Ok so i bought a 96 cobra a few weeks ago. We test drove it and everything seemed great. I got on it a little bit when i test drove but nothing to crazy. Ok so after i bought it i never noticed any problems until i went to powershift from 1st to 2nd. Now i'm a pretty good driver considering my background, but for some reason it grinded when it went into gear. So i waited a while a tried again to make sure it wasn't me. Sure enough it did it again. When you drive it normally it never shows any problems going from 1st to 2nd. But when you powershift if or even just give it a hard shift it always grinds just a little but never hesitates to go into gear. I've never missed the gear but it is a horrible sound. Ok so i'm thinking it probably a sychronizer that is off, but i just wanted to hear what you guys think. I've had quite a few mustangs but this is the first cobra. Anything sound common about this? Any suggestions before we go to tearing this thing apart?

 

Yeah the T-45 sucks and don't powershift it or you will be replacing it!!
I was at the track and powershifted 2-3 (After everyone told me not to) and lost the 3rd and 4th gear shift forks (So I'm told) and the 5th gear synchros!!
If you wanna keep it together stop smashing it the T-45 should have been put in the Focus maybe then it could hold the TQ!!

 

Hey StangChik, glad to see you back here again and glad to see you upgraded to a Cobra as well.

Yeah, I'd pretty much just say that's a T45 for you. My 97 is the same way. It's really starting to get on my nerves quite a bit. My 2nd to 3rd is the worst I think. Not only is that probably the slowest gear to shift since you have to go up over and up rather than just straight like 1-4, but it still grinds more than any other gear even if I don't shift incredibly fast.

To put it this way, I'm not the best manual transmission driver by far, but I can shift every single gear in my T45 faster than the synchro can have it ready. It's incredibly annoying.

Now, if only I could get completely used to this Cobra's clutch and T-56 like that we'll be in business. There's so much torque it's really hard to shift smooth after driving a non-pi SN95 with a T45, hahaha.[8D]

So anyway, you can definitely rebuild the T45 and make it a lot better, it'll probably be more than enough for the street after you rebuild it, however it's never going to be what a T56 or TKO is. If you plan on putting a lot of hard shifting miles on it, I'd look at getting a better transmission, if you just want something to have fun on the street every so often with, then a rebuild with some beefier parts should be enough for you.

 

I also have grinding problems on my 97 Cobra (T-45)[:@]. Mine grind from 1-2 shift and 3-4 shift. I'm going to rebuild it as I don't have enough cash for a T-56 (+the new driveshaft, crossmember, clutch, and rear gears to make it all work). You can find T-45's on e-bay or craigslist for cheap (I'm getting mine for $100). I'll rebuild that one, throw it in my Cobra and have one as a spare (which I will rebuild when I have the cash).

 

I have a used t-45 I can sell someone. I'm in the process of putting a tko-600 in my 99' cobra and the old t-45 is just taking up space.

 

Thanks for the welcome back.... i need to get on changing my sig. I would maybe consider rebuilding or repairing the synchro. Have any of you guys every done this. Know about how much?

 

+ 1 0n the cost of rebuild..I too need to do this...

Nordo...how much and where are you located....

 

make me an offer. I'm located in maryland.

 

Nope, but if you find out let me know. I could probably use that information down the road for my GT.