell them at mustangs unlimited but with a spacer then wouldn't you have to shorten your driveshaft? http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=TRA650526+01 I mean that is the way I would go rather then messing with converting to a cable clutch, I wonder how come so many other guys tend to mess with the fabrications and conversions to a cable clutch system?? I was just thinking that wth the way this guy modified the T5 bell it would be a direct bolt in for a maverick, no shortening the drive shaft or anything??
A few companies already make the spacer to use the T5 bellhousing with stock clutch linkage. It's just a 3/4 inch block to move the clutch fork back to the stock position. Of course you would need the proper flywheel,engine spacer and clutch set up to work with the bellhousing.
The drive shaft will still need to be shortened because the transmission is a tad longer than the toploader. The transmission is a different mounting pattern and the input shaft is about 9/16" longer,so the adapter bolts between the bell housing and transmission to mover the transmission back. I have one for my Comet GT