The T56 conversion into a 70 Mach 1

[buening 63]

Well it's been awhile in the making and I'm setting some time aside to create a thread on this, as I'll likely need tips as I proceed. The car is a 70 Mach with a 351w and an FMX trans that leaked out of every crevice possible. Below is a parts list, prices paid, and some pictures of those parts. I set out try and save money where I could in order to get a few more comforts like hydraulics. My goals for this project are to minimize the changes to the car that can't be reversed easily, such as hacking up the trans tunnel to fit the beast in there. My wife is due August 15th with our first child, so I'll be hauling balls trying to get this conversion complete.

 

Parts List thus far:

 

2004 Cobra T-56 used with 29k miles - $900

Quicktime RM-8031 Bellhousing new - $350 from Corral.net group buy

Spec Stage II SF482 kevlar clutch and pressure plate -- Slightly used (one run on dyno) -- $190 from Corral.net classifieds

Spec SF05A billet aluminum flywheel (yes I know DD negatives with lightweight flywheels) -- New in box -- $250 from Corral.net classifieds

Pro 5.0 billet shifter with Steeda Tri-Ax shifter -- Slightly used -- $75 from SVTPerformance.com classifieds

Hurst white 6spd shifter ball - $30

Cobra slip yoke used - $50

Dynotech 46.5" x 4" x 0.065" steel driveshaft used from NASCAR - $38 shipped

Mustang original clutch pedal assembly - $170 shipped

MustangSteve roller bearing kit - $40

ModernDriveline LF Master Cylinder kit - $235

McLeod 1400-30 Hydraulic Throwout bearing with sleeve - $359

24" stainless hydraulic line - $39

3"x1"x1/8" rectangular tubing 4' long for the custom trans crossmember - $30

Custom motor mounts - roughly $50 See build thread here: http://www.stangfix.com/testforum/index.php/topic,6383.0.html

 

 

Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats all for the parts list. I'm up to about $2900 for everything including miscellaneous ARP bolts and other hardware.

[buening 63]

With the FMX, exhaust, headers, steering linkage, brake booster and M/C, tires removed, and car on jack stands and fully level in all directions, I am ready to bolt up the bellhousing and transmission and jack it into the tunnel. With the stock motor mounts still in place, I am getting a little over 6° at the tailshaft of the T56. The inspection cover on top of the trans is touching the trans tunnel support when this angle was measured. With the rear axle supported so that the suspension is fully loaded, I am amazingly getting 0°. This means that you would end up with 6° driveline angle with stock motor mounts and the trans touching the tunnel. You will definitely need drop motor mounts or hack up the trans tunnel with this transmission. Also, note the picture below that shows the location of the shifter and the shifter opening. Sliding the motor back will better align the shifter in the opening.

 

 

[buening 63]

I have since removed the stock motor mounts and installed the custom motor mounts. With the stock mounts in place, I was measuring 24" from the concrete to the oil pan bolt head nearest the mounts. I am now measuring exactly 23", so all of my measuring and drawings indeed created a full 1" drop. Sliding the motor back was a royal PIA! I thought I'd be smart and grease up the motor plates so that I could just jack up the tail of the trans and slide it all back. WRONG! I had to jack up the motor as well so that the entire motor and trans floated on two jacks, in which then I slide the motor back. A cherry picker would have accomplished the same, but I don't have one of those and this worked just as well. Initially I had planned on sliding the motor back a full 1.5". Why?? A few reasons. With the deal I got on the $40 driveshaft, it was 1.5" too short with the motor in the stock location and getting 0.75" slip yoke play. It would also give me more clearance for a better radiator fan.

 

One would think that 1.5" doesn't seem like much, but when you are moving an engine back that far it seems everything gets in the way. To start out, my car has the factory A/C. This means that the heater core tubes are close to the head and one is actually behind the head.

 

 

Another clearance issue was the power steering pump hard line that comes out the back of the pump. The further you move the engine back, the closer the oil filter gets to the shock tower. Fortunately I didn't go to that extremes but if it were a problem an oil filter relocation kit would have fixed that. I need to flip that motor mount bolt so the nut doesn't touch the filter.

