T5 gearboxes

[worzel]

Hi

I was idly looking thru the Ford stuff on E-bay and noticed a T5 box for sale taken from a TVR Cerbera.

What struck me was the gearlever position- did TVR re-work the linkage to move the lever forward as the only T5 boxes I've seen have the lever more rearward.

Looking at the box I'd be very surpised if it wouldn't go straight into an elan and without the hassle of moving the linkage on a Type 9 (as I've done).

Anybody know the dimensions of the box- particularly the areas just aft of the linkage platform- and is the bolt/stud fixing pattern the same as the Type 9. Although the box in mine works perfectly well i wouldn't mind trying an experiment with one of these boxes to see if it would fit. At ?395, if it fits without having to move the linkage it might be worth a try as there seem to be quite a few of these boxes for sale at any one time.

Ideas?

john

[garyeanderson]

Hi John

The TVR box is ok but the input and output spline count are something like 23 input and 27 output. The more common 10 spine input and 28 output are probably an easier combo to get to work.

Gary

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Guys
I am just going down this route with my spare 26R shell and chassis. I purchased a new T5 via Ebay for 400 gbp with 2.95 first gear and the .63 5th.
Also bought this item ebay.com 190336589867 an S10 rear housing.
Will mate it to the Ford Merkur bellhousing as Tom did.
Engine will be all steel 1953cc Injected/turbo twin cam
Should be good for 150mph +
Body is going to be chinese eye front lights and Shapecraft rear end with the Kamm type rear lip
I'll post pics as the project progresses
Cheers Dave
26-R-9

[elansprint]

The T5 box used by TVR has the gearlever a lot further forward than in the ford applications but it is a bigger box than the type 9 will it fit the tunnel? As the ford bellhousing patterns are the same you could try a 2WD cosworth sierra bellhousing.
Ian

[Rob_LaMoreaux]

Some of the small pickup trucks that used the T5 had the shift lever on the front of the tail housing. This is probably what TVR used. When I looked into this a number of years ago thetruck tail housing with the right Ford bellhousing and the right Mustang gears would work pretty decent. I just eyeballed the T5 from out of the Mustang I had to the Elan transmission, so there may have been clearance issues, and I had assumed the clutch disk and drive shaft would have to change.

Oh and it would have moved the lever back by about 0.75 inch as I recall.

Not sure about the TVR version though.


Rob

[TomR]

Dave, I have the gearbox and engine apart right now. Would you care for a picture of the mods to the bellhousing face? I also have an unmodified one for direct comparison.

Rob, the S10 Dave refers to is the light pickup T5 with the shifter in the nearly right place.

Tom

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Tom
Yes pics would be great can be sent to
[email protected] or post them

I'm going to build the engine for max torque using FVC steel crank with 5.23 inch n/j rods and 86.5mm forged pistons.

I picked up the bellhousing in the US for $25 just like you did. Thanks for the good article previously
Cheers Dave

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Tom
one other thing , which clutch release bearing did you use?
cheers Dave

[CBUEB1771]

What struck me was the gearlever position- did TVR re-work the linkage to move the lever forward as the only T5 boxes I've seen have the lever more rearward.

TVR did not rework the T5 themselves. Tremec made this gearbox for TVR (Tremec Part Number TTE1239) and it is still available new from them. The gear level is in the forward position as was originally designed for some US light pickup truck applications. However the gear lever is still almost an inch further back from the front of the main case casting when compared to the Elan/ENFO four speed gearbox. The ratios in the TVR box are pretty reasonable for the Elan at 2.95/1.94/1.34/1.00/0.80. There is a little confusion as to whether the TVR T-5 has mechanical or electronic speedometer drive. The T-5 and T9 have no bolt patterns in common (if I am wrong on this please spare me out of Christmas goodwill). The T-5 is larger than the T9 where they would nestle into the Elan chassis. TomR has gone through this and chassis modifications were needed to provide clearance.

[garyeanderson]

These people at Arrow Auto Engineering may be worth a call to find out more about what they do to make the Cosworth T5 gearbox to bolt directly to Crossflow style blocks.
http://www.arrowautoengineering.co.uk/page14.htm



Price is ?40 for the converted bellhousing

email [email protected]
or phone 07891 604755.