How Are People's T5's Holding Up After Mods?

[BALLBREAKER]

Trust me I had 313 rwkw lasted 3 weeks. I drive the car not 2 hard but if you dont trust me you will see it 4 your self . TRUST ME

[XR06T]

ben, if you dont mind me asking how much for the box??

I have a t5 also and am thinking this is a way cheaper option than upgrading car!!

[gogo]

List price from Ford is either 5700ish or 6400ish dependant on dealer.

I purchased the latest version of the box which has the part number BA7003G, current from June this year.

I paid approximately $4900 inclusive of GST. Most dealers would come down to close to this (had a few offer 5k), but could not get any to better it. I pushed pretty hard as I had reason to beleive that they still had some margin at this price, but I could not do any better...

There is a good description of the conversion here

http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.ph...topic=15848&hl=

As Robin indicates, you also need a MkII gearbox cross member (I paid about $60), and new yolk (about $200 - I am getting Nizpro to order this to be sure it is the correct one - however I beleive it is the BA Mk1 V8 ute - not absolutely 100% sure though - only because most of the others are not available seperately - and you have to buy the complete driveshaft which is much more expensive.

I also purchased the standard MkII gear knob at about $90.

Then you need a new clutch - there is more on this in other threads - but budget between $700 and $2000 dependant on what you want.

The last issue is the diff ratio's.

The Mk1 has a 3.45 diff, and the OEM diff in the MkII that was matched to the T56 is a 3.7. Key with this is first gear - from memory it is 2.95:1 in the T5, and 2.66:1 in the T56 - so first will be about 10% taller. I do a lot of city driving so we will see how this goes, but I will be sticking with the standard diff for now.

There is some comment on diff ratios here:

http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.ph...topic=16821&hl=

My understanding is that replacing the diff as well will add about $1500 + labour, but have not delved too deeply at this stage.

In short, not a cheap operation. In my case was still far more economic than going to a new Typhoon which is what I was considering...

Good Luck!

Ben.

[chief]

Thanks for the info guys (some of it fairly detailed) looks like I've got some tough decisions to make!

Rusty

[xrboss8]

wouldn't it be cheaper to sell the mk1 and get into a mk2 for a gearbox conversion. I too would love to fit a t56 to my mk1 but would of thought it be cheaper just to trade for a mk2. maybe with the bf have 6 speeds across the range of xr6 the t56 may get cheaper and more readily available.

[jetute]

  xrboss8 said:

wouldn't it be cheaper to sell the mk1 and get into a mk2 for a gearbox conversion. I too would love to fit a t56 to my mk1 but would of thought it be cheaper just to trade for a mk2. maybe with the bf have 6 speeds across the range of xr6 the t56 may get cheaper and more readily available.

exactly.... if you have to spend $7000 (approximate) to get a new box and clutch etc.... (probably more)

wouldnt it be worthwhile just taking a $7000 loss on your current car and trade up to a new car with a T56??

either way your spending $7K (so to speak)... but with one method you get a new car as well as a new box.... then you would only be up for a new clutch.

[NighEve]

Sometimes sticking with what you know is better than trading in and getting another surprise packet from ford.

I have stuck with my Mk1 and replaced the T5 with a T56 to suit the mods I have done. The ratios are fabulous and I have picked up massive economy gains even with inceases made in power. The only gripe would be the roll over noise which is rather nasty sounding.

BTW, anything over 4000rpm in 6th gear is interesting - gee I love how these cars keeping pulling!

Joel

[jetute]

  NighEve said:

Sometimes sticking with what you know is better than trading in and getting another surprise packet from ford.

I have stuck with my Mk1 and replaced the T5 with a T56 to suit the mods I have done.  The ratios are fabulous and I have picked up massive economy gains even with inceases made in power.  The only gripe would be the roll over noise which is rather nasty sounding.

BTW, anything over 4000rpm in 6th gear is interesting - gee I love how these cars keeping pulling!

Joel

so what exactly is and where does roll over noise come from??

is it to do with clutch or box??

[NighEve]

Jetute, my understanding is the noise comes from two things:

1. In my setup I have a heavy duty clutch hub for greater clamping pressure. The weight of the clutch hub not engaged (ie in nuetral), creates the noise when "rolling over".

2. The floating tolerances of the gears on the drivehsaft creates noise in the same rolling over neutral situation.

Again this is just my basic understanding and may be wrong - best to ask Ben from Mal Wood for more info.

Essentially I think you will find these gearboxes quite meaty numbers without the no-noise frills of the much smaller driveshaft, smaller and finer cut geared T5 (read: weaker!). You will hear gear nashing when at low rpm under any load (similar to what you'd hear in a V8 supercar, albeit not as bad!). Honesty the box is not a quiet box, the shifts are solid and require some definite selection from the driver.

BUT the bottom line is that this is the artefact of a high performance, super heavy duty component. If you can't handle it then you are probably playing the wrong game. Sure, if they insulated the boxes and bellhousing with rubber and similar tricks employed by Ford/Expensive Daewoo factory engineers with this same box, you would not hear as much of this noise; but then you have to put up with their crappy ratios and as suggested you still need a clutch upgrade if you are going to mod your engine.

I know one thing is for sure, now when I am on boost in 3rd gear all I fel is confidence and not the uncertainity I had with the T5. Also 5th gear is so useful for me driving, wheras before 5th in the T5 was too low rpm/too much load for 80km/h (if not on any kind of hill) or would use too much fuel for mountain driving at 110km/h + (whereas 6th is awesome for this as the rpm is spot on at this speed/condition of load).

Joel

[jetute]

  NighEve said:

Jetute, my understanding is the noise comes from two things:

1. In my setup I have a heavy duty clutch hub for greater clamping pressure.  The weight of the clutch hub not engaged (ie in nuetral), creates the noise when "rolling over".

2. The floating tolerances of the gears on the drivehsaft creates noise in the same rolling over neutral situation.

Again this is just my basic understanding and may be wrong - best to ask Ben from Mal Wood for more info.

Essentially I think you will find these gearboxes quite meaty numbers without the no-noise frills of the much smaller driveshaft, smaller and finer cut geared T5 (read: weaker!).  You will hear gear nashing when at low rpm under any load (similar to what you'd hear in a V8 supercar, albeit not as bad!).  Honesty the box is not a quiet box, the shifts are solid and require some definite selection from the driver. 

BUT the bottom line is that this is the artefact of a high performance, super heavy duty component.  If you can't handle it then you are probably playing the wrong game.  Sure, if they insulated the boxes and bellhousing with rubber and similar tricks employed by Ford/Expensive Daewoo factory engineers with this same box, you would not hear as much of this noise; but then you have to put up with their crappy ratios and as suggested you still need a clutch upgrade if you are going to mod your engine. 

I know one thing is for sure, now when I am on boost in 3rd gear all I fel is confidence and not the uncertainity I had with the T5.  Also 5th gear is so useful for me driving, wheras before 5th in the T5 was too low rpm/too much load for 80km/h (if not on any kind of hill) or would use too much fuel for mountain driving at 110km/h + (whereas 6th is awesome for this as the rpm is spot on at this speed/condition of load).

Joel

thanks for the info puts a few things into perspective