Hello all,
Sorry for not checking in sooner but I am trying to get stuff done, work, home and project roadster!
First, about your question Larry, Yes I agree the Mustang one is definitely too far back for a 289 style car and I don’t know what the T-10 shifter position is either. However on Chucks drawings there is one for the upper tunnel piece that has the stock shifter hole location.
I am also led to believe that the Shelby continuation cars use the s-10 style housing from Modern Driveline so that was my reason for going this route.
My current plan is to get the engine mounts in and hang the engine and trans assembly in place to work out the rear mounting etc.
I am sure I don’t want the mustang piece in there as I would rather the shifter be a bit forward than too far aft….I thinks…. As I already have the cowl hoop in place and the support tubes I want to make a cardboard template of the upper transmission tunnel forward area with the shift hole, this piece is fitted between those support tubes so I should have a better idea of where things line up at that point.
I have a couple of ideas about offsetting the shifter but that will depend on how high the shifter stub sticks up in relation to that tunnel top plate.
I think it will also need to be a bit more to the left but we will see.
I have driven cars with custom offset shifters and if it’s not too much offset and they shift smoothly it doesn’t feel too strange.
As for T5 transmissions I have had a few, they work well, I only ever had one fail and it was in an 84 Jeep CJ-7 that I had hot rodded the straight 6 in it……. 0.030 over with a Offy dual plane manifold and Holley 4 barrel, Clifford camshaft and 6 into 2 header
.
It made much more usable power as I was sick of it running out of steam before 3000 RPMs but third gear did not like that after a while and one day it sounded like Buddy Rich was inside the tranny
so I replaced it with another T5 from and 86 CJ and never had another issue.
I know there are stronger gearboxes in today’s market but I am not planning on putting mucho horsepower thru it and my drag racing days are long past.
I just want a nice spirited road car and with the price of gas way up again, it is about $1.44 a litre here right now, I want to be able to enjoy it with a bit better fuel mileage than the old 4 speed.
I have a friend with a very, very nice Falcon Sprint and he wants to switch to a T5 now because it just eats up too much fuel on the Hi-way
.
To be honest it’s one of the main reasons I sold my beautiful pearl green Jeep TJ Rubicon a few years ago. The price of fuel was up about 30% more than when we bought it and I realized that even on a beautiful day with the top down and doors off if it was an hour long drive or more ahead of us we would take my wife’s Subaru as it was way better on gas
not as much fun, but easier on the pocket book.
Thanks again for all the info on the turn signal switches, I have taken your advice and found a nice SWF unit, I looked at the aftermarket and there are some inexpensive ones available and new German made ones $$$,
I found a nice looking original listed on ebay for a very reasonable price
, of course I know I will be disassembling, checking and cleaning it and might even replace the old wiring but in my experience those old parts were just so well made I think it will be worth the effort.
And while you are here Mr. 1985 CCX your beautiful gold car was one of the builds I was watching, If you have a moment I wanted to as a question.
As I know you have an original style chassis in there and a fiber glass body shell, how did it go fitting the body over the complete chassis? Was there an issue with the front and rear bumper mountings clearing things?
I always see pictures of original alloy body cars having the body split below the door opening and the front and rear sections removed and then reinstalled and welded back together so I have always assumed that you can’t just slip the body over
.
I was thinking of making a small removable front piece on the chassis to remedy this if need be but I figured I would ask you as you ( or anybody else who knows) as you have been down this road already.
Cutting the body is not out of the question but if I don’t need to I will stop worrying about it.
So thanks again all, I have another small update on the project I am putting together and will post soon.
Cheers,
Hudson
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