T5 Time is Now.

[sly]

axle hope is an issue with a lopo auto. my 88 can attest to that.

[Pesty351]

My axle hop went away with the speedway springs, police style shocks, and energy suspension bushings. I highly recommend doing that before you break something.

[jaywish]

What is a TKO tranny?
Jay

[gadget73]

yeah, I was also thinking that the suspension is likely wonky or too mushy if axle hop is a concern. I have no trouble with mine using stock springs, stock type shocks and poly bushings. It wasn't really a problem even with the dead stock bushings, though axle location sucked and the car was not the most stable.


a TKO is a Tremec 5 speed thats intended to be used in hot rod builds.

[Crownvicman289]

Axle hop is definitely now an issue

Put an open diff in, problem solved.

What shift handle is that? That might actually work in my car.

[pantera77]

hot diggity.


is it up and running? it's the 89 HPP box, right?

Yes and yes.

Oh god yes! I think that may be the first interior in a Crown Vic (not other panther) I'd swap mine out for. It just looks so right.

Why thank you kind sir.

you did a great job, it looks like it belongs there. if I had a second Panther, a manual swap might be in the works.


you ought to take the car to a scale.

I personally don't think it looks out of place at all. It feels really natural.

I doubt it was intentional, but I also like the little detail that this appears to be a 2 person front seat. It eliminates the subtle awkwardness of having a stick right where the knees of one of the passengers could be.

Those are Towncar Signature blue leather seats. They're 3 person if you flip the armrest up, like they are in the pics. It would be awful damn uncomfortable for the middle person since the seat is shaped the way it is, but you can stick someone up there.


Looks good, though I'd personally want a console or something around the shifter. I really think thats why I've never taken to the idea of a 5 speed in these. It just doesn't quite look like it belongs there.

That would be the most uncomfortable ass raping seat ever in the middle.

Personally, I really hate consoles. And really like the look of just a shifter through the floor. If it was up to me every car ever would come with bench seats, center consoles not allowed. Especially with a split bench, then it just looks really ugly. I guess maybe if I had those police seats, but that would require giving up my pillow tops which just isn't ever going to happen. (Unless I can find a mint non-leather set)

Some early model fox mustangs came with an option to delete the center console. What was left was a neat trim piece to house the shifter guts.

I like the way it looks either way. Damn cool.

Thanks. That delete piece looks.... odd.

axle hope is an issue with a lopo auto. my 88 can attest to that.

My axle hop went away with the speedway springs, police style shocks, and energy suspension bushings. I highly recommend doing that before you break something.

Already has all speedway springs and p71 shocks. Although no poly bushings out back, only up front.

yeah, I was also thinking that the suspension is likely wonky or too mushy if axle hop is a concern. I have no trouble with mine using stock springs, stock type shocks and poly bushings. It wasn't really a problem even with the dead stock bushings, though axle location sucked and the car was not the most stable.

Mushy would probably be the exact opposite word I'd use to describe this cars suspension. It literally has no body roll, no bounce, no nothing. It's essentially just on rails. It olny happened once when I decided to drop the clutch from 3k just to see what would happen. What happened was a large smile on my face.

Put an open diff in, problem solved.

What shift handle is that? That might actually work in my car.

8" Hurst? or maybe it was a 10". Either way it is perfect.





Story time?

So I've put about 150 miles on it so far. Drove it to work the past few days, drove it all around town, generally just driving it normally. Like I said, it feels surprisingly natural. The shifter is in the perfect location, right in line with the armrest. Nice and comfortable.

The clutch took a little getting used to as I've only driven a few vehicles without hydraulic clutches. It's a bit stiffer than I'm used to, but I'm already completely used to it. I have it adjusted so it disengages within the first 1" or so, with an inch or two of travel below it. I like it like this just fine. It sits a touch higher than the brake pedal.

The Husrt shifter is really nice. No slop or anything.

The tranny itself is really my only concern. 5th is a little noisy for my taste. All the gears shift smooth as butter though, so I guess that's a plus. I'm probably going to pull it back out and rebuild it in due time. A full Ford Racing rebuild kit is $270, plus I have to see if the gears themselves are fine. (I have a feeling fifth is going to be on the thin side) Not a huge concern right now, but it will need attention sooner than later.

Next up is upgrading the fuel pump and finally redoing the stock horrid exhaust. That may be this weekend's project.

As for performance, I really haven't beat on it that hard yet so I can't say. Nor can I comment on fuel economy or anything else yet. The only thing I can say so far is the fun to drive factor has increased ten-fold.

[jaywish]

All I can say is way cool. I have changed a couple of cars to sticks and sure would like to do that to my wagon. Good show man.

The ones that I did had a factory option for stick so they were easy conversions. An Opel GT and a BMW 2800. back in the day.

Jay

[pantera77]

And so ends the saga of the 89. Noticed when I got to work today the engine sounded a wee bit louder then usual, but thought nothing of it. Then when I went to leave, the thing was knocking like a bitch. Made it home and dear lord that poor engine is so mad. One of the rod bearings is done for sure. Thing is I've been babying it the last couple days just because 5th is noisy. But instead the engine decided it wanted to die. Maybe it just wanted to stay an automatic.

So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I could pull the engine out of my 91 marq and just use that short block, it was super quiet and only has about 95K on it. I have a good 302 just laying around as well, maybe I'll take that and get it machined. Or maybe throw a 331 in it. Either way I'm disappointed to say the least, the engine was the last thing I ever expected to go on this car.

At least the 235K mile lopo in the battle wagon still runs like a fucking champ, and I beat the ever living piss out of that car every day of the week.

[1990LTD]

That sucks. Perfect excuse for a 331 though.

[pantera77]

I'm honestly seriously thinking about putting the bastard block 4.6 out of my 92 in it.

[1990LTD]

well your T5 would be good to go, so why not? if it runs good and you foresee it running good for a while to come, do it!

[gadget73]

oh god no, not one of those modular catastrophes.

[johnunit]

that sucks. Maybe you get lucky and it just needs new bearings thrown in?

[86VickyLX]

I'm honestly seriously thinking about putting the bastard block 4.6 out of my 92 in it.

Only if you get rid of those god awful cylinder heads...
Also, you'll need a different driveshaft and trans mount.

[87gtVIC]

That blows....mmmmm blows?!.....catch my drift?