Is there any 5 speed that will fit in my 97 mark? thats not going to put the shifter under the dash

There was a guy here who did one. It was a t45 out of a mustang gt. Here's a thread about it but the pics are gone. Try doing a search and look around for more info.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=24218&page=2&highlight=manual+swap+tremec

He had to do some fab work to relocate the shifter farther back. He also had to extend the harness on the computer that sits where the clutch is, and relocate to under the driver's seat.

I appreciate taking the time to post. :Beer

thats mikes car, ive seen it :D it was in his 93 (maybe 94) markviii, as for the lengthening of the shifter, they added another "box" look at a t45 shifter where it goes into the trans now take that box and find another one, cut that part off and weld it to the rear of the existing bod then just extend the shift linkage (easy right?)

Does Mike still won that car?

Does Mike still won that car?

im not sure if he still owns it or if he gave it back to his dad, last i knew there were some wiring issues

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/577667/6

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/577667/6

damn i never knew he had a cardomain page, but yup thats it, kinda of a living legend (in my eyes) and ive even touched it :D

The shifter housing on a T56 sits about 2 and a half to three inches farther back than it does on a T45. I am pretty sure you can get away with not building one of those awful shifter boxes. Also, I talked to that kid a few times, hes really nice, but I found a way to do it so that you dont have to extend the wiring harness. There is a spot under the dash that if you pull the harness through the firewall a little farther (without ripping anything, that you can tuck the ECM into. I converted my crown vic to a stick like this. I got my hands on a mustang 5.0 clutch pedal assembly. I grinded down the factory spot welds on the tube that the clutch pedal slides through, and hammered the clutch pedal tube out of the brake pedal bracket. Then I welded the clutch to the front of the crown victoria factory pedal bracket, and slid the clutch pedal in with a billet quadrant. I cut a hole in the firewall, and ran a stock mustang clutch cable underneath to a mustang clutch fork, and voi la. I am in the proecess of doing the same thing to my 95 mark viii. The computer is out of the way now, and there is room for the clutch pedal. I wont have to clearance my shocktowers for the master cylinder either, since the hole is on the other side of the brake pedal for the clutch cable. There is plenty of room in that area with nothing vital in the way for the hole for the clutch cable.

P.S. Hey Edrea, I dont know if you remember me, but a couple of years back, I met you at Bithlo with my 02 crown victoria sport, around the time you were graduating from embry riddle. I remembere tearing you up pretty good. Haha, but now look, you actually inspired me to get a mark viii. I got a 95 pearlescent white LSC. I tried getting a hold of you a few times after that to see if you wanted to go out to the track, but I assume you must have moved back home

P.S. Hey Edrea, I dont know if you remember me, but a couple of years back, I met you at Bithlo with my 02 crown victoria sport, around the time you were graduating from embry riddle. I remembere tearing you up pretty good. Haha, but now look, you actually inspired me to get a mark viii. I got a 95 pearlescent white LSC. I tried getting a hold of you a few times after that to see if you wanted to go out to the track, but I assume you must have moved back home

Yhea I remember you, I wish I was still near OSW. I moved back to minnesota in march of 05 after I graduated. You beat me a couple of time's but I moved and then built my mark up and then crashed it. So now I have a new project and I would love to take you on again if we where close.

Good to here you converted, I wanted one just like that but a 96 and a black interior. What did you do with the vic?

The shifter housing on a T56 sits about 2 and a half to three inches farther back than it does on a T45. I am pretty sure you can get away with not building one of those awful shifter boxes. Also, I talked to that kid a few times, hes really nice, but I found a way to do it so that you dont have to extend the wiring harness. There is a spot under the dash that if you pull the harness through the firewall a little farther (without ripping anything, that you can tuck the ECM into. I converted my crown vic to a stick like this. I got my hands on a mustang 5.0 clutch pedal assembly. I grinded down the factory spot welds on the tube that the clutch pedal slides through, and hammered the clutch pedal tube out of the brake pedal bracket. Then I welded the clutch to the front of the crown victoria factory pedal bracket, and slid the clutch pedal in with a billet quadrant. I cut a hole in the firewall, and ran a stock mustang clutch cable underneath to a mustang clutch fork, and voi la. I am in the proecess of doing the same thing to my 95 mark viii. The computer is out of the way now, and there is room for the clutch pedal. I wont have to clearance my shocktowers for the master cylinder either, since the hole is on the other side of the brake pedal for the clutch cable. There is plenty of room in that area with nothing vital in the way for the hole for the clutch cable.

