anyone out there hooked up a 5 speed to a ford fe in an f100? any suggestions or guidelines? i've done a little research but it doesn't seem like a lot of people do it, most just do motor swaps and i wanna stick with the 352 i've got. thanks
Your best bet is a TKO as it will live just about forever behind that engine in a truck. The added benefit is it uses the same trans to bell housing bolt pattern at a top loader which was available with FE. So it should be a straight bolt up. The downside is shifter location. It'll be very far back, but the TKO does have a kind of forward mount you can utilize.
I've got a T-5 behind a 390 FE in a 31 coupe. The T-5's are really not strong enough to run behind an FE, but since I'm not racing the car, I figure it'll hold up OK. So far so good. I got the adapter from a former HAMB vendor whose reputation has become somewhat tarnished because of failure to ship parts after purchase, etc etc. If you PM me I will provide his name and web address. He still sells the adapters but, I did have to modify it to work/fit properly. Just so you know, I had to cancel a credit card # I had given this guy, because of his poor business practices. He is not personally making the adapters, but rather buying them from a supplier. I could find my receipt from the company that built it if your interested and maybe they would sell direct to you. Sorry for the rant. BOutlaw
The T-5 input shaft is longer which requires the spacer/adapter, but as tjm73 says the TKO should bolt up the same as a toploader and they are both 10 spline. Good Luck. BOutlaw
1966 F100 with 352 3 on the tree. Used Wilcap adapter to a rebuilt T-5 from 5.0 mustang. Had to move the crossmember back about a inch. Reused trucks trans mount, clutch, pressure plate and the speedometer cable bolted in. Very easy swap Cruises 70 at 2100 rpm and gets 16 to 18 mpg on the highway.
Typical TKO is meant to replace a T5, so they come with the longer input. You can order it with a Toploader length input though.
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