anyone running a 4 cylt5 behind a 5.0??

Foxfan88

My Grandpa has great wood.
Sep 13, 2004
2,487
4
0
Miami, Ok
i am in deperate need for a t5 so i may condsider getting a 4 cyl t5.
all you need to change is your pilot bearing right??
so exactly how much weaker in the 2.3 gearset?? will it just shatter under daily driving .
will it take any spirited driving??
 
This is always heavily debated. Most say that the 4 banger trans will not hold up.

A friend of mine ran a 4 cyl for about a year in his 5.0 w/ h/c/i 3.55 gears. He did drive it hard, as he wanted to see when it would actually break. When he got tired of that game I traded him some LX lights for the 4 cyl trans. I tore it apart for a school project and it was in surprisingly good condition.

My factory t5 has held up to my 408 for 10k miles. That is 210k miles total.

Run the 4 cyl trans. I personally think that the factory ratings on the t5 are useless.

jason
 
They use a differnent input shaft. You can interchange the 5.0 and 2.3 shafts, but it's more work than it's worth IMO.

I have one from a turbocoupe that I use for a backup, but I know it's on borrowed time, and I drive accordingly, but for the record, mines been in the 13's numerous times. So......
 
Just get a smaller inside diameter pilot bearing. they can be had at any parts tore for dirt and i believe that they are a izuzu part or nissan or something like that, you wont be able to find out that way but i got mine off of e-bay and it was labeled 4cyl T-5 v-8 conversion pilot bearing.....i dont have the part # but it just has a slightly smaller inside diameter but the same outside diameter. I am using my 4 cylinder t-5 behind a carbed 302. i have got the parts to convert it. bellhousing,clutch fork,block plate,pilot bearing. thats it!
 
Mine's been fine for a year, and I drive hard but I lift to shift.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the tires aren't slicks, the tranny should hold. Why? Because a clutch dump from a 4-banger flywheel at 5k hurts just as bad as one from a V8. Anything that breaks the tires free is the maximum load capable of being placed on the transmission, and 4-bangers do that already.

Bangshifting 3rd might be an issue, I dunno.

4k#Fe
 
4k#Fe- not necessarily true. maybe from a dead stop, yes, but that's not where most tranny's take a ****. downshifting into third on the highway won't nearly break the tires loose, but puts an awful amount of strain on the tranny, especially if you've got a strong clutch in there that doesn't absorb as much impact as the stock unit.

also, everytime you dump the clutch the power first twists up the transmission, then it twists up the differential, then it spins the tires. it's a millisecond event, but the strain of the v8's torque still goes through the drivetrain one piece at a time, and if one tooth of a gear is weakened already (or just made weak because it's a 4 cyl unit) it would rather just break off than transfer 300 foot pounds of torque all the way back to the tires.
 
Well we put a 4cyl t5 I had sittin around in my friend's notch and it has held up for over a year. He actually beats up on it pretty bad and its still going strong. Some people have good luck with them and some have bad luck.
 
I ran one for at least a year, took it to the track a few times. Eventually it got hard to put it in 2nd but for a daily driver it'll hold up IMO. However I the gears are shorter, at least it felt like it to me, especially 2nd. As mentioned above, you need a different pilot bearing, and the shaft lenght is slighty different. Check the chart.
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it's a millisecond event, but the strain of the v8's torque still goes through the drivetrain one piece at a time,

To a certain extent, yes. All I'm saying is that if you hit a driveline with a very-rapidly spinning flywheel, it gets a lot more than 300 lb-ft from either motor. Intelligent driving is the biggest factor in my book.

4k#Fe
 
beyond the strength issue is the gear ratio. you think you have traction problems now, first gear is a 3.97......steeperthan even a stock 3.35......

you also MIGHT not like 5th gear as it has a.79 5th instead of the .68 of a standard t-5. ( all this listed in the chart above)

if you just had to throw one in to get the car to drive untill you can get another one it would work. but don't spend much on one as i'm sure as time goes on you'd rather a v-8 t-5.....i guess you could throw "whatever" in your car for now and have the one you have rebuilt.