I've been looknig into buying a t5 trans soon for the ol duster and I wanted to get some opinions in what would be a good canidate t5 to put in like from a 5.0 foxbody or maybe a newer mustang or???? Looking for strength and smooth shifting.

Kev

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You'll have to look through the list of donors and decide how to attack it...
The truck models have a granny low...

I had figured that 3.91 or 4.11 would work pretty well with the mid 80's 5.0L box (2.95,1.94,1.34,1,0.73)...I have also been eyeballing the WC box for the late 80's camaros (2.95,1.94,1.34,1,0.63) for possible street use of 4.56's.

SVO boxes are similar but with .80 OD. The remaining boxes have a low 1st with 3.35 to 4.03... If you have the chance, it looks like you can mix and match some ratios around due to the modular design...

Currently in my area these are of interest as a rebuildable "core" A-833 direct box is about $500+( then add rebuild costs and materials) and one of the 5.0L HO/Cobra/SVT boxes is $795 they pull it and it should be in OK shape...

-D.Idiot

I would go with the A535 (Pretty sure thats right) out of a Dakota 5 speed. The retainer bearing is the same size as the OD bearing retainer and there are two holes that line up with the stock holes. Those 5 speeds came behind the magnum V8's so they would be more the adequate behind a slant.


Jeff

Jeff,

That is an interesting comment. Thanks for the info.

Do you know what years the V8 boxes came in? They may have a decent low gear, instead of the ~ 4:1 1st gear in the 4cyl boxes.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

One should first do a bit of math to determine what combination or rear gearing, tire diameter, and transmission ratios will match your engines torque curve. Drivability will suffer greatly if over drive final ratio places cruse speed too high for local roads. In other words if your final gearing places cruse at 80 mph, that combination will be useless in New England unless you take the brake-down lane inside of 128 on the Mass pike at rush hour… LOL. Because the majority of our speed limits, 65 and under, are too low, so the swap would be of no use.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Long ago ..

If you replace a 3 spd box with a 5 speed you end up with 1 gear lower and 1 gear higher. In a 3.23 equipped car with stock motor and stock diameter tires its a great swap.

In my car I added a hotter motor with a higher rpm torque band so I swapped to 3.55 gears.

Swapping the trans is easy......getting a clutch to work can be more challenging.

The Dakota trans is large in some akward places.

Some T5 applications were intalled at a slant,,,,

Make sure whatever box you use has a shifter placement that works with your car. S10 and Mustang are different.

Its well worth the time. Nothing changed my car as much as the 5 speed swap.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....