Want To Upgrade To A Modern 5 sp.Trans

[68 Ford Stepside]

I have been thinking about removing the old granny four speed from my '68 flareside & installing a modern 5 sp. trans in it's place. Is there a late model 5 sp. that would be fairly easy to change out ?

[71swb302]

Going to need some more info. What kind of motor is it going behind?

If a SB there are two that come to mind, M5R2 (easier to find) or ZF (stouter, but harder to find) Both use Hydralic clutch setups, so some fabrication would be in order. You may have to change over to a later model flywheel too, I'm not sure if your current clutch setup would work. There should be several post on here about people swapping these transmissions into a bump.

For a FE motor, think the only thing you could do would be to purchase a bell housing adapter, I know they make them for auto's, but not sure about manuals...

460, pretty sure there is a ZF out there behind them too in a later model truck.

I briefly researched a manual swap when my AOD swap was giving me trouble.... I'm sure there are some more guys on here with alot more info.

[68 Ford Stepside]

It will be going behind a 300 six.

[SDFarmKid]

M5R2 would probably be the easiest to do in my opinion. I have one in my truck that's bolted to a 302 but same thing....now but i haven't drove it enough to really give you a good review but i have liked it so far. Here is the lil blirp i posted when i responded to Casey's thread.

I have been meaning to do a write up about this but here is the jist of it...

First off if your truck is a 4 speed you could probaly find a hydraulic clutch to find your original flywheel but i went ahead and got a new flywheel so i could use a 11.5 inch clutch. If you get a new flywheel make sure its the same diameter and tooth count and you should be able to reuse your starter. Also i have headers on mine and i have had no problems with them when installing the transmission and cant for see any when i start driving it.

For the master cylinder i mounted it inboard of the brake master and welded a pin onto the original block that the old manual linkage hooked up too on the clutch pedal, and made it so it would have enough throw to completely engage and disengage. I reinforced it with some short pieces of angel iron and haven't seen any flexing afterwards.

Finally i was faced with the same choice you have and like average said if you don't need the granny i would go with the M5R2. I brought mine home from paint yesterday and finally was able to give it a workout for the first time. The tranny shifted great and it was nice being able to downshift instead of using the brakes. So far i have been very pleased with it, and would highly reccomend it

I hope that answered some of your questions, i am not the greatest at explaining but