Mustang Transmission Issues

[1988montecarloss 2]

so the other day in my mustang i went to bang 3rd while still roasting the tires in second and when i shifted into 3rd the transmission made a horrible sound and i instantly took it out of gear and let out of the gas and coasted to a stop, i limped the car home not doing more than 1500rpm the whole way. The car will still move in all gears although it makes a loud banging sound that gets faster with higher rpm and its loudest in 3rd and when its in neutral and the clutch pedal is out it still makes the sound, but when the clutch pedal is pushed in, after a couple seconds the banging sound goes away and stops as long as the clutch pedal is in and after just starting it for a brief moment today after i shut it off and got out of the car i noticed smoke coming from the transmission area, which leads me to believe its a clutch/flywheel problem, but having never broken a standard transmission before im not sure.

so, can any of you guys tell me what it might be so i know what to expect when i pull the motor and trans?

thanks!

[hauen]

Assuming it's a T-5 you've just exposed the weakest link in that transmission...3rd gear. It's almost a rite of passage on Fox body Mustangs. On the bright side now's your chance to source something a little stronger. If my memory serves correctly, and you absolutely must stick with a stock-type transmission, try to get one of the later Cobra units, they're supposedly stronger. Check some of the mustang boards, you'll see this sort of crazy stuff happens all the time and they can advise you on your best solution.

[1988montecarloss 2]

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[Huskinhano]

May have bent the shifter fork too. That's why I'm running a Toploader.

[Bob Holmes]

Yep, you're hosed. Welcome to T-5 third gear hell.

[TheSilverBuick]

could an lq4 6.0 be mated up to the t5 in my mustang?

...

and yes, i know a t5 isnt built to hold up to a 6.0, but there are a bunch of guys running built/forced induction/sprayed sbf's and a lot of them are holding up fine.

This suddenly got funnier


Sorry, I had too Yup, common problem.

[1988montecarloss 2]

This suddenly got funnier


Sorry, I had too Yup, common problem.

that guys running a 100% stock t5, i was pretty surprised when it happened though because ive done it hundreds of times and it was always fine, ill have another t5 this weekend though to put in it haha

[1988montecarloss 2]

Yep, you're hosed. Welcome to T-5 third gear hell.

are there any somewhat cheap upgrades you can do to a t5 to beef it up a bit?

[Beagle]

Cheap upgrades for a T5. Hmm. Let's see... a Tremec is the only cheap upgrade I can think of after a better shifter.

Check Mike343SharpStick's page - the stuff is NOT cheap but they can be built to handle more than the stockers.

[Huskinhano]

The T5 is a fine transmission when used as intended....for a mild V8 on the street driving sanely. They seem to hold up some what behind high HP motors to some extent as long as you're not dropping the clutch with sticky tires, power shifting or slamming the gears with a stock shifter. Weak links are 3rd gear and the shifter forks. One of the best things you can do also to a T5 is to use a billet rear bearing retainer to replace the stamped sheet metal version. The stock one tends to deflect under high torque loads allowing the cluster gear to walk.

My brother has an 89 Mustang with GT40 heads, intake and a Vortex SC that makes probably around 375 HP. He still has the original T5 and clutch in it with about 90K miles. Never drag raced and always street tires. The T5 is getting noisy though.

[1988montecarloss 2]

The T5 is a fine transmission when used as intended....for a mild V8 on the street driving sanely. They seem to hold up some what behind high HP motors to some extent as long as you're not dropping the clutch with sticky tires, power shifting or slamming the gears with a stock shifter. Weak links are 3rd gear and the shifter forks. One of the best things you can do also to a T5 is to use a billet rear bearing retainer to replace the stamped sheet metal version. The stock one tends to deflect under high torque loads allowing the cluster gear to walk.

My brother has an 89 Mustang with GT40 heads, intake and a Vortex SC that makes probably around 375 HP. He still has the original T5 and clutch in it with about 90K miles. Never drag raced and always street tires. The T5 is getting noisy though.

ya, theyre really not bad transmissions, i think mine went because i was banging gears with the stock shifter, because my car has only had street tires on it the whole time ive owned it and probably doesnt even make 300hp, any idea how much the billet rear bearing retainers are? i might put one in the new t5 im putting in if i could get one cheap

[Huskinhano]

ya, theyre really not bad transmissions, i think mine went because i was banging gears with the stock shifter, because my car has only had street tires on it the whole time ive owned it and probably doesnt even make 300hp, any idea how much the billet rear bearing retainers are? i might put one in the new t5 im putting in if i could get one cheap

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T5-Cluster-Support-Plate-T-5-Ford-GM-Mustang-Camaro-T-5-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3c9b543de8QQitemZ260304027112QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_586wt_897