jaded seconds

we all know that the manual gearbox is so difficult. we all know that we have to live with it and mods like a short shifter and bushings will help it out a little. but doesn't anyone know why it's so difficult? i've been told it's because it's technically amidline suvmotor+ transmission put into a sporty coupe. and thatcertain transmission doesn't have a smoothor great feel to it manually and it was just made to be that way. and don't get me started on reverse. lol. but we've all worked around that gear and found our own little nicheon how to get into it,haven't we?

anyways, the facts are there, i just really want to know why it is what it is.

tlpvt

I think it is Ford's quality issue. As hot as the '05+mustang is in it's target buyer's category,people pay waymore attention toall thosecold air intakes/racing stripes/fake hood scoops/etc. BS and will still buy it regardless of the sloppy transmission.
P.s. BMW330 manual just clicks in/outgear, no noises whatsoever, it is PERFECT. After driving that car my mustang feels like a truck. But then, the bimmer costs twice as much.
still love the mustang though.

billybix76

First of all, Ford has to turn a profit on the vehicle or they would not have even tried to re-make the 05+ mustangs. They saw a window with us 40 somethings who fell in love watching our first 69 Mach1 roll by on our way to Jr. High school...

The T5 transmission has a long and venerable career with Ford and all the other domestic Mfg'rs. It started out as and continues to be basically a light truck transmission. Ford had a contract and a lot of them in stock sooo...they built them into the design thinking we would baby our cars and not powershift them. The decision makes itself manifest most in the design of the shift mount to the body rather than direct to the transmisson thereby introducing torque twist under high rpm shifts on the shift linkage. Ever miss 3rd at 5K rpm???....But It's major faults lie in it's syncromesh design. The stiffness, Slotted feel and standard shifter throw (rowing an oar) can be traced to the one size fits all-in wonder truck transmission philosophy.

From Day one when the T5 showed up in mustangs, true modders started complaining and working them over to be actaully performance based. Today there are a few things you can do. Get a short shifter and increase control of the stiffness and "notchiness", change fluid to synthetics will help. K-member brace and torque limiters to reduce or eliminate torque twist on the shifter linkage, ...but the only way to fix it so it compares to a HP racing tranny is to replace it with a HP racing tranny designed for our cars ...and since those are few if any, we have few options. Some guys have explored swapping a GT's T3650 for the T5 but it is a heavy modification/cusomization process for minimal gain. The T3650 suffers to some degree from the same design flaws as the T5. Our best option.....learn to play the hand we have been dealt....

jaded seconds

thanksfor the great explanation billybix, clear as water.ididn't know about the k-member brace + torque limiters. searched it and this came up: https://mustangforums.com/m_1832846/mpage_1/key_/tm.htmlooks like this is also going to be one of my soon to be mods to help out our truck transmission. lol.

pat6674u

Where can you find a K-member brace for our cars?

SparkYZ

I thought I was the only one who had such difficulty getting into third at high RPM....
I really gotta try a short shifter...

jaded seconds

this is where i'm going to be ordering mine from. http://www.cheperformance.com/cartge...208&cid=15another site where you could orderwas alsomentioned in the link i had in my previous post.

Oh54oH

i found that my aluminum driveshaft helped relieve some of the notchieness, but 500 bucks is alot to relieve notchieness alone.

Glacial

Me too! Guess it'stime to order that K-member brace..

jaded seconds

tonight on my way home from my gf's house. i did 4 runs using on ramps as my private dragstrip, practicing my powershifting in the car. 1 out of the 4 i missed third. it just wouldn't go in, my hand slipped and i kinda hit the **** of the hot/cold a/c control. the others were perfect. and i was satisfied.

stock, the ratio would've been like 3 out of the 4 missing third. so having the short shifter and the bushings do really help out. i recommend it. and from what i've read the k-member brace + torque limiter combo is really great mod as well, it really helps with the shifts.