Mark VIII T45 swap?

I'll send you some pics tonight when I get home. I have them saved on my home computer, so I'll have to upload them tonight. What do you have on yours? If you already did the extension box, then my setup won't be any use to you. I just built mine because I don't like the idea of cutting and welding the transmission case. Plus I'm cheap, and something I could build for $25 in parts and a couple hours was way more appealing to me than a $400+ extension box.
 
Here's the pics of the shifter extension
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You can also see how it sits on the back of the trans in that first pic of the driveshaft that I posted yesterday. The front shifter is a steeda tri-ax. The rear one is the stock shifter, with the metal plate flattened out so it will bolt flush to the pieces of angle iron. The triax is first bolted down with studs and nuts, and then the angle iron pieces go on top of the nuts that are holding the shifter down, and then another set of nuts hold them down, and plenty of locktite to keep everything from moving. I used roller blade bearings for the spacers between the linkage between the 2 shifters. The only thing I'm going to modify on it before I put it in the car is I'm going to weld a piece of metal across the top connecting the 2 pieces that act as the linkage. That way I won't have to worry about anything coming loose and it not going into gear properly. Even with the bolts loosened up though, it still works pretty well. With everything tightened down how it should be, you can't tell the difference between the throws for that, and just the triax by iteself.
 
Yeah, it really is. Forget all those special alignment tools and TIG welders, if you have a cut-off wheel, a drill, and 2 wrenches, you can build the one that I made. I did a T45 swap into a 94 cougar that I had about 3-4 years ago, and I remember when I started looking at it, there was the whole write-up on making the welded-on extension, and I just though that was WAY overcomplicating the problem. I'll stick with a setup like this any day of the week over cutting apart the tailshaft and having to TIG on another box, and have the link only held on by roll pins, and all that other stuff required for the welded on extension box. When I did that swap 4 years ago, I was also the one to pioneer using the SC master with the S10 slave, which also made this type of swap cheaper and easier for other people down the road. Plus if the slave ever goes out, I can have one the next day from Advance Auto Parts for $50, or from the local chevy dealer for $75. I was also the first to figure out back then that instead of spending $400 having an aluminum driveshaft made, or $250 buying a 93 Mark shaft and having that shortened, you could grab an aluminum drive shaft out of a crown vic cop car for about $100, and it would be the exact right length for the T45 in the MN12/FN10. At this point, I have just under $1000 into this swap, including the trans, clutch, flywheel, driveshaft, computer tune, extension harness, tri-ax shifter, and even including the blend door actuator, which was the excuse for this swap in the first place. Plus I still have the recently rebuilt and j-modded 4R70 to sell, so I might be able to pull this swap off for around $500 total cash layout, which would be really cool to me.
 
Take LOTS of pictures of the clearance in and around the console. It just does'nt look like it will clear.


I have a spare stock tail shaft housing sitting on the shelf in the garage that can be swapped on in a matter of a couple hours.


Mike
 
Will do. I really don't think there will be any clearance issues, considering the whole thing is shorter than the console is, and part of it will be below the floor level. I'll get all the pics of it once the trans is installed though.
 
This whole thread is awesome!

I'll be trying a swap of my own after mike gets his new trans in his car....
 
Just an FYI if you guys ever need a shifter extension and dont have the skills to make one. You can buy them for classic stangs. Used in t5 swaps.
 
The car moved under its own power through a T45 today. I still have a bunch of stuff to put back together, and a bunch of other minor issues to work out, and I'll get pics of everything back together later this week. My shifter extension does have some clearance issues, but not what most people were thinking. The handle actually hits on the front of the console top in 1st, 3rd, and 5th, which probably won't be too hard to fix, but then the linkage is in the way of the rear defrost switch, so I have to figure something out with that too. Also, I have a check engine light, which I will look into probably tomorrow, and I also get an error message on my DIC for the gear indicator not working. Also I have a really bad rattle when driving that I need to figure out, and then I have to do a better job of sealing up the hole in the floor that will keep some of the noise out. Right now it is just covered up with duct tape, which works fine for sealing it, but doesn't do a damn thing for sound deadening.
 
Are you getting a blinking OD light?

Are you getting a tune so the computer doesn't look for input form a auto trans still?
 
Let me know what the CEL is so I can add it in the data base so it can be turned off. That is if it is related to the swap. If it's something else then you will have to r or r the item.
 
I already have a tune, from Lonnie. I don't remember a blinking OD light, but I'll check for that tomorrow.

If you have a tune that accommodates for the manual swap all the auto inputs should be turned off so you won't be getting the od light. If you had slapped the T45 in without a tune the car would prolly be really pissy and flash all sorts of lights at you.
 
