trans swap

i have a 97 thunderbird lx . i was wondering if i could do a swap over to a 5 speed manual from an automatic using a sc 5 speed sense the are both 4r70w transmissions.?

This swap has been done on V8 Birds, however it's easier I think on a 91 - 93 5.0L car, as they share the same bellhousing pattern as the 3.8 SC motor. For the 4.6L, you would probably need to use the T-45 manual trans from a 96-up Mustang, and fabricate some stuff to make it fit in a Bird chassis. Try posting this question over on the forums of www.tccoa.com , there are lots of knowledgeable 4.6 people over there.

cheers
Ed Nicholson
SCCoO

yeah but the thing is the sc tranmissions are 4r70w just like what i have in my v8 bird ,its the same transmission so the bellhouseing should be the same where as the t-45 are the smae but you have to do alot more mods for it t fit plus mustangs are chassis and t birds are unibody

They are the same basic type of transmission, but they are not identical. I can tell you with 100% certainty that a 3.8 trans will not bolt up behind a 4.6 mod motor. I know that a T-45 would be a lot more work to install in the T-Bird chassis, but I don't see any other options for you. Even the F-150 4.6L M5R2 tranny would not be usable, because the main part of the tranny case is different, and the shifter location is moved about 10 inches compared to the T-Bird.

cheers
Ed N.