Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Anxious to know how the T5 is working. What ratios did you use and ...how's the clutch?

I've posted a bunch before on the T5 conversion if you want to search.

I think it the best tranny for the car - fits, good ratios, light, and cheap - but more work than most, especially if you want to keep a mechanical speedo. The good ratios are 2.95/1.94/1.34/1.0/0.725 and I have a 4.11 Torsen diff. The clutch is fine, torque peaks at 170ish so nothing beyond HD Ford is needed. Using a McLeod concentric throwout.

Thanks Tom,those are exactly the ratios I'd like. Sounds like a GM, ie Camaro/Firebird gearset. Either way (
Ford or GM) a custom clutch disc and yoke is required, with machine work required.

These are very similar to the ratios in my Voigts T9, with the 3.65 1st swapped out for a 2.95, except for the ( imho ) more preferable 5th.

Gear T9 T5
1st 2.98 2.95
2nd 1.967 1.94
3rd 1.367 1.34
4th 1.00 1.00
5th 0.815 0.725

For good shifter placement you need a T5 with the S10 truck tailhousing.

I used a Ford internals to allow easy clutch selection. I used a stock Mcleod 8.5" Ford disc and PP (4 cyl Mustang) which works perfectly with my Dave Bean - purchased 110 tooth BDA flywheel. Also a Mcleod concentric clutch slave which works with the Lotus mcyl. Nothing custom or particularly expensive. The pilot needs to be turned down a few hundredths to fit the standard pilot bushing but oversized bushings can be sourced

I originally had to do some machine work to mate the Chevy speedo drive gear (required by the S10 tailsection) to the Ford parts, but now I just use a GPS speedo drive. This also avoids most (but not all) of the chassis modifications previously necessary for the T5 conversion. Some cutting near the shifter and a clearance dent on the RHS frame vertical are the only mods necessary for a std chassis. FWIW TTR has my drawings for the required modifications on his 26R chassis. It's more extensive because of the boxing reinforcements he adds in the front upper chassis Y-arms

I used the 2.3L Ford Tbird bellhousing which does require welding on two additional mount points. I just cut the ears off another bellhousing and had them welded on

The driveshaft is custom to mate standard 27-spline Ford front and English Ford rear yokes with the correct length. Standard driveshaft shop stuff.

The tranny mount is T5 standard with a simple flat plate welded on to get the mounting points.

So not trivial but very doable especially if the body is off.

Thanks Tom for all those details. I think this is in my future.