Parts needed to adapt the T5 into the Ranger

[cgrey8]

Today I got my T5 installed completely. Yesterday, it was just hanging by the engine waiting for me to get the mounting plate made. Between distractions, I was able to get the mounting plate made, crossmember installed, seats removed, carpet pulled back, floorboard cut for the shifter, shifter installed, and carpet laid back down over the shifter. I made sure not to cut too big of a hole in the carpet so I could tuck the carpet under the overshift-limiter lip.

The D&D T5 came with a POS shifter, but I'd already gotten a nice Pro50 shifter from Dave (from Wisconsin). Because the Pro50 has such a short shifter handle, I bought the UPR Extreme shifter extension which gave me at least another 2" on the shift reach. For those not familiar with this T5 shifter add-on, it is an aluminum shift handle with a threaded bar that you can adjust the dept of. The bar that came with it had a slight bend in it. The bend was nearly useless IMO so I put the bar in my vise and whacked it a few times with a small sledge to get a better angle into it. Without that add-on, the shifter'd be too close to the floor forcing me to lean over and reach for the shifter to shift...not very sporty feeling to say the least.

While I was putting the shifter in, I was able to press the clutch pedal and watch the slave move. It appears to be pushing the clutch about an inch. The main thing I was looking for was to see if there was any flex in my mounting plate. I couldn't see the plate flex, not even a little. However I could watch the back end of the slave and it had a very slight movement. So far so good on that slave setup. 87sc302, just out of curiosity, what kind of connection does the 280z slave have? With the Ranger slave I have now, it reuses all the factory line, even the quick-connect that used to be on the V6's center-shaft slave.

Even though the carpet is now vaccumed, it's still got spots and discoloration all over from the past 16 years of dirt and grime. I know James Duff and similar others sell new carpet for Rangers (both std & supercab). However does their replacement carpet come with all the padding that the factory carpet has?

[87sc302]

cgrey8

The 280Z slave cylinder has a female thread that fit the threaded to 4n adapter I purchased from a local round track shop used to adapted 4n brake lines. I did have to fab up my factory master cylinder to 4n adapter.

I am interested in the UPR extreme shifter,it sounds like the best way to go. What Is the POS shifter that came with your transmission? Mine is the stock shifter with the shifter lever reversed.

[cgrey8]

The POS (Piece Of $#!†) shifter that came on it was just a stamped steel base with a plastic center where the shift handle penetrates through. It didn't look like it cost more than about $15-20 to make.

I didn't know where I could get those fittings, so I researched what other options were available. To my knowledge, nobody else is using the 83-84 V6 Ranger slave. I think Elect666 got the idea to use it from me and proved that it could work which was nice to know since I'm at that point in my swap. In fact, he was the one that discovered the Ranger's factory hydraulic line could also be reused, quick disconnect and all.

Isn't the Internet awesome?

[87sc302]

The internet and this forum saved me alot of headaches with the T5 change out. My 280Z slave was mounted using the same type mounting as the TP unit. I have pictures of the setup but I do not have any way to post them.

This forum is the best.

[Elect666]

I have about 3000 miles on it and it works real good. No leaks or anything like that, I cant wait for chris to get his running to validate how good it works.
Elect666

[cgrey8]

It's coming together slowly but surely. I've been muscling around with the RE most of yesterday and today. Lots to ask and discuss, so I'm starting a new thread with where I'm at right now.

________________________

Continue reading about my slave setup on this thread:
It runs, but the clutch doesn't completely disengage

[cgrey8]

Adding more info to this very old thread. A guy from another forum posted that he used an F150 bell instead of a Mustang bell. So for others looking for slave setup options with a T5, this seems to work just as well as the custom plate idea I came up with:



What I don't know is if these bells require a 164T flywheel or if they can use the same 157T flywheel used by the GT bells.

The most interesting thing is that the fork appears to be just shy of a 2-to-1 ratio. So travel required from the slave to completely disengage the clutch should less than the Mustang. However a heavy clutch pedal might. The 89-93 Mustang fork appears to be at or a little over a 2-to-1 ratio and the 94-95 fork is WAY over 2-to-1. Here's a pic of the 89-93 and 94-95 Mustang forks:


If you follow the link in the post above, you'll see what I had to do to get the clutch to disengage using an 89-93 Mustang clutch/bell setup. With the even longer fork of a 94-95 bell, my slave setup might not disengage the clutch at all due to the added push distance that would be required with the longer fork. I assume Ford made the fork advantage so much larger to accommodate people installing really hard-to-press clutches. Or maybe the cable location on the clutch pedal in Mustangs pulls further. Who knows...

[Grumpy]

Chris ...... looking at them pix... esp the one of the slave mounted .... you goin to put some kind of heat shield around it or something ???? cuz its AWFULLY close to the exhaust ... and that isnt good cuz the heat from the pipe/header will melt the plastic housing... or melt the lil rubber plunger caps inside it .... or boil the brake fluid and then it would be the same as the first point i said ... and in any case... no more clutch ... and if it happens in town with traffic then there will be a chance of a wreck...... so personally i would fashion a shield for it ..... if mine is that close... im goin to make one for mine .....

[cgrey8]

This isn't my setup nor what I am going to migrate to. I like my setup the way it is. It works and doesn't have the heat issues you pointed out there. This was simply something that came up on the EECTuning.org forum. Someone asked how to replace the cable-clutch setup on a Mustang with a hydraulic setup using mostly OEM parts. Read more here:
EECTuning.org>Hydraulic Clutch Conversion

In this thread, I shared my Ranger setup and explained that most of my setup was using OEM parts, with the custom plate I made, bolt/nut/washer hardware, and threaded rod being the only aftermarket stuff I used. I did explain I was starting with a setup that used a hydraulic master from the factory, thus a Mustang owner would have to come up with a master cylinder setup. Shortly after I posted my setup, someone else posted up their F150 bell setup which I'd never seen before. I wish I'd known about this option back when I was planning my swap. I don't know that this option is cheaper, better, or easier than what I have, but I still would've liked to have known about it. So for the benefit of others visiting this thread, I thought I'd post up these details so they would know.

IIRC, we even discussed using F150 bells back then, but nobody knew if the F150 bell would work with a standard Mustang T5 transmission. The T5 and T18 are different enough that there was at least a good chance something wouldn't work (e.g. T5 input shaft would be too long/short, incompatible pilot location, incompatible bolt pattern between bell and tranny, incompatible w/157T flywheel, etc). But it seems as though somebody out there has gone this route and found that the F150 bell does seem to work with a T5.

[carvinmark]

IIRC, we even discussed using F150 bells back then, but nobody knew if the F150 bell would work with a standard Mustang T5 transmission. The T5 and T18 are different enough that there was at least a good chance something wouldn't work (e.g. T5 input shaft would be too long/short, incompatible pilot location, incompatible bolt pattern between bell and tranny, incompatible w/157T flywheel, etc). But it seems as though somebody out there has gone this route and found that the F150 bell does seem to work with a T5.

That's good to know, thanks

[Teddyzee]

That's some great info! I'll need to dig into the link you showed.

(I'm using an '83 Ranger diesel slave, and '89ish 7/8" master thanks to this site!)
Also used the hole in the clutch fork closest to the trans for the most throw possible, for anyone reading this in the future.

EDIT:
Was it ever stated that wa_4x4builder on the eecTuning.org website was actually using a T5? Or are the bolt pattern to trans and bell depth the same as our Fox style T5 bellhousing?

And FWIW, I daily drive a '97 Mustang GT with the cable clutch, and my Ranger clutch feels much much better, with a significantly lighter pedal.