After much fun getting time to do the job, then much more fun actually getting things to work out, I managed to get the 3 speed swapped out with my new T5. 3.35 first and 0.68 fifth gears in the tranny and a new Trac-loc 3.55 in the rearend. Had to lengthen the Mustang driveshaft by an inch, but everything else was good as far as parts. The fun was that my initial tranny gears were the 2.95 first and the 0.80 fifth, which whined something horrible at highway speeds! As a cruiser I didn't want the noise, so out it came and replaced it with the 3.35/0.68. At the same time I 'massaged' the Maverick tranny cross member to allow 3/4 inch drop. Got the tranny in and drove it for almost a day when two of the retainer bolts came loose and the tranny started leaking. Had to pull the tranny again. Fixed again and all seems good now. With the 225-60-15s and the 3.55 rear gear, the 0.68 fifth has my speedo at 5 MPH over, so need to replace the speedo gear at some point. For those that want to know, the hole in the floor was slightly up and to the right of the so called perforated floor markings Ford made for the floor shifter. If you note the picture you'll see the new hole, and two pieces of sheet metal covering the old hole I had cut out for the 3 speed floor shifter I had. I cut a hole in the floor just big enough for the shifter cover to fit through. Adding the oil to the tranny initially is much easier going through the shifter housing. Once the shifter was in place I then made a plate to cover the bigger hole to cut down on noise and dust, then laid the carpet back over and covered it all with this huge shifter boot I got from Oreilly Auto. Oh, and the Maverick V8 transmission cross member does work when turned around backwards, you MUST use the Maverick transmission mount with it though, and you might have to grind out the frame bolt holes on it a bit to get the bolts to go through the original frame holes. Granted it did put the shifter box up against the floor, literally, and I did have to cut out the frame support for the tranny tunnel (also pictured), as well as a little massaging of the tunnel closer up toward the motor in order to keep the tranny from hitting the floor. I did all this for the first tranny (2.95/0.80) but my car is dropped 2 inches and I've installed a center console, so the drive shaft tunnel was too low and the drive shaft would hit. When I decided to change tranny gearing to the 3.35/0.68 I also decided to cut out and drop the center of the Maverick cross member down flush with the original bottom (pictured) which allowed 3/4 - 1 inch more clearance all around. Everything is fine now. After the 5 hour drive back from Austin to Lake Charles, I hit several high and low areas and never hit the frame or floor. The car rode just as it had on the trip over to Austin the week before. I'm very happy with the install. I'll try to get some pictures on here as reference. I have more pictures of the tranny mount and can get more pictures of the hydrolic clutch setup if anybody wants them.
I'd heard the hydrolic was easier to install, and I think it was. I just had to drill two holes, one on top and one on bottom of the original clutch rod hole in the firewall. Bleeding was easy. It was just like bleeding your brakes. As for the u-joints, it's all good. Lowering the car 2 inches changed the angles, and I've had it lowered for a year now. I don't forsee any troubles. There is a vibration at around 85, but I think that is the balance of the driveshaft. I don't drive the car that often. It's more of a pleasure car.
