SBF Manual Transmission selection

Nothing for a budget. The bell housing alone would be about 700 bucks. The t5z is an upgrad...or build your own with the g force case from summit and better internals from the gearbox.org or Gforce. Hanlon motorsports builds some stout transmissions....sadly it will all cost you moolah and ya won't find it it a junkyard.

The cheapest route would be a c4....but that would need to be built...so still over a grand or two.

Find a used 3550. If you look hard enough, you can find a trans and bell housing for under $1000. Very stout and affordable as it's going to get.

Just FYI.... I have been using a 87 4 cylinder t5 for 10 years...behind 3 foxes. One had nitrous....another was a 347. This transmission has never let me down....its now behind my turbo 331. I had purchased a new t5z for the 347 and killed the second gear dog teeth in less than a year. ( it would pop out of 2nd gear ). The t5z sits now.

Years ago all my real mustang race guys said the 4 cylinder t5 was stronger than the v8 one. In my case it holds true. Must use the proper pilot bearing....federal mogul s202 bearing.

I know it will fail with this combo and I'm planning on building a g force cased stronger trans. The thing that kills t5s is hard shifts and the case flexing under load. Driven with moderation they can last a very long time.

I also run a t5... behind a 306 with a PD supercharger and 12PSI... it survives because i dont power shift or launch the car real hard.

I've had the original T5Z in my 93GT behind a 302 with three different supercharger combos and
now behind my 393. It's got about 75k on it and is holding up fine, now granted I don't launch the car
or beat on it, just some spirited street cruising every so often.

Anti_Hero0932 said:

What did the 3550's come in and do they bolt up to a sbf?

Click to expand...

The Tremec 3550 is an aftermarket transmission and was never standard equipment on any Ford product. It uses a SROD bell housing from the 4 speed Mustangs.

A Tremec 3550/TKO/TKO 500/TKO 600 is a completely different transmission from a T5. Strong and almost bulletproof unless you run them without proper lubricant or full throttle shift without the clutch.

A Tremec T5 is still the same T5 that is prone to self destruction when used in a street/strip or racing environment


T5, all versions used in 5.0 Mustangs


Tremec 3550/TKO /TKO500/TKO600 AFTERMARKET replacement for T5 - handles racing environments with ease

See http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/products/tremec.asp for more information - check out the "Light Duty" group, since TTC makes monster transmissions for big trucks as well as passenger cars.


T5 identifier information.

On the tail shaft of the transmission, there will be a stamped aluminum tag. The tag will have a number on it that you can cross reference to the chart below. There is no other way to find out what type of T5 it is without disassembling it. All the rest of the numbers on the outside of the T5 case are part numbers which are not unique to any particular T5 model.

Remember that 94 - 97 T5's have a longer input shaft (about 11/16” longer) and can only be used with a 94-95 bell housing unless you modify or replace the input shaft.

T5's used with a 4 cylinder have a 3.93 first gear, reduced torque ratings and an input shaft pilot diameter that is smaller that the T5 used for V6 & V8 engines. The pilot diameter is .59" compared to the .668" used on V6 & V8 T5's. It requires a different pilot bearing to be used with a V6 or V8. The pilot bearing you need is for a Ford Ranger diesel from AutoZone part #14672




I don't know how you feel about the DYI thing when it comes to gears, some people don't like the idea of working on transmissions. If the DYI transmission fix idea isn't something that you would rather leave to someone else, here are some resources:

See http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/onlineorder/product.asp to download a FREE service manual for T5 or Tremec 3550/TKO
You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – http://get.adobe.com/reader/

See http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/ or http://www.ddperformance.com for parts

A T5 rebuild kit with syncros, bearings and other small parts costs about $160. It does not include any gears or shafts.

http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/ also has a video on how to rebuild your T5 or Tremec. It costs about $20, and is worth every penny of it.

I did a Tremec 3550 rebuild, and it wasn't that difficult. The video was an immense help, and I would recommend viewing it. At $20, it will give you an opportunity to look and decide for yourself if you think that it is something you want to try to do.


T5 Shim kits – best product I have seen in a while… http://www.5speeds.com/t5/shims.html
“The Peel ‘n Place T5 World Class shim kit makes shimming T5 counter gear and main drive gears very easy.”

You guys ever see that dude on YouTube, 50tussin? He drag races ratty looking Fox mustangs on his channel- all of them appear to be junkyard builds to some degree. But he dynos them, and the cars don't appear to be slouches. He beats the snot out of them at the track too, and I've not seen him destroy one yet. Although he does buy spare T5s with great frequency at the junk yard!

Granted, youtube watching is no where near close to actual experience. My question is, will a T5 handle some abuse, within reason? I'm fully admitting I'm a newb in this regard- so I'm asking you guys who know. I know there are much more durable transmissions available, but at a price.

I also bought Paul Cangialosi's book on T5 rebuilds, and it seems there are some parts that can greatly increase durability of these transmissions. Just throwing this out there- and I could be totally wrong, but, perhaps an option for the original poster is, take your T5 out, beef it up a little bit (counter gear stabilizer, other parts), and put it back in service?

Jason