#1 |
Let me begin by saying that I am not a mechanic nor the son of a mechanic. I have no formal training. I grew up playing with wrenches under a car while dad changed the oil in the station wagon. (There may be a pic of me in diapers doing just that). I grew up loving cars, Ford cars and trucks. I have friends who are excellent mechanics and are also Thunderbird enthusiasts with their own shops. I learned much of my mechanical knowledge from working with them on the weekends as TBird guys in NC would get together to do work on our TBirds. All that to say this: You are getting this info from a car guy, not a car mechanic.
I am the average car guy. I am not rich and cannot afford a drag car or a show car but I wouldn’t mind turning this thing into a “third date†car. I want my car to look nice and go fast enough to make me smile on the street. Pretty sure that covers about 95 % of car guys.
Why do this swap? Your auto slush-box is robbing power, will soon break down, and will cost you TWICE AS MUCH to repair/buy a new one than doing a T5 Swap. I looked at getting a built A4LD, a good C4 and accompanying parts, and other auto transmissions. They were all more expensive than this swap.
The T5 swap on a 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe is not exactly the same as on a Mustang. There are differences. Thus the reason for this post. You can find several write-ups for an A4LD to T5 swap on Mustangs.
***Read both of these threads (below) and mine and watch all videos which are listed later in this thread before buying parts***
STINGER has a good one:
http://www.stinger-performance.com/howto.html
Here is one with good pics on Mustang Forums from 2008 (he has torque specs listed):
http://mustangforums.com/forum/4-cylinde...ssion.html
This one is for a Lincoln so much of it does not apply to us, but he does have some good pics:
http://thelincolnmarkviiclub.org/phpBB3/...?f=21&t=75
These are the places I received most of my study material from. However, I still ended up using TurboFord and NATO for other unanswered questions. If you do not use a TBird 5-Speed donor car, you will have lots of questions because there are many ancillary parts needed if you just get a T5 with no bellhousing…like I did.
As stated by others: Step One is GATHER EVERY PART YOU WILL NEED.
Here is the Stinger list plus my additions:
Parts Needed:
• Borg Warner T5 Transmission- (Decide if you are going to go cable or Hydraulic) Used: $250.00-$500.00
• Bell Housing (2.3) $75.00
• Pivot Ball
• Starter Plate
• Clutch Fork
• Clutch Cable (And Dogbone Cable)
• Make sure you have Clevis Links on the pivot arm of the T5, they are hard to find.
• Clutch Cable Clip (Small C-clip. Holds Cable In Housing)
• Clutch Quadrant (Part Of Pedal Assembly)
• Clutch Disc
• Clutch alignment tool
• Pressure Plate
• Pressure plate bolts
• Flywheel
• Flywheel to Crank bolts (longer)
• Throw-out Bearing
• Pilot Bearing
• Pedal Assembly (Engine Specific, 5.0 or 2.3) $90.00
• Shifter
• Shifter Bezel
• Shifter Knob
• Shifter Weather Seal
• Shifter Boot
• Manual Drive Shaft (Thunderbird 2.3 Only)
• Back Up Light Harness (Plugs into Tranny)
• Manual Cross Member and mount (can be from a Mustang)
• Manual Cross Member Bolts (they are longer and hard to find)
• Rear Main seal $2.00
• Rear tranny seal $18.00
• Some self-tapping screws
• Wheel bearing grease
• 2.8 quarts of Mobile One Synthetic ATF
You will want to use EBay, TurboFord Wanted section, NATO Wanted section, possibly LMR.com, Summit and RockAuto.com, and every parts store in your county to find the parts. Go ahead and create an account with every one of them.
Tools needed:
Floor jack, jack stands, metric and standard wrenches, socket sets, breaker bar, long pry bar, impact gun-if you can get one, gasket puller would be nice, screw drivers. Would be helpful to have a torch, a cutting wheel and a vice, and a small pipe cutter for the tranny lines. If all you have is a couple of screw drivers and a quarter inch drive set go find a friend with a garage and a bunch of tools and beg/bribe him to let you use it for a while. This is NOT a weekend job for a guy laying under a car in his driveway.
