Pinto Car Club of America

Any recommendations? I've heard good things about the T5's and T9's, more so for race car application though. I'm going to be using this on my stock 78' sedan.

I want to upgrade since I'm going to be using a 3.40, 6.75" rear axle now and the 5th gear will really come in handy when on the freeway. The stock 4spd just HOWLS once you hit 55 in fourth gear on a 3.40 geared rear axle since the 3.40 was originally equipped with the 73 auto trans cars.

Will there be any cutting involved when doing the swap? Will a different drive shaft be required? I want it to be as simple as possible to swap out, but I just know it won't be a bolt-in upgrade like everything else has been so far.

T5 all the way id stay far away from T9 trans

how about as far as modification goes? does it require much?

t5 requires cutting 2 inchs forward so the shifter will clear and might have to make a bracket to locate the clutch cable up a little bit so it doesnt hit the crossmember but then again i have seen people get away with not doing this and not have any problems.
But the enlarging of the shifter hole is a must. And if its already setup for a t5 and you ever do your v8 swap you can swap in a v8 t5 and have a ripping pinto if you can get it too hook. LOL

I put a T-5 in my '73 wagon. Regarding the driveshaft, I used this combination:

T-5
8" rearend
Stock driveshaft (from the car)

In this case the "stock" driveshaft was originally used with a C-4 Automatic and a 6-3/4" rear. The reason I bring it up is that I got the better 8" rearend "drum to drum" (Pick A Part - out the door including core charge for $116 and that wasn't one of their 50% off sales).  That is likely the price you would pay to have a driveshaft shortened to fit your 6-3/4" rear.

  So, if it all measures up you are better to use the stock driveshaft and get an 8" rear than you are to spend the same money and get your shaft shortened for the 6-3/4" rear.  Just be careful as the driveshaft length can vary. Don't quote me, but I think my driveshaft is 45-1/2".

Here is a picture of my adapter to move the clutch cable to clear the crossmember. You will see that it bolts into the original cable position in the bellhousing. You can't see, but the cable is angled upwards slightly. I added a small piece of metal at the bottom as an "anti-rotate" in case it ever came loose. I also bent the bellcrank linkage outward a bit to line up with the new cable location.

The stock tranny mount was reversed and slotted and just barely worked.

Tom

No firewall cutting? Looks good, I think I might do this next year when tax season comes around!

for what its worth...i had my driveshaft shortened at cleveland custom clutch about 3 years ago.  the bill was 75 plus tax.

bob