Fox Here we go. New Transmission Tomorrow.

90sickfox said:

My 4 cylinder t5 lasted behind a nitrous 306, my 347, and the current 331 turbo car. I've upgraded to a tko600 but that 4 cylinder transmission would not die. I went through a regular v8 t5 and a zspec t5 before putting the 4 banger t5 in the sprayed 306. I thought it would be just something to get the car moving until I could find something else. That was 15yrs ago and I wasn't nice to it.

My advise would be to find a 4 banger t5 used. They usually aren't beat on much. Use the Federal Bearing s202 bearing for the back off the crank. Fill it with dexron v and drive it if on a budget as thin as you say.

I've rebuilt a bunch of 5 speed transmissions. If your fluid is glitter and it was hard to shift into gear then you need roller bearings, blocker rings, synchronizers, and possibly gears due to dog teeth wearing down ( if the teeth themselves aren't damaged ). Hard to get out of gear or gear lock out can be caused by the detent springs and keys. If its grinding in neutral with the clutch released you may need a front bearing and the main shaft may be damaged. It is easy to rebuild a t5 but its getting more and more expensive. You can use a t5 from a sn95 mustang but you'll need a 94- 95 bellhousing.

Either way, when buying a used t5 inspect it thoroughly. I guarantee if you look inside yours you'll decide to buy another one. The fluid usually tells the story. If it isn't red don't buy it. If it looks like a pink bowling ball don't buy it. If it looks like a fairy took a dump in it....don't buy it unless you know magic.

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Wow. Thats a lot of useful information. So here is a couple of questions if you don't mind. 1. Would it be worth rebuilding mine or finding a better condition junked yard one and rebuilt it? It a 1993 WC T5 designed for 2.3l. It is paired to my 302, which is nothing special (probably under 300hp and under 350torque). Here are the problems right now.

• 3rd synchro is completely gone, absolutely nothing left. (I don't force it into gear. I either grandma shift or skip to 4th.)
• All other synchros except 4th gear are hard to get into/doesn't feel quite right.
• Whines in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th.
• Fluid color looks normal, but has glitter in it.

2. If I decide to rebuild it, will I need a 2.3L-specific rebuild kit or are T5s fairly universal (besides gear ratios of course)?
Would at kit like this fix most of the issues besides gear wear?

Thanks.

Hello. So this is post of a mixture of my previous posts and some research I've been doing. I am deciding to finally replace my old beat up T5. So some backstory, previous owner swapped a 2.3 Fox to a 5.0, but kept the original transmission. Well long story short he beat the piss out of the transmission, and now the car is somehow in my hands. Tomorrow I am going to (hopefully) buy a used T5 from another 2.3 fox. I am buying it from a salvage yard for a decent price. The man says it works like new. He uses a 30 day money back guarantee for all of his sales, so I'm and not worried about being scammed. Don't worry, I will ensure this guarantee is legit and I will thoroughly inspect the transmission before purchasing. This is another 4cyl T5, NOT a V8 T5, but I believe that the way I drive mine, this won't be an issue. My 302 isn't anything special, probably less than 250 hp. I'm not too hard on these transmissions, but I'm tired of skipping third gear and using the might of Zeus to get into 2nd.

My transmission right now has quite a few problems. Completely destroyed 3rd synchro, and 2nd isn't far off. It whines like a dang supercharger. Don't forget about the pound of glitter in the oil. I've decided to take the easy way out and buy another. I considered rebuilding it myself, but what I've seen is that you can end up spending a crazy amount of money if your gears are bad. Now with swapping the whole unit, the hardest part of the whole thing will be getting those rusted exhaust flange bolts out. I think the PO installed the proper pilot bearing to use in the 302, so I don't think I'll have to buy one of those. This is my weekend car anyways, so its not like I will have to rely on it too much.

Anyone want to give me second thoughts?

Update: Well tranny didn't work out. I don't know what the guy was on telling me this was an original mustang transmission. While this was a T5, the ID tag suggests it came from a 1996 Camaro v6. Input shaft was 26 splines rather than the correct 10 splines. It was near impossible to shift into any of the gears, something was binding hard. Additionally, reverse gear was completely gone! So I FOed pretty quick. Oh well, the hunt continues!

Mustang5L5 said:

I'm sure it will hold up fine if you drive it as easy as you say you do, but are the gear ratios optimal for you? Those 4 cyl boxes have some pretty short gearing. That's a 3.70 first gear compared to 3.35, or the even the 2.95 first in the V8 gearboxes. Those 4 cyl T5's are only rated for 240 ft-lbs as well, due to the short gearing.

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I don't mind the ratio change that much. Combined with my rear end, it is a nice set up. Good acceleration and cruising rpms stay low enough for me.

96pushrod said:

Soaking exhaust bolts with some penetrant overnight usually helps them come off easily.

Why don’t you just plan on replacing the pilot bearing while you’re in there? In fact I’d be prepared to just do a whole clutch kit change while you’ve got the trans out. At the very least have the whole setup on hand, and by some chance everything is fine then return it.

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Thats not a bad idea. I considered replacing the clutch while I was in there, but I decided against it because believe it or not, this car only has 41,000 miles on it. For most of it's life, it was a garage kept, weekend cruiser. But you never know, something could still need replaced.