Bolts and Mounting Hardware (Pressure Plate, Bell Housing) You will need Flywheel bolts which are longer than your flex plate bolts. Ask around for a used set or buy them new from Summit. Your local parts store will NOT carry these. You do need 10.9 hardness bolts. You will need the pressure plate bolts unless you bought a new clutch kit that came with them. You will need bellhousing bolts, four, to attach the bell to the Tranny.
1. Removal of the A4LD:
Refer to the Stinger article. And don’t forget to remove the torque converter nuts from the flywheel.
Good time to remove the transmission cooler lines. You may want a small pipe cutter. I found using one made the process much easier as these lines are contorted in all kinds of ways.
2. Removal of shifter:
This is straight forward and the Stinger article is applicable for the most part. I removed mine with the shift cable intact but I bent the four tabs you see below to do it. Not a big deal, they bend right back.
[Image: dwsSwf.jpg]
3. Removal of Pedal Assembly
Follow the Stinger article but understand you will not be unbolting the steering column from up top, the ABS is way too big.
[Image: 8jQpVT.jpg]
Crawl underneath the vehicle and undo the bolt that holds the steering column onto the rest or the arm. It will be near the firewall. It is completely possible to do all this without removing the steering column, but it will be resting on your stomach while you remove all the bolts for the pedal assembly. I did it this way and it was fine.
Getting to all the nuts (9/16 deep well with long extension and an impact) isn't too bad except for the top left ABS nut which must be done by wrench. That part just took time, not too bad. The front two bolts on the pedal assembly are welded in place -and not only that- Ford attached an A FRAME to the left two steering column bolts!
There is no way of taking a picture of the A frame with the dash installed. So it was either partially remove the dash to get to the other side of said A Frame, or get creative. I got creative. I got a three foot pry-bar!
I pried the A Frame down in order to loosen the assembly
[Image: DKe0hw.jpg]
Dropped the assembly and then rotated the assembly down and to the right, rolling it upside down
[Image: mKKLPV.jpg]
And did a "barrel roll" around the steering column until the whole thing slid out.
[Image: p7C2yQ.jpg]
You will end up with a couple of bent corners but again, they can be bent back down.
[Image: pkkd8J.jpg]
The Stinger article says to slot some holes. Slot the front left hole and slot that small front middle hole back and to the right a good bit. If you do not slot that front middle slot, the assembly will not go in. It’s OK to over-slot that front slot because there is a huge bolt that holds the top in place behind it anyway.
[Image: 6TkI15.jpg]
I am the average car guy. I am not rich and cannot afford a drag car or a show car but I wouldn’t mind turning this thing into a “third date†car. I want my car to look nice and go fast enough to make me smile on the street. Pretty sure that covers about 95 % of car guys.
Why do this swap? Your auto slush-box is robbing power, will soon break down, and will cost you TWICE AS MUCH to repair/buy a new one than doing a T5 Swap. I looked at getting a built A4LD, a good C4 and accompanying parts, and other auto transmissions. They were all more expensive than this swap.
The T5 swap on a 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe is not exactly the same as on a Mustang. There are differences. Thus the reason for this post. You can find several write-ups for an A4LD to T5 swap on Mustangs.
***Read both of these threads (below) and mine and watch all videos which are listed later in this thread before buying parts***
STINGER has a good one:
http://www.stinger-performance.com/howto.html
Here is one with good pics on Mustang Forums from 2008 (he has torque specs listed):
http://mustangforums.com/forum/4-cylinde...ssion.html
This one is for a Lincoln so much of it does not apply to us, but he does have some good pics:
http://thelincolnmarkviiclub.org/phpBB3/...?f=21&t=75
These are the places I received most of my study material from. However, I still ended up using TurboFord and NATO for other unanswered questions. If you do not use a TBird 5-Speed donor car, you will have lots of questions because there are many ancillary parts needed if you just get a T5 with no bellhousing…like I did.
As stated by others: Step One is GATHER EVERY PART YOU WILL NEED.
Here is the Stinger list plus my additions:
Parts Needed:
• Borg Warner T5 Transmission- (Decide if you are going to go cable or Hydraulic) Used: $250.00-$500.00
• Bell Housing (2.3) $75.00
• Pivot Ball
• Starter Plate
• Clutch Fork
• Clutch Cable (And Dogbone Cable)
• Make sure you have Clevis Links on the pivot arm of the T5, they are hard to find.
