Help with auto to 5 speed conversion

Mercury267

Registered User
I have a 1995 Thunderbird LX auto trans 4.6L V8 car. I want to install a manual transmission and also a 32 valve DOHC 4.6L V8. I have a 1995 Mark VIII car to supply the motor (which I would like to adapt the SC supercharger to as well), and this weekend I am going to pick up a 1994 5 speed SC. So now I have all the donor cars, but I have one BIG problem. The SC car has a Mazda based model RKE 5 speed manual trans which bolts to Ford's 3.8L V6. The crossmember, pedals, driveshaft, shifter, and engine are all made to fit with that trans. Having the SC donor car will allow me to bolt in all of these components, but the trans WILL NOT bolt to either the factory V8 which is in the car not, not the V8 that is going to be installed from the Lincoln. Does anyone know what to do here. I can't find any specs on the RKE model to compare to the T-5's or the T-56's and see if they are close enough to work in an environment made for the RKE. I am missing some major info. on how to work through this bug. Has anyone donethis conversion from an auto to a manual in a V8 thunderbird? Is there a resource which provides some instruction?
Please email me at mercury267@juno.com or call me at 443-864-9144

Thank you,
Mercy Jantz (Baltimore, MD)
 
My brother did a 4.6 swap in his 3.8 mustang.... a T-5 or M5R2 will not bolt up to a 4.6, you will need a T-45 . But the T-45 is a tad too short, the shifter box has to be modified to put the shifter in the correct location. Mn12performance.com used to offer a mod for it but I'm not seeing it on their list anymore (this was a good year+ ago that I recall seeing it).
 
Last edited:
lead the way

I first thought this was more current than it really is, so pardon my failure to read the date. But since it is almost a year old, how did the conversion turn out? Do you have a play by play because it is the same conversion I have been wanting, for about 6 months at least, to somehow do?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top