Wazza's 64 Hardtop - Aus

[warren1328]

Ran into my first major hurdle with the gearbox itself.
I knew there was a difference in the Australian Falcon T5 in the input shaft, to the US Mustang unit.
What I under estimated were the further dimensional differences.......
Turns out, for some reason, the Aus T5 is about 100mm further to the rear in the placement of both the trans mount and the shifter. I had initially thought the box I ha bought would be ok, but once I recieve the trans mount and the shift handle I was getting concerned. Was thinking I might need to fabricate my own trans mount, and had begun to work on the design, and then I just sat in the driver seat and "played" at shifting gears where the shifter would come up and things got ugly..... I essentially would have been shifting 2nd/4th/Rev behind me. That's the sort of thing you might at first think you can live with, but will very shortly start to drive you nuts.
I was lucky that a guy I know had a Mustang T5 in a box unused for a sold project. Better still, fully reconditioned vs the unknown condition of the AU box I had. Didn't really want to buy another gearbox, but the end result will be much better, and I should be able to on sell the AU box pretty easily.

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Driveshaft had to be shortened about 20mm

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Here's the shifter position with the US gearbox. Funnily enough, my mate with original 4-speed Cyclone, who is also 6'2" like me, thinks this shifer position is nicer to use that the original. Don't have to reach for the shifter like with the 4 speed.....

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I don't intend to use a console in this car, so it won't ever get too crowded in this position.

[warren1328]

The change from 3 on the column to 5 on the floor, required a change in the column also. Our early Aus Falcons were all column shift, whether auto or manual. One of the things that drives me nuts at car shows etc is when you see really nice cars with floor shift change, but the column still has the shift handle, or at least the hub for it.
Got hold of a 65 Mustang column to tidy up the shifter handle thing and also remove the linkages from the engine bay. One of the obstacles to the dual exhaust seemed to be that the shift linkages at the bottom of the column filled the space the pipes need to exit through.
Have others had this problem? Wonder what people have done??
Anyway, the Mustang column has the same top hub profile and tube diameter. It is however about 4 inches longer, so needed to be shortened and the slot for locating the u-shaped dash bracket needed to be relocated to suit the Comet.
While I was at it I discovered the turn signal switch for the 65 Mustang had an extra wire for the horn that the Comet does not, so to make my life easier, I swapped the switches also.

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Here is the completed column conversion.

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[warren1328]

Whilst I had the engine and everything out, I took the opportunity to swap to a 6 blade fan and also install a fan shroud. New hoses also.
We're coming into summer here and Australian summers get pretty hot.

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So that brings me up to date with the project for now.
Sorry about the massive posting overload, but there's been a steady stream of work happening before I got this thread started.
Re installed the hood this afternoon and dropped the car back onto the ground. Now just have to wait until exhaust guy is ready to get started, hopefully in a week or so. Will drive it to the exhaust shop as it's not far from home, but it's super noisy without any pipes on it, so will resist any urges to run it too much beforehand.

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[SASSY]

Beauty! Please continue with your detailed posts.
It's one thing to say you modified a 65 Mustang column to fit but explaining what is required is,,, priceless!
It's obvious you have a fairly deep knowledge of our little Fords.

[Joe Travers]

Thanks for posting it all, Warren!
As Fred stated; there are some good tips in there for someone trying to make a clean conversion

Joe

[Jims65cyclone]

Great information, Warren. You've completed a lot of wide ranging work on the car in just 5 months! I hope I can be half as productive as you when I get my project rolling. I'm slowly creeping up on my starting point now that I've "finish" my garage. Went this afternoon and borrowed my son-in-law's hydraulic press to use in tearing down the T-5 I have to go in my Cyclone. It came out of a 93 Mustang Cobra, so I'm hoping I don't find more than a set of bearings, seals and synchronizer rings will fix.

Jim

[tomb22]

Enjoyed your recent posts, especially all the pictures. Your doing some awesome work on your Comet. Looking forward to more pictures.
Tom

[Sugarmaker]

Warren,
Thank you for posting the detailed work on your nice Comet! I enjoy the details of your work. I have not been playing with Comets long and am continuing to learn about these cars. Good luck with your project!