If you have a tune that accommodates for the manual swap all the auto inputs should be turned off so you won't be getting the od light. If you had slapped the T45 in without a tune the car would prolly be really pissy and flash all sorts of lights at you.

All the automatic trans programming is turned off in his programming. This isn't the first time I programmed for this swap and I'm pretty sure I've done more of these swaps than any of the other tuners out there. He didn't say whether he had a flashing OD or not, just that he had a CEL. Also each different EEC calibration has slightly different parameters. Some have more and some have less. So what happens is if a curtain EEC code doesn't have a parameter you won't know it until you get the CEL. Then the programmer can sometimes have that CEL added to the programming so they can turn it off. There are other cases such as a lot of the early EECs that did not have any of these codes in their strategy. When this happens the programmer has to determine the fault limit and make adjustments. There are also cases there are no parameters for the fault limits such as the ROM error when a chip is placed in some EEC IV processors. There's nothing you can do about those at all except pull out the light bulb from the dash so it doesn't keep blinking. So never think that it's as simple as just switching off a switch for the auto trans.
 
I hear ya...

When he first posted that he had a check engine light I was just guessing that maybe he had fired the beast up and hadn't gotten a tune... and I've what a car with a auto to manual swap will do when it is run with the auto tuning, it isn't very happy lol, that's the reason I asked about the O/D light....

The check engine light could obviously be for a number of different things, could be tuning related, could be completely unrelated... the only way to know is to wait till he posts up what codes he is getting.

I wasn't trying to attack you or your tuning Lonnie if that's what you think...
 
I didn't take it as an attack. Just pointed out the facts and what is involved when you have a swap going on.
 
I'll check the codes on it tomorrow and post them up so we'll see what that is. It didn't have any check engine light before, but as far apart as I had this car, I could have left something unplugged, or pinched a wire somewhere or something stupid like that. I was just happy that it moved in every gear, since its a used trans I got off ebay and there was no way of knowing if everything was going to work in it. I do need to figure out that rattle/scraping noise, which I hope isn't in the trans, but at this point I'm pretty sure all the hard stuff is done and its just a matter of tying up all the loose ends and dealing with all the little details.
 
Are you getting a blinking OD light?

Are you getting a tune so the computer doesn't look for input form a auto trans still?


I did this swap with a t56 last spring and it worked out pretty nice. i had alot of the same problems as you blender. my shifter extention was about the same as yours and i could not fit my defrosst or traction ass switch back in either. i did get a flashing od light and check engine but i think the engine was from my EGR i removed. i ran the car with no tune after the swap and it ran very good then i tryed to tune it with the sniper tuning thing. anyway it still has some problems it idles way to low like at 500 rmps. and sumtimes ti mis fires but that is more engine problems not trans.

here are the codes my sniper recon thing picked up after a week of driveing it with no tunes mybe we have the same problems and it will help lonnie build a new tune


P0750 Shift Solenoid A
P0755 Shift Solenoid B
P0708 Trans Range Sensor A Circuit High Input
P0743 Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid Circit Electronical
P0141 O2 Heater Circuit ( Bank 1, Sensor 2)
P0161 O2 Heater Circuit ( Bank 2, Sensor 2)
P0713 Trans Fluid Temp Sensor A Circut High input
P1270 Engine RPM or Speed Limiter Reached ( That was my bad :D)
P1746 Pressure Control Solenoid A open Circuit



I don't think they all came because of the trans swap but i know some did the problem is i put in headers wth an intire new exueast so some codes may be coming from that like the 02's and stuff anyway hopes this helps!
 
I have never had a blinking O/D light. And for that matter, I don't have a check engine light.


No aftermarket tune either.


Blenderhead, Thanks for taking the time to speak with me last night. I'll let you know what happens.
 
OK, there is only one code in the system, and that is P0708 trans range sensor circuit high input. I also have a weird problem where sometimes the car won't start. It will make a clicking sound and all the lights will go out, like it has a dead battery, but the battery and connections are fine. When it does start, it starts right up without any problems. I haven't wired up the backup lights yet, but to get it to start, I just took the 2 wires for the MLPS that are connected in park and neutral, and I scotch-locked them together. Do I need to make any other connections with regards to the trans/starter interlock? I'm not running any kind of clutch interlock by the way. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Mike
 
That's a wiring issue. You need to wire in the BOO switch, (brake on off) for the manual setup vice just just connecting the wires together for a completed circuit. This will also tie into the clutch switch if you choose to go that route. You can modify a Mustang or Tbird Super Coupe switch for this. I may be able to turn this off for you also if you choose not to run any of those.
 

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