P.S. Hey Edrea, I dont know if you remember me, but a couple of years back, I met you at Bithlo with my 02 crown victoria sport, around the time you were graduating from embry riddle. I remembere tearing you up pretty good. Haha, but now look, you actually inspired me to get a mark viii. I got a 95 pearlescent white LSC. I tried getting a hold of you a few times after that to see if you wanted to go out to the track, but I assume you must have moved back home

I'm about to convert to the T56, thanks for the wiring tip.

youre welcome. the thought of lengthening 100 wires seemed a little ridiculous, so i looked around for another solution. In my opinion, you should stay away from the hydraulics. The only weakness the clutch cable has after you put the billet quadrant and firewall adjuster on is the cable itself stretching or snapping. Which is an extremely easy fix, compared with repairing hydraulics.

Hey eric, my dad drives it to and from work now, but it got a few more parts put on it now. In addition to the 4.10s and the detroit true trac, its got a tremec 3550 with a spec stage 3 clutch, metco control arms, 2 MSD boxes, and accel COPs. The last time I ran it it was running 14.40s on a completely stock longblock.

Do you know a good place to get a good deal on a PI converter for the mark? In december, the mark is going in for head studs, kooks long tubes, 4.10 gears with a detroit true trac, a 93 driveshaft, a Dennis chip, full exhaust with a magnaflow X-pipe, 2.5 inch pipes all the way back, to 2 resonator tips. I'd like to do a converter too. I figure that should put me solidly in the low 14s, high 13s, which is where I want to be, pre blower

if youre starting the swap, heres another tip. The MLPS MUST STAY ON THE CAR. leave it plugged in, and hang it up out of the way. if you dont, your car will not run when you are done, and youre going to swear at yourself for several hours untill you finally figure it out

P.S. the goal in a manual swap in these cars is to get that shifter back as far as possible. The factory T56 cobra shifter location is placed in the exact same spot as a T45 or a tremec on an SN95 mustang, so that doesnt help much unless youre crazy enough to try to make a shifter box for a T56, or you just want to hack your car up and reach for the shifter like in a fox haha. hated the 4/5 shift in those.

I have not yet confirmed if its a direct swap, but assuming changing the tailshaft doesnt affect the output shaft of the tranny (i.e. different diameter exit hole for the output shaft) and I think that it doesnt, but swap out the cobra tailhousing for a GTO tailhousing. the F-body T56 shifter location is 2 inches farther back than the factory cobra location, and the GTO tailshaft housing puts the shifter location an additional 3 inches farther back than the F-body. the GTO shifter location is literally directly above the end of the output shaft, which is as far back as the shifter is going to get before youre extending past the end of the tranny. There is a very good possibility that you can have the shifter pop up right through the factory automatic hole in the center console which would be SWEET!!!!.

Also, took some measurements the other day. If you want to use my clutch cable method, you are going to have to cut the clutch tube and pedal shaft, remove about a full inch to an inch and a quarter of material, and then weld it back together. It would probably cost about 30 to 40 bucks at a welding shop to do this. This will position the clutch pedal closer to the brake pedal where it should be, freeing up additional room to mount the computer. So far I have been able to shift the stock computer mounting bracket over 2 inches. I am either going to build a custom one, or see if I can relocate it permanently somewhere else in the interior or onto the firewall. Also, you are going to have to grind down the top of the billet clutch quadrant, as it scrapes the top of the firewall on the inside. grind it down, just make sure to leave about an inch of the original channel before the cable hook on the quadrant. that will be more than enough to make sure it doesnt snake off of the top of the quadrant. When I get home in a week and a half, I am going to double measure everything, and take my 5.0 pedal assembly to a welder to have it modified. When all is said and done, if this goes smoothly, I am going to build a custom pedal, and offer it as part of a swap kit. I know this can be done without modifying the car majorly other than the cutting of the holes for the clutch cable, and the shifter, which has to be done no matter what. I cant even tell you how much of a difference I think a 6 speed with 4.10 gears and no other modifications will make on a mark viii. I hope this will be a viable swap option in the future.

I cant even tell you how much of a difference I think a 6 speed with 4.10 gears and no other modifications will make on a mark viii. I hope this will be a viable swap option in the future.

I think it will make a huge difference not only in timeslips but in the fun factor of the car... I also hope you're taking pics as you're going along.

unfortunately i dont own a digital camera, but I will try to borrow one from my friend before final assembly.

if youre starting the swap, heres another tip. The MLPS MUST STAY ON THE CAR. leave it plugged in, and hang it up out of the way. if you dont, your car will not run when you are done, and youre going to swear at yourself for several hours untill you finally figure it out


What is the MLPS? I am currently swaping to a t56 too. the engine should be out this weekend and I are going to go pick up the tranmission this weekend to

P.S thank for all of these great tips keep them come:)

manual lever position sensor. its the little plug for the ECM that tells the car what position the shifter is in. just leave it plugged in., remember what i said about the tailshafts too. Try an F-body one first, it might give you the clearance you need, if not theres always the GTO housing

another hint after converting 2 different cars that were never offered with sticks to sticks, dont be in a rush. i know thats cliche, but if you dont rush, itll go much faster. When you are taking your measurements to cut your shifter hole, dont have any of the clutch components installed. just bolt the bellhousing to the block, and use the two top tranny to bellhousing bolts to hold it on, that way you can measure, remove, measure, remove, cut a little, measure, remove, and finish cutting.itll go on and off in a few minutes each time. you should have seen the hole i ended up cutting in my 85 monte carlo. it was hideous

thanks. by f-body you mean firebirds right?

