so my options were: put a 5 speed in it, a torque splitter over drive, a automatic with a overdrive, or suck it up and deal with it
First i looked at the torque splitter i liked everything about it besides the price retain stock clutch stock linkage just shorten the drive shaft move the transmission mount and modify the dog house cover
Second being the automatic with a over drive, pretty much never considered it besides either having to switch column modifying dog house cover drive shaft new fly wheel and trans mission. its basically a sin to pull out a manual and put in a automatic
Third putting a 5 speed in plenty of people said there was a 4 speed with over drive and that they had just bolted in a 80s 5 speed but the information was hazy at best, i knew i would have to modify drive shaft flywheel clutch and do the hydraulic clutch set up
Forth suck it up and deal with it and well no great story ever began with "so i was scared to put a over drive in my truck"
so a 5 speed it was i looked into most all my options, but had to have some ground rules had to be easy to find have atleast a .74 overdrive and bolt up to motor no modifications so when i blow it up i can swap it out no problems
4 speed overdrive: the plus to this is it bolts right in but i had trouble finding one and well didnt like the idea of taking out a 4 speed to replace it with a 4 speed
T5: the t5 has manual clutch linkage which is a huge plus in the department but the more i read alot of people mentioned having to have a ford bell housing and a chevy transmission which im not sure if that is accurate but what killed the t5 for me is the price the initial cost of a t5 is minimal $500 and the shifter is on the back of the transmission
ZF 5 speed: hydraulic clutch was a down fall here but most all i read was they are very strong but expensive i had trouble finding enough of them to nail down a accurate price range and didnt like the availability of them
M5OD-R2: hydraulic clutch just like the ZF which i didnt like but for $300 for a transmission i figured i could try it and if it didnt work i wouldnt be out much and they were literally everywhere. people did say they were weak
so i shelled out $300 for a M5R2 and started massing up the parts i thought i may need.
Clutch: i needed a clutch anyways so i went ahead and ordered one from a 90 f150 with a 300 and the m5r2 which was a 10" clutch, stock my truck had a 11" clutch so i had to replace the fly wheel it may have worked with the 11" the picture below shows the m5od throw out bearing up against the stock 11" pressure plate
Transmission mount: form the t18 bolts right up to the m5od just have to move it back a few inches
Driveshaft: had to swap shafts the m5 has a slip yoke tail shaft which is the same out of a c4 automatic i lucked out needing a 53 1/2" drive shaft and i had a 54" laying around out of something
Clutch master cylinder hose: here is where i messed up i ordered the master cylinder out of the 90 f150 and the hose the prebent rubber hose is bent way wrong and the master cylinder is clocked weird i will be replacing these with a universal master cylinder and braided line, now it wouldnt fit on the clutch pedal side of the brake master cylinder so i decided to use some of the stock linkage and put it on the other side, i did have to cut and weld the small bracket that connected the zbar to the rod that goes threw the floor, also i had to trim back the master cylinder to get it to mount up like i wanted
Dog house cover: i did have to move the hole in the dog house cover the shifter on the m5 is 3 inches further back than the t 18
Shifter rod: i went ahead an welded a piece of tubing to the old shifter after i cut it tapped a hole in it so it would look as stock as possible that and the stock shifter for the m5 is ugly
the flywheel clutch starter transmission all bolted up and worked flawlessly just had to drill the new holes for the transmmison mount cross member to frame, i had trouble getting the transmission to clear the body on install but i think it is because my truck has been wrecked and the cross member is bent and torqued, if you do this swap BACK BLEED the slave and clutch master cylinder its quick easy and takes 5 min and your done
but that is it im sure i forgot something so feel free to ask any questions and excuse me butchering the English language