• Clutch Cable Clip (Small C-clip. Holds Cable In Housing)
• Clutch Quadrant (Part Of Pedal Assembly)
• Clutch Disc
• Clutch alignment tool
• Pressure Plate
• Pressure plate bolts
• Flywheel
• Flywheel to Crank bolts (longer)
• Throw-out Bearing
• Pilot Bearing
• Pedal Assembly (Engine Specific, 5.0 or 2.3) $90.00
• Shifter
• Shifter Bezel
• Shifter Knob
• Shifter Weather Seal
• Shifter Boot
• Manual Drive Shaft (Thunderbird 2.3 Only)
• Back Up Light Harness (Plugs into Tranny)
• Manual Cross Member and mount (can be from a Mustang)
• Manual Cross Member Bolts (they are longer and hard to find)
• Rear Main seal $2.00
• Rear tranny seal $18.00
• Some self-tapping screws
• Wheel bearing grease
• 2.8 quarts of Mobile One Synthetic ATF
You will want to use EBay, TurboFord Wanted section, NATO Wanted section, possibly LMR.com, Summit and RockAuto.com, and every parts store in your county to find the parts. Go ahead and create an account with every one of them.
Tools needed:
Floor jack, jack stands, metric and standard wrenches, socket sets, breaker bar, long pry bar, impact gun-if you can get one, gasket puller would be nice, screw drivers. Would be helpful to have a torch, a cutting wheel and a vice, and a small pipe cutter for the tranny lines. If all you have is a couple of screw drivers and a quarter inch drive set go find a friend with a garage and a bunch of tools and beg/bribe him to let you use it for a while. This is NOT a weekend job for a guy laying under a car in his driveway.
Bolts and Mounting Hardware (Pressure Plate, Bell Housing) You will need Flywheel bolts which are longer than your flex plate bolts. Ask around for a used set or buy them new from Summit. Your local parts store will NOT carry these. You do need 10.9 hardness bolts. You will need the pressure plate bolts unless you bought a new clutch kit that came with them. You will need bellhousing bolts, four, to attach the bell to the Tranny.
1. Removal of the A4LD:
Refer to the Stinger article. And don’t forget to remove the torque converter nuts from the flywheel.
Good time to remove the transmission cooler lines. You may want a small pipe cutter. I found using one made the process much easier as these lines are contorted in all kinds of ways.
2. Removal of shifter:
This is straight forward and the Stinger article is applicable for the most part. I removed mine with the shift cable intact but I bent the four tabs you see below to do it. Not a big deal, they bend right back.
[Image: dwsSwf.jpg]
3. Removal of Pedal Assembly
Follow the Stinger article but understand you will not be unbolting the steering column from up top, the ABS is way too big.
[Image: 8jQpVT.jpg]
Crawl underneath the vehicle and undo the bolt that holds the steering column onto the rest or the arm. It will be near the firewall. It is completely possible to do all this without removing the steering column, but it will be resting on your stomach while you remove all the bolts for the pedal assembly. I did it this way and it was fine.
Getting to all the nuts (9/16 deep well with long extension and an impact) isn't too bad except for the top left ABS nut which must be done by wrench. That part just took time, not too bad. The front two bolts on the pedal assembly are welded in place -and not only that- Ford attached an A FRAME to the left two steering column bolts!
There is no way of taking a picture of the A frame with the dash installed. So it was either partially remove the dash to get to the other side of said A Frame, or get creative. I got creative. I got a three foot pry-bar!
I pried the A Frame down in order to loosen the assembly
[Image: DKe0hw.jpg]
Dropped the assembly and then rotated the assembly down and to the right, rolling it upside down
[Image: mKKLPV.jpg]
And did a "barrel roll" around the steering column until the whole thing slid out.
[Image: p7C2yQ.jpg]
You will end up with a couple of bent corners but again, they can be bent back down.
[Image: pkkd8J.jpg]
The Stinger article says to slot some holes. Slot the front left hole and slot that small front middle hole back and to the right a good bit. If you do not slot that front middle slot, the assembly will not go in. It’s OK to over-slot that front slot because there is a huge bolt that holds the top in place behind it anyway.
[Image: 6TkI15.jpg]
SOLD: 1988 Thunderbird Turbocoupe, Now a 5 Speed, all options, Black. Stinger 3 into 2 with Magnaflows, Gillis Valve