Camaro, trans am, firebird, fire hawk 1967-2002. All f-body's. I'm assuming 94 and newer is what he is referring to. I think. I don't know much about Manuel's I'm pro automatic.

pro slushbox. haha. i used to run built autos in everything. I had a built automatic with a 3k stall converter in both my crown vic, and my monte SS, and the stick swaps dropped both ETs by 4/10ths of a second in each case. The monte became an animal all around monster. I was so flabbergasted with the difference in performance that i was kicking myself for having never done it before. Any tailhousing from 1994 to 2002 would be good as a starting point. That puts the shifter much farther back than the stock T45 location. If thats not far enough, swap the tailhousing out for a GTO tailhousing.

the gto shifter sits taller though, and uses a remote setup, so you may end up ultimately cutting a larger hole in the floor pan for the shifter, but it sure would put the shifter in a nice place in that car

Its just my way of saying "I can't shift" when racing. (Yet)

Yea i think it should make a good differnce for the mark. The only problem is the mark is heavy so it will spin like a bich in first gear. I will need to put some good tires on the back the stock :q:q:q:q will have to go

I'd be concerned with wheelhop with 4.10's and a Cobra ratio T56.. I'd think anything taller than a 3.55 would make 1st rather pointless :confused:

Interesting point about the F body and GTO tails .. I'm not close to starting the project for another couple months at least, hopefully someone finds a nice solution. I hadn't measured but I assumed the shifter loc on the T-56'd be a bit further back than that on the T45.. that's unfortunate you're telling me it's not.

Marauderprime: if you set up a kit that works well, I'd be obliged. I'll enjoy performing the swap, but anything that takes out guesswork will be a huge plus. (if you'd like to document everything anally , measurments etc, I'll pay you for your time.)

I assumed this thread would end up with a bunch of bs wish stories, good information so far. Keep it coming guys.. :)

unfortunately, about all i can do is research, measure, and screw with the pedal assemblies for now, since I am already 42k in debt, buying an actual T56 right now is impractical for me, but I sure do know how to convert a car over as I have done it twice. I will have the pedal assembly finalized no later than dec. 14th, and I will post pictures some time after that. Also I am in the process of building a bracket to hold the computer up out of the way, as laying it across the dash reinforcements is probably not a permanent solution.

Ford specifically designed the tailhousing on the T56 to duplicate the location of the T45/tremec shifters so that it would not have to alter the hole in the body for the cobras. While the cobras are built off the line separately, they still start off life as body in whites just like the rest of them and ford is cheap. Which is good, cause it passes the savings on to us.

As for wheelhop, Bill at SCP is a super awesome guy, and he can hook you up with a set of poly carrier bushings that will work wonders. I had a wheelhop problem with my automatic (mostly because my stock bushings were shot) and he hooked me up really nicely. He has good pricing on MN12 stuff too.

As for the gearing, I believe that 1st is 2.66, with a 26.5 to 28 inch tall tire and 4.10 gears, thats going to put the 1/2 shift around 38-42 miles an hour, so hardly useless. Although this depends on what your future mods are. Eventually I plan on running a vortech S-trim, which would love 4.10s, and give me decent traction. If you guys are ever planning on a C series swap with a positive displacement blower, id stick with the 3.55s, like poniesviii mentioned

howabout another update! and with that update I have to offer an apology.

When I originally sat about on this endeavour to put a clutch pedal in my 2 pedal mark, I wanted to go about doing it in such a way, that very little fabrication would be needed, the car would remain intact, and it would be easily duplicable by anyone, mostly just to shut up naysayers.

