Madman_DSM

I like to drive the car pretty hard, and I downshift a lot with all the cars I drive. The problem is that Mustang seems to be very picky about downshifting to first. The gear is super long, it ends somewhere around 50ish miles, and the second gear is quite often too tall to kick the back of the car out if the traction is good enough, so quite often I'm finding myself in a situation where I want to downshift back into 1st, but the gear just grinds and doesn't go in.

I tried to heel-and-toe, as I do with my other cars, but it doesn't seem to work with this car. Maybe I'm not getting the revs close enough, but it seems impossible to shift into 1st when going anywhere above 20 mph.

Is this a known issue with T5 gearboxes? Can it be fixed? How expensive is the repair going to be (parts alone) if I grind the 1st gear down (also, sometimes during hard driving I seem to miss the shift to third gear into grind to first, seems that the gear gate moves with the engine, and the third is not neutral up, but moves to the right, therefore I miss into first, which luckily doesn't get into, which is good).

Are there any double syncro kits for the first gear only?

mjr46

you should not be shifting into first above 20, that is normal with any stick car, even mine are difficult to get into 1st if I'm above 20 mph, = not a problem, if you want a better 2nd gear get some gears in your rear end, since 1st seems so tall

2tonterror

Hi. The synchro rings and ring gear on the T5 are tapered cut. This helps the gearbox strength. The first gear ratio is too high to downshift at speeds above 20 mph. My girlfriend was a tech for a major distributor of the T5. She knows these tranny's in and out. She is actually helping me write this post.

As far as missing third gear. The shifter will naturally align itself in the 3rd / 4th shift pattern on the T5. The most common problem with missing the power shift from 2nd to 3rd is being too "heavy handed" on the shifter. Don't force the shifter travel, it will prevent a quick shift and end up damaging the sychro rings after time. This tranny likes the power shift and will work with you automatically, but don't force it.
You could put an aftermarket shifter in the car with adjustable stops. I hope this helps.

Madman_DSM

Well, the other car I drive has even shorter 1st gear, yet downshift at 30mph is silky smooth with little heel and toe rev boost. Granted I have double syncro on the first gear, but the ability to shift this way is simply awesome.

I think I miss the 3rd when downshifting from higher gear. I do it quite quick and when I'm trying to put into the gear in it's not aligned, feeling is sort of like as if the whole tranny has been rotated clockwise.

frdmstng1986GT

I think its more of a driver error then a problem with the trans. I've had 3 mustangs so far and my 86 gt was a five speed too. Along with my current 93. Anyways my 86 had 2.73 gears and it would come nowhere near 50 in first. Maybe 35-40 if I was lucky, and even then it was reving well over 5000rpm. If you're hitting 50 in first I feel sorry for you're car. In stock form there is no need to Rev you're car above 5000 rpm. Even with minor bolt ons the valvetrain and heads weren't designed to Rev that high. As far as you're issue with finding third sounds like maybe you're shifter handle rubber bushings are worn maybe. Tranny gates just can't "move" as you described.

If you're trying to down shift to first at 30mph then sounds to me like you might have to do a little more research on how to drive you're car correctly. I get plenty of pull in second at 30 MPH in my car. Hell my 86 would only do about 90-95mph at the very top of third with 2.73 gears. And that's proven at the track. So I have no idea hue you're getting 50 in first unless you're running it to the Rev limiter in every gear like some ricer driver.

This is all just my opinion so treat you're car how you want. Its you're car.

AdderMk2

the T5 has a non synchronized first gear... stop trying to shift into it while the car is moving.

you are just ****ing up the transmission!

Madman_DSM

1) You're going on the straight, 120-180 degree elbow comes next, you start to brake, clutch in, heel and toe rev match, first gear, clutch out, brakes off, gas on.

2) You're approaching tight turn, you want to just drift through it with speed of 25-30mph, you slow down to necessary speed, switch to 1st, hard acceleration, rear end gets loose, you work the throttle and steering. And controlled drift in higher gears gets progressively harder, as huge over-steer just kicks in at higher gears as soon as the tire adhesion threshold is reached.

And the torque/hp range for the engine seems to be from 3500-4500 rpm, which with stock gears translate into pretty high speed in 1st gear.

Oh... Then it all makes sense. Are there any aftermarket synchronized 1st gear replacements available?

frdmstng1986GT

Jeesh. All these kids that play grand turismo or forza 3 think they are race car drivers nowadays.LOL. probably never even set foot on an Autocross or driftcross or anything have you???

As for your description on "how to drive you're car correctly", you didn't understand what I meant. I meant learn you're car. You are correct in most of you're theory, but missing a lot of key elements. Forgot about clipping points and breaking points. Moving apex points. All you described on you're "drifting" example was power on oversteer. Noting about feints, clutch kicks, braking induced drifting, ebrake induced drifting, inertia drifts, etc.

So like I said. Learn you're car inside and out if you want to get the most out of it. If you knew about you're car you would know that the t-5 has no syncros on first or reverse. Hence why you can't downshift to first while moving at the speeds you're talking about.also, Max torque on the 5.0 is around 3000rpm. Not 3500.

Madman_DSM

Well, I'm not exactly a kid. And I do attend track days during the summer time after time, not much on a Mustang though.

Well, the point was not to argue about driving style or to prove that I know the theory or not. I was just trying to understand why I couldn't drive the Mustang like the other cars. No syncro on 1st gear explains that.
But concerning other styles, I've tried most of them, and there are some drawbacks why I don't use them.
Clutch kick seems to be pretty hard on the whole tranny, I do it sometimes in 2nd, but it's pretty harsh.
E-brake drift asks for an upgraded e-brake, as the stock one doesn't seem to work on anything but wet tarmac/snow.
Inertia drift has a huge drawback of added speed and requirement for a wider corners, which can get nasty if you try that in narrow spaces.
Also, the stock suspension is way too wobbly for my liking for inertia induced drifts.
And as I mentioned, with higher gear it's way harder to control the slide with the accelerator.
So with narrow corners, I prefer the power, control and the less harsh initiation with the first gear power induced oversteer, if I could only get it into the gear.
But yes, I'm still learning. And I mostly drive the Mustang only during the winter, early spring, late atumn.

I'm trying to do that.

2tonterror

All foward gears in the T-5 are synchronized. The 1/2 slider on the syncro assembly is reverse gear.