I have a 1950 Ford Custom. It has a 289 Mustang engine with a T5 tranny. It is a work in progress. My question is this. Although the T5 is already mounted in the car, I have to hook up a clutch. This means buying a hydraulic clutch kit for around $600 plus labor. It has hanging pedals installed but they are garbage. Or would I be better off just putting a C4 in it. I know the decision will ultimately be mine. Just wondering which would make the car more cool.
Well, do you like to shift gears, or do you like a smooth, effortless drive? When I look in a car like that and see a 4 or 5 on the floor, it kinda makes me smile, but I have to admit I prefer to drive an automatic most of the time. In the end,I don't think this choice is going to have much to do with how cool your car is.
Stay with the T5 for coolness to the max. A long floor shift in a Shoebox is tits! You can have a box full of shifter knobs back at the garage, and use a different one every week. I have a T5 out of an S10 on my garage floor, and the first time I have grief from my stock 3 speed, that T5 is going in, even though I will have to buy an adapter for my Flattie. I've gotta believe you can get a juice clutch setup for under six bills. But even take a little to consider a stock cable setup from any number of T5 vehicles. Stay with the T5 in my opinion - I've been a cool fool since high school!
I built a '30 sedan a couple of years ago with a 302 and 4 spd. out of an 85 mustang. I took the clutch swing arm and pedal and fabbed it into a frame behind the dash. The clutch was cable operated and the cable looked like hell but it was pretty easy to hook up and worked great. I think the cable probably could have been made less obvious by playing around with it, but I don't build 100 point cars for Pebble Beach and was happy it worked as installed with no problems after three years of driving the crap out of that car. Guess it mostly depends on whether you like to shift or not. Good luck with it whatever you decide to do. Have fun and enjoy your accomplishments, keep plugging away and git er done. Mike from Mass.
The T5 will make the more drivable, get better mileage (would like to take a trip that involves any highway?) and you can really row the gears if you wanna have some fun.
You know if you don't just leave the t5 in its always going to haunt you. You know dam well you wont be wondering what it would have been like with that c4.
I asked myself the same question recently for my Falcon. I chose the C4 because I already had one sitting on the garage floor and frankly it was the cheap way out. I regret it because I just love rowing through gears. Automatics are good for land yachts, cruisers, and serious drag racers. I'll be looking to assemble the parts for a T5 swap in the future.
2nd thread is ridiculous! Moderators takin Friday off? Simply bump your previous thread if you havent gotten the answer you seek. My T5 aint hydraulic?