Instead, my little mark viii project has gotten out of control, because now I am essentially building a custom car out of it. I want this thing to be quiet inside like a lincoln, loud outside like an aston DB7, sporty like an M6, and slightly custom inside. On that note, I just ordered a complete eibach 1.5 inch drop/koni spring shock setup, 2 2.5 inch dynomax bullets, 1 stainless 2.5 inch X-pipe, 2 2.5 inch inlet, dual 2.75 inch tip outlet titanium mufflers, and I am going to have an exhaust shop bend these up for me. You wouldnt think that this would affect the overall project, however I decided to customize my interior as well. I ordered 2 white leather racing seats, which I am going to affix to the stock mark viii power seat tracks, and I ordered a thunderbird supercoupe manual emergency brake handle, I also picked up a black carpet. I am going to install the black carpet when the racing seats get here, additionally, I am removing the center console. I am going to use the stock center console as a template for the new one, however the new one is going to be longer, and wider than the original. It is going to have a brushed aluminum top on it, I am going to retain the factory mark viii armrest, however my console will have a provision for 2 cup holders, an additional powerpoint, a few oem looking switches, and additional storage space. Additionally this console is going to be set up for my new manual handbrake, and I am going to follow the instructions outlined on TCCOA.com to convert the handbrake cable over.

This is where I cheated. With a handbrake in the center console, I am going to remove the foot brake E-brake, and this is where the ECM is going to go. I should point out that I am doing this as a matter of taste and personal style, not a matter of necessity. Once I am done puttering around with the drivers side footwell, I will figure out a way to mount everything with the ECM and foot brake in a relatively stock location. I understand that most people who are putting a 6 speed in their mark are probably not interested in a custom center console and a handbrake conversion.

That said, I am trying to decide between using a supercoupe clutch pedal, or starting from scratch with the pedal, and I actually still have not made a decision as to whether I am going to go hydraulic or cable. The fellow that put the T45 in his blue 93 or 94 mark mentioned to me that he had to clearance his shock tower to fit the clutch master cylinder. This is absolutely not an option for me, so I will not be doing that. If I can find a clutch master that will fit, I will go with a hydraulic setup with a hydraulic throwout bearing, like the LS1 cars do. If not, I will run a cable setup.

lincoln is a luxary car - luxary usually are all auto, why not swap the motor into a mustang gt? then youll be manual minus 500 lbs with less work?

lincoln is a luxary car - luxary usually are all auto, why not swap the motor into a mustang gt? then youll be manual minus 500 lbs with less work?

Because its too easy and not as fun.

lol

I have been asked by a few enthusists why I cut into a fine piece of machinary.

The only answer I could give is... Its only metal. metal is here to be an expressive extentsion of a personality.

I offered to sell them the car since I was about to cut it up and they got quiet really fast.

I personally think its awesome to see others cutting into thier cars.

I'm VERY interested in hear where all of this goes...

Would be great if an F-body T56 would fit perfect; I'm sure they are plentiful from the junk yard!

My second gear is shot, and I think I need a new tranny. If I have to replace the trans, I may as well swap it for a manual!

I'm looking for as little guesswork as possible, as this is my daily driver to work. Would one of you guys who've done this before list everything I am going to need, from parts down to tools so I can figue out how much more it would cost me to do this than just having a rebuilt auto put into mine? I don't have alot of personal experiance working on cars, just the basics, but my friends and I want to tackle this and both of them have pretty detailed knowledge. Between the 3 of us I think we have all the tools, just need to make sure.

Also, if anyone wants to make a step-by-step outline on doing one, I would be very appreciative. So far as far as parts, I have the following list:

Trans - F-body T56
Clutch cable
Peddals
Flywheel Clutch?
Clutch kit

Anything I am missing here? Which clutch kit should I use that would be best for daily driver for morning comute, but can moonlight as a racer?

I am swaping to a t56 right now. i am going to the junkyard next weekend to pick the trans up. the engine and old trans is out and everything. i am going with a stock mustang GT flywheel (from 5 star ford) the flywheel MUST be out of a GT NOT a cobra because the cobra is a 8 bolt and the gt and mark are 6 bolts so the cobra flywheel would not bolt up.i have a stage 1 cobra clutch and pressure plate kit from www.americanmuscle.com .As for the acual pedals i am not sure what i will be using i think i will try a 03-04 cobra clutch pedal assembely (using a cable setup) but at that piont it is guess work. the trans and bellhouse is coming out of a 03-04 cobra as for the f-body tailshaft i have no clue where it will come up but i will ether take a f-body or GTO tailshaft. i will keep u guys updated as the project goes along!

has anyone thought about using the 3650 out of a 05 or newer mustang? it has the shifter on top way out back and you could adjust the linkage where you want it. http://i17.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/bd/a7/4dac_1.JPG

In response to the last post .. I think it'd be ideal to keep expense down, newer trans has less availability. Especially that new.

I'm also able to make use of any information, so however small you think it is,,,, post up all information you guys gather towards the T56, please. :D I also really appreciate it.

This price aint bad at all.
http://www.newtakeoff.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=8156

Your statement can't be argued with. I'm surprised, 'new take off' .. why would there be any take off's?! Ha. And, dirt cheap.

I have no idea where they are getting these take offs from, but that price is only $50 more than I was quoted for a t45 out of an 01 stang with 100k on it.