 

 

Finally, one that I had not expected was the sway bar. When the wheels are suspended off the ground, the sway bar touches the crank pulley. This is the 3 sheeve pulley, so one may not run into problems with a different setup. On the ground there is plenty of clearance, but I need to consider it could cause issues if I ever go over a hill too fast and get the wheels close to coming off the ground. An aftermarket sway bar may alleviate this issue, or it could make things worse. With all factors considered, I was able to move the engine back 1.25".

 

Clearances check at the steering center link, steering ram, and idler arm. I will have to dimple the header for the steering box, which was dented previously for that reason but moving it back means I need to create a new dent. Exhaust clearance at the trans tunnel support is fine When I had the exhaust installed, the collector reducers were touching the tunnel support so we had to dent the reducers as can be seen in the pic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With everything slid back, I then installed the steering linkage and exhaust to check for clearance issues with those. With this drastic of changes ya never know!

[buening 63]

Next up is the transmission crossmember. For what it's worth, I found out that the stock FMX (and other Ford trans) rubber isolator bolts up perfectly to the T56! This will make things much easier in terms of an isolator.

 

From another thread on here, I was asking about any aftermarket other than Lokar parking brake cable kits. As you can see, the cable end is right in the way of the xmember as well as the cable is touching the tailshaft of the trans

 

 

Early version of the xmember:

 

 

I removed the drivers side bracket for the parking brake cable and have the wooden Xmember in place. I decided against the above picture setup with a plate welded to the bottom of the 3x1 due to the X-pipe converging at this location. I'll have to open up the bottom of the 3x1 so that I can put nuts on the isolator bracket, since the bolts aren't long enough to go through the 3x1.

 

I'm taking these pictures on my back, so bear with me on the angles

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have about 1/4" or slightly more clearance from the exhaust to the Xmember. Hopefully that ends up being enough.

[buening 63]

While messing around with the Xmember, I happen to notice that the transmission was not level (side to side). This concerned me, since I had custom motor mounts and thought I had it all correct. So I bust out my tape measure and start taking measurements. At the front left corner of the oil pan, I measure 22 7/8". At the front right corner I measure 22 13/16". Within 1/16" which could be measuring errors, so call it good. I go to the rear left corner of the oil pan and measure 22 1/8". At the rear right corner I measure 22 3/16". Again, within a 1/16" so the motor is level at the front and rear. A quick check with a level on the oil pan confirms this. At the flange of the bellhousing where the trans attaches is where it gets whacky. On the right side bottom of the flange I measure 15 1/2". On the left side I get 15 3/16". That is over 1/4" difference in about 5" of length. if this were the width of the oil pan it'd probably be well over 1". Pictures are below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see with the picture of the level, its way out of whack. The other two pictures make it harder to tell but it's obvious under the car. I sent an email to Quicktime asking them what could be the issue. It really isn't cause me any problems yet, it just looks goofy. The crossmember center section wouldn't end up being level either. This bugs the crap out of me. Anyone have any suggestions??? I'm pretty much stuck up to this point

[buening 63]

Well I heard back from Quicktime already!!! Below is their response:

 

All T56's are clocked 5 degrees counter clockwise for the fork to work in the OEM cars.

 

So, it appears that I was worried about nothing as they are that way from the factory apparently.

[Silver_69_Coupe 31]

I am running into the same issue with the T5 I am putting into my 69. I found that is I use a Fox body bell housing it sits level but if I use a SN 95 Bell housing it sets it off a little. So I would be that the difference is the same with T5's that go in the SN95 Cars. I don't think it will hurt anything it just looks wrong from underneath.

[buening 63]

Yeah someone on another forum said the same thing about the T5. They were using the stock aluminum bell, not sure of the year though. Why wouldn't they have clocked the bellhousing correctly rather than clocking the entire transmission to work? Strange.

[buening 63]

Now that the indexed bellhousing/transmission issue is settled, its time for some trans crossmember fabrication. Using my extremely precise wood template as shown in previous pics, I took measurements from those pieces as well as the inside distance from frame rail to frame rail and headed off to draw it up on AutoCAD. I'm a tech geek and do drafting at work sometimes, so it's a bit second nature. Below are screen images of the crossmember drawn up and dimensioned, as well as a detail for the diagonal pieces in order to cut them out correctly. All other pieces are self explanatory when cutting.

 

 

[Silver_69_Coupe 31]

This is sweet... You have one for a T5? What are you using for headers? The Headmans that I have run into the clutch cable and bell housing.

