[Stinger1987]

hey guys any one have pics of their modified shifter boxes on a T-45 for a Tbird thats NOT the pics in the article in the tech sction of www.tccoa.com ?
any and all pics from the swap and feedback are appreicated

has anyone done a T-56 yet, or am I gonna be the first?

 

[slidebird91]

sorry, didnt have any pics taken. I've never heard of anyone fitting a t-56, although ive heard a lot of people talk about it. that would be pretty sweet if you could make it fit. oh, Id put out a parts request for a sc pedal assembly now, so you dont have to make your own. mustang ones dont fit. good luck, its worth it.

 

[coggonobrien]

get a chevy trannie, just need to swap bellhousings and some electronics. its the right length for our car. i'm sure if you talked to tremec (they originally evolved from ford's old toploader 4 speed) they could help you out.

 

[Aaron K.]

has anyone done a T-56 yet, or am I gonna be the first?

This guy has one in his 93 5.0.

 

[Stinger1987]

get a chevy trannie, just need to swap bellhousings and some electronics. its the right length for our car. i'm sure if you talked to tremec (they originally evolved from ford's old toploader 4 speed) they could help you out.

seriously? an F-body T-56's shifter is in the right place for our cars?!

 

[Stinger1987]

sorry, didnt have any pics taken. I've never heard of anyone fitting a t-56, although ive heard a lot of people talk about it. that would be pretty sweet if you could make it fit. oh, Id put out a parts request for a sc pedal assembly now, so you dont have to make your own. mustang ones dont fit. good luck, its worth it.

do you modify the shifter box yourself?

 

[Tobey]

hey guys any one have pics of their modified shifter boxes on a T-45 for a Tbird thats NOT the pics in the article in the tech sction of www.tccoa.com ?
any and all pics from the swap and feedback are appreicated

has anyone done a T-56 yet, or am I gonna be the first?

Search the 4.6L Engine forum for my user name and "mustang engine". You should find a post I did when I did my PI engine and T-45.

 

[slidebird91]

I didnt modify it myself because at the time I would have had no clue what I was doing. and I dont have a welder. I do know you will need another set of detents and the shifter box from another transmission. try to find a cheap doner.

 

[Stinger1987]

where can I get one already modified or a pre-made box?

 

[slidebird91]

There was a guy that kept telling me how he was going to prefab a box for me. well this drug on for a month until he stopped answering my calls. so, best thing to do would be have a local shop with a good fabricator do it. thats what I did. the problem is that it is so hard to line up the detents correctly. sorry I dont have a better answer, maybe someone else does.

 

[mechman1984]

to be honest the shifter extension box is not worth the time, effort or money. The simple solution is to cut the floor out around the shifter and make a custum handle. I went this route and it works great and i will be able to reuse the stock center console. The t56 is a great trans but unless you really need it dont bother. If you are going to keep a lightly modified motor in there a t45 is just fine. One final note make sure you have the driveshaft cut/fabricated to length. Others have used stock drivesahfts from other cars but as far as i can tell the lengths of these "drop in" shafts is almost 2-3 inches too short.

Will

 

[slidebird91]

i'm using my stock driveshaft and it just barely works. when I upgrade to aluminum, I will get one the correct length. another thing I suggest, something I should have done, is get the better input shaft put in, so if you go over 450ftlbs, you wont shear it. we were going to do the extended handle but were worried about the extra weight/stress put on the synchros by doing that

 

[MadMikeyL]

I also did the swap without an extension box. Modified shifter handle and modified center console seemed like a much easier solution to me than an over-complicated extension box. Also for the driveshaft the stock one will slide in place, but the yoke for the T45 is longer and with the stock driveshaft it will be too far forward in the trans. Luckily there are 2 cheap solutions to this problem. One is to get a driveshaft out of a non-police crown vic, which is a steel one piece unit and slightly better than the stock 2 piece. The better option is to get one out of an aerostar van. I picked up my aerostar driveshaft off ebay and it cost me $60 shipped to my door, and it is a one piece aluminum shaft and is exactly the right lenght (55.5" center of U-joint to center of U-joint).

Mike

 

[slidebird91]

thats an excellent idea, what year aerostar?

 

[mechman1984]

I also did the swap without an extension box. Modified shifter handle and modified center console seemed like a much easier solution to me than an over-complicated extension box. Also for the driveshaft the stock one will slide in place, but the yoke for the T45 is longer and with the stock driveshaft it will be too far forward in the trans. Luckily there are 2 cheap solutions to this problem. One is to get a driveshaft out of a non-police crown vic, which is a steel one piece unit and slightly better than the stock 2 piece. The better option is to get one out of an aerostar van. I picked up my aerostar driveshaft off ebay and it cost me $60 shipped to my door, and it is a one piece aluminum shaft and is exactly the right lenght (55.5" center of U-joint to center of U-joint).

Mike

That measurement is about 2 inches too short. The driveshaft expert i talked to uses a rule of thumb of 3/4" to 1" between the tailshaft housing and the yoke. Maybe my car is different somehow but 55.5" would leave too little of the spline in the trans.

Will

 

[MadMikeyL]

Well I got that measurement based on being told that the stock shaft (57") had to be shortened by 1.5" for the swap. I started looking around for cars that had a 55.5" driveshaft and first found the crown vic, then later found the aerostar. When my driveshaft was in place there was about an inch of the yoke that wasn't in the trans, but since the T45 yoke is so deep there is still plenty of yoke in the trans. I was told that with the stock length driveshaft you would have problems with it destroying the rear seal in the trans or something like that. Never tried it with the stock lenght driveshaft, but I did compare the stock shaft with the 4R70 yoke to the vic shaft with the T45 yoke and from the tip of the yoke to the flange at the diff. was exactly the same on both.

Mike

 

[MadMikeyL]

Slidebird, I don't know exactly which ones will work, but the one I have is out of a 92 I think and it had the 4.0 motor and an AOD trans. I would imagine any year aerostar with an AOD would be correct, but I don't know for sure. I'd say go to the yard with a tape measure and start looking under aerostars and measuring the driveshaft. There's a U-pull it yard on tryon street in charlotte that I went to a few times when I lived in mooresville, and they are pretty cheap and have a lot of cars all organized and already jacked up.

 

[Tobey]

I didnt modify it myself because at the time I would have had no clue what I was doing. and I dont have a welder. I do know you will need another set of detents and the shifter box from another transmission. try to find a cheap doner.

? What do you mean by detents?

I took the sketches from the tech article, turned them into nice 3-view drawings like I learned in my high school drafting class, and took them to a local machine shop. I think it cost me $400 for all of it. Unlike in the article, the straps that hold the extension box are not welded; they are bolted at both ends.

The extension box isn't that complicated. You need to be a little more careful than I was on how long you cut the extended shift rod, but otherwise it's a simple, solid solution.

If anyone wants copies of the drawings I took to the machinists, PM me. I think I can dig them up.

 

[Stinger1987]

Thsi car will be FAR from slightly modified, my engine builder is telling me that I will have to cryo treat this gears in the T56 or I am gonna gernade it. and I have a friend that makes Carbon Fober driveshafts for several NMRA Pro 5.0 guys so he is whipping me up a CF driveshaft for the proper length

 

[mechman1984]

What setup are you going to run? I have seen 560 hp run through a t56 without it failing. The setup you are eluding to must be a true monster both in power and money.

Will