[warren1328]

So things didn't go entirely to plan with my 83 year old exhaust guy.....
Had the car ready on the Saturday to go to him the following Friday. Would have worked out perfectly as I was due to be insterstate for work the folliowing week. Tuesday, my mechanic called me to say the exhaust guy had had an "episode" while workiing on a car overhead and his doctor had pulled the plug on him doing any further work. Generated some panic as after smashing myself to get to that stage, I'd missed him by 3 days.
Relief also though, as if I'd gotten the car to him then there's every chance it'd be stuck there indefinately.
Sooooo...... Called one of the bigger exhaust chain shops in town reluctantly and described what I wanted done. 2" dual system, h-pipe, flange at rear of the gearbox for ease of removal, tucked up discreetly to the body, 65 Mustang exhaust tip turn-downs to exit just behind the bumper so as to not be seen. I really don't dig the pipes poking out the rear.
They were pretty casual on the phone, as if not quite listening to what I was asking for, but said if I had it to them next morning, they could be finished by cob Friday, meaning I would have it back before I left for work trip.
Drove it across town the next morning with just manifolds and no pipes. Of course I got caught at every traffic light and 10 minute trip became around 20. By the time I got there was completely paranoid about the noise, an had a massive fume headache as I hadn't taken that into account...
Anyway, long story short, they called me that same night to say it was finished. Went over the next morning to retrieve it and not only had they done a really nice job, they charged me $120 less than they'd quoted. Winning!!
Sounds really great, and when the car is on it's wheels, you can barely see the exhaust is even there.

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[warren1328]

Of course, it wouldn't be playing with old cars if something didn't go awry.
After getting it back from exhaust, I rove it to the gym that Sat morning at 530. Went the very long way to give it a good 30 minute run on open roads.
About halfway along, when I put it under load, started making a horrible screaching noise when the clutch was let off. Not every time, but about 60% of the time when giving it a little.
Other than that, the 5-speed is fantastic! Shifts smooth, drives great and the shift position is perfect for me.
That bloody noise though......
Figured it out that it's the clutch throw-out bearing. I thought about changing it, but since it wasn't noisy, I didn't bother. Of course, leave things alone and they'll be right forever. Touch it once and you're doomed...
Went back through my photos from mounting the adapter plate to the bellhousing and you can pretty clearly see the bearing is a bit crusty and dry loooking. Hindsight.

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So, over the Christmas holiday break, the engine and trans will be coming out again to do the 5 minute job of changing the bearing I should have changed as a matter of course.
Still planning to drive it around for the summer as a beater, but then, if I have the engine out again, I might even do the engine and engine bay paint and detailing before I put it back in. Maybe......

[Jims65cyclone]

Warren, that exhaust system looks really good! By the way, in the first pic in that post it looks like you've got about 4 inches of space between the front drive shaft yoke and where it slides into the trans. Is that your original drive shaft, did you have it shortened for the T-5 or did it come out of something else?

Jim

[warren1328]

Hey Jim,
The tailshaft is the original one to the car, but shortened to suit the new gearbox.
You are correct with the spacing. Measured the engagement into 2 different T5's and they both bottomed out at 90mm engagement, with 70mm clearance to the yoke casting. In order to be able to have some float, they shortened it to have 70mm engagement inside the tailhousing.

[Jims65cyclone]

Good information! Thanks, Warren.

Jim

[warren1328]

So at my mechanics suggestion I drove the Comet around for a few days to see if the noise would settle.
Seemed to be going ok driving around town under no load. Took it for a 60km round trip down the coast on Friday. About 30km into the drive, the noise started up again, first as a chirp changing gears then whenever load applied. By the time I got home it was driving me insane.
Sooooo......here we go again....

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Pretty sure I've decided to tidy up the engine and the engine bay whilst it's all out. Good time to overhaul the heater also as it's hard to get to the mounts etc with the engine in place. Have bought a gasket kit for a 65 Mustang and will make it work as best as possible.

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[warren1328]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it??
Quoted 5hrs to drop the box and change bearing by clutch shop, at $140hr. There was no way I was paying that, so sucked it up and out it came.
Feel a bit stupid for not changing it first time now, especially seeing the old one next to the new replacement....

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