[buening 63]

Thanks! I don't have one for a T5 but really it'd be easy to do. You do have aftermarket crossmembers for the T5 though, not too much to choose from for a T56. Establish your correct driveline angle, start cutting some wood to make the template from, measure and then transfer it onto steel.

[stangme428 33]

Great Work!!!! ill do a write up one day on my t56 install... but, this is great info.

 

thx:tongue_smilie:

[buening 63]

Thanks! Did you notice the picture of the ModernDriveline Master Cylinder lever arm in the 1st post?:shifty: Did you ever hear back from them on yours?

[gogrimmy 10]

It looks to your parking cable solution could come very easily. If you look at your picture, the nonadjustable hook side, all you need to do is have a new one fabbed up just longer. Hard to tell by the picture but I would guess half again as long? A simple part to make.

Grimmy

[buening 63]

The nonadjustable hook side isn't as much of a problem as the other side with the spring and cable. That bracket was smack dab in the middle of where the Xmember was going. I'm open for ideas on how to solve that issue. Yeah the hook would be easy to fab up but fixing the drivers side is the real kicker. I'm out of frame rail space otherwise I could have just relocated the bracket further back on the frame rail.

[Silver_69_Coupe 31]

Th aftermarket T5 ones wont work Since I am using a T5 out of a 95. It sits back about and inch further and is tilted a little. I used blocks and sat mine right where I wanted it then made the bottom plate and side drops then tacked them all together while they were on the car. Then I pulled it all out and welded it up. I still need to box it all in but I am waiting until I can get the headers I am going to use to make sure I don't have clearance issues.

 

It would be interesting to hear more about how people are dealing with the E-Brake. When installing the disk brake setup from a newer mustang. It is center pull and needs to be converted to side pull.

[buening 63]

Speaking of headers I don't think I answered your question. I am using Hooker Comps, which are for a 289/302/351w. They don't distinguish between the shorter deck height 289/302 and the taller 351w. Without drop engine mounts, the collector reducers were touching the trans tunnel support and had to be dented a bunch. The headers point up and towards the transmission, so it makes for a weird angle to weld in the collector reducers.

 

Yeah definitely wait on the headers before you fab up your Xmember. They are all different and have their own little quirks.

 

I have a feeling the Ebrake for me will be one of the last things I solve. I may investigate modifying an F150 setup to use on my car. See this thread which has some pictures that I took of my F150's cable setup.

[buening 63]

Well I've been seriously slacking on posting updates so I've taken time to do so.

 

I forgot to post pics of the driveshaft measuring. The first pic is from center to center of the u-joints, which match my driveshaft length. Then I took a caliper and measured the yoke from the face of the yoke to the metal part of the tailhousing. I then pushed the yoke till it touched the tailshaft seal and then took another measurement. The difference of the two is between 0.75" and 1", so I'm good to go. Sorry for the upside down pics

 

 

 

 

 

[buening 63]

Well I've been seriously slacking on posting updates so I've taken time to do so.

 

I forgot to post pics of the driveshaft measuring. The first pic is from center to center of the u-joints, which match my driveshaft length. Then I took a caliper and measured the yoke from the face of the yoke to the metal part of the tailhousing. I then pushed the yoke till it touched the tailshaft seal and then took another measurement. The difference of the two is between 0.75" and 1", so I'm good to go. Sorry for the upside down pics

 

 

 

 

 

[buening 63]

Now for some pics of the Xmember fabrication. A previous post showed the CAD drawing of what I was making. I used 3"x1.5"x0.125" rectangular stock. Its definitely overkill, but the 3" width worked great with the trans mount isolator and the 1.5" was the shorted height I could find. The end caps ended up being 3/8" thick steel and was planning on using 3/16" but ended up cutting the crossmember too short, so I had to use thicker end steel.

 

Below are the pics of the fabrication process. The first pic shows the sections laid out on cardboard, which had black lines which assisted me in getting the height correct. I then tack welded the sections and removed it from the cardboard (fire hazard ). The next few pics are with the welds cleaned up and a few final ones of it all painted up. I'm a horrible welder, so it took forever to clean up the welds. I still didn't get the joint completely filled with welds, so there are some voids. Good enough for government work! Next up, the pedal assembly!

