Ok so ive been driving my mav t5 for a couple of months and was thinking it might be going bad already (heavy foot) and im guessing my car isnt going into gear all the way to second cause it grinds at high revs but once it gets lower i can put it in third. Its a fully rebuilt tranny and i have a pro 5.0 on it too any guesses. Oh its a stock 10 inch clutch kit with the mustang steve setup. Any info and id really appreciate it. Thanks!!
First check your clutch cable is adjusted properly, one of the big problems with cables is they stretch out. Another problem is your stock clutch there's something called negative centrifugal vacuum that will actually keep your clutch from disengaging at high rpm. Not every clutch can take high rpms. Remember the faster your engine spins the more pressure is put on the vanes on the clutch forcing them out and putting more pressure on the plate itself, some companies like centerforce use this force to their advantage to help increase the holding power of the clutches by putting weights on the vanes. But with the higher pressure on the clutch plate hence the higher pressure required to release the clutch and you stomping the pedal you can stretch out the cable pretty easily. Now if you had a nice performance clutch like a Centerforce, king cobra, Spec (i hate their throwout bearings... ) or something along that line then they are balanced and weighted properly to allow shifting at high rpms.
Oh and my set up is ford 302. 60 carb cam intake, heads, full exhaust, 4.11 gears, mickey Thompson et street radials power range is 2500-6500
im looking into getting this one right here... http://www.jegs.com/i/Centerforce/183/DF490030/10002/-1 i called the tech to summit racing and he recomended this one.
i dont like to run anything but a stock clutch on a stock t5. heres why. the stock clutch is pretty mild in its holding power. this helps it absorb the shock loads of aggressive shifts or power shifts. i have seen endless examples of people putting a performance clutch in and then blowing up the t5 with in a couple of days. on my fox mustang i used a luk replacement clutch with a life time warranty. that clutch worked just fine until i was running low 12s to high 11s in the 1/4 mile. only then would it smell burnt after a run. i had the same clutch in my maverick. it would run 13.0s with no problems. i have never broken a t5 because ive always used a stock clutch. on my new car im putting g-force gear sets in and several other up grades and will be using a king cobra pressure plate with a dual friction disk. this set up is supposed to be good for over 550 hp and 600 tq. so overall what im saying is save your money on an expensive clutch that will just give you the ability to brake your freshly rebuilt t5 and get a stock replacement one. the luk ones available at most stores usually have a life time warranty on them so you wont have to by another clutch ever again for this combo.
I just dont understand why it always grinds into second gear from first to high rpms... I also have the stock clutch on there and it works fine but the clutch feel just doesnt feel right... Also it feels like the clutch is not fully engaged on the flywheel sometimes, i press the gas a little bit more and feels like its sometimes just spinning
usually the second gear grind is from the slider ring and the actual 2nd gear being worn out. the slider ring had these channels that have pointed teeth on the ends that engage teeth on the second gear. these teeth are what you here grinding. they will loose there pointed shape and start looking round. when i rebuild a t5 i always just replace the second gear and its slider just for this reason. the other thing that usually gets missed in a rebuild is the shift forks can get bent from over shifting. this will result in grinding also. you should verify that you are getting full pedal travel. i dont know what the required travel for the clutch fork is but you should try to find out and then check to make sure your getting at least that much travel.
Wish you were closerit make thing a lot easier. Im more hand ons rather read. better take it to a tranny shop cause i have no idea to work it.. Or ill just google it and see what pops up haha
this is a really good article on rebuilding t5s http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2005/12/T5Rebuild/ also there is a link in that article to the factory t5 manual that will tell you every step for tear down, inspection and reassembly. or just find a good local manual trans rebuilder. i would stay away from places like ammco or other chain transmission stores. i would find a mustang shop that rebuilds t5s all the time. i would up grade to the billet syncro dogs, a billet counter shaft retaining plate and steel input bearing retainer. put a new 2nd gear and 2nd gear slider ring and shift fork in and you should have a great t5 that will shift as smooth as silk.