 

 

 

 

 

[buening 63]

Now for some pics of the Xmember fabrication. A previous post showed the CAD drawing of what I was making. I used 3"x1.5"x0.125" rectangular stock. Its definitely overkill, but the 3" width worked great with the trans mount isolator and the 1.5" was the shorted height I could find. The end caps ended up being 3/8" thick steel and was planning on using 3/16" but ended up cutting the crossmember too short, so I had to use thicker end steel.

 

Below are the pics of the fabrication process. The first pic shows the sections laid out on cardboard, which had black lines which assisted me in getting the height correct. I then tack welded the sections and removed it from the cardboard (fire hazard ). The next few pics are with the welds cleaned up and a few final ones of it all painted up. I'm a horrible welder, so it took forever to clean up the welds. I still didn't get the joint completely filled with welds, so there are some voids. Good enough for government work! Next up, the pedal assembly!

 

 

 

 

 

[buening 63]

The clutch pedal that I bought was extremely rough. It was bent pretty bad, the rod hole was extremely worn, and there was a groove in the pedal shaft. I was planning on using the Mustang Steve roller pedal assembly, since it uses sealed bearings unlike the other kits that rely on the pedal shaft to be the inner race. Since my pedal shaft was worn, the other kits wouldn't work very well. So I started out by removing the factory hanger assembly, then taking the clutch bushings out using a hammer and chisel.

 

Here is the assembly that I got off ebay as well as a pic showing the clutch rod hole wear.

 

 

 

Here is the hanger assembly out of my car, since the one from ebay was a 69

 

 

Here is the parts that come with the MustangSteve roller kit

 

and here are a few pics of the install

 

 

 

 

 

Final hanger with roller bearing housings welded. I didn't bother cleaning up the welds since this was hidden.

 

 

 

The next step was to tackle the pedals. Since the clutch pedal was so bent, I put it in a vice and used a little muscle to straighten it out. The first pic is showing it crooked and the next pics show it corrected.

 

 

 

One next to the drum manual brake pedal (slightly different pad height)

 

 

So now that the clutch pedal pad location is pretty close, I then went to tackle the rod hole. I first took a Grade 8 bolt and cut a section off that didn't have threads. I then put it in the elongated hole and welded it up and ground down the welds. Below are some pics of the process.

 

 

 

[buening 63]

The clutch pedal that I bought was extremely rough. It was bent pretty bad, the rod hole was extremely worn, and there was a groove in the pedal shaft. I was planning on using the Mustang Steve roller pedal assembly, since it uses sealed bearings unlike the other kits that rely on the pedal shaft to be the inner race. Since my pedal shaft was worn, the other kits wouldn't work very well. So I started out by removing the factory hanger assembly, then taking the clutch bushings out using a hammer and chisel.

 

Here is the assembly that I got off ebay as well as a pic showing the clutch rod hole wear.

 

 

 

Here is the hanger assembly out of my car, since the one from ebay was a 69

 

 

Here is the parts that come with the MustangSteve roller kit

 

and here are a few pics of the install

 

 

 

 

 

Final hanger with roller bearing housings welded. I didn't bother cleaning up the welds since this was hidden.

 

 

 

The next step was to tackle the pedals. Since the clutch pedal was so bent, I put it in a vice and used a little muscle to straighten it out. The first pic is showing it crooked and the next pics show it corrected.

 

 

 

One next to the drum manual brake pedal (slightly different pad height)

 

 

So now that the clutch pedal pad location is pretty close, I then went to tackle the rod hole. I first took a Grade 8 bolt and cut a section off that didn't have threads. I then put it in the elongated hole and welded it up and ground down the welds. Below are some pics of the process.

 

 

 

[buening 63]

Next up was the brake pedal pad. I had plans on removing the pad from the manual drum pedal and putting it on my power pedal, but I ended up just trimming the pad on the power pedal.

 

 

 

 

At this point the assembly was ready to be blasted and painted. Below are the final pics of the clutch pedal rod hole and the painted assembly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is the Modern Driveline master cylinder assembly

[buening 63]

Next up was the brake pedal pad. I had plans on removing the pad from the manual drum pedal and putting it on my power pedal, but I ended up just trimming the pad on the power pedal.

 

 

 

 

At this point the assembly was ready to be blasted and painted. Below are the final pics of the clutch pedal rod hole and the painted assembly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is the Modern Driveline master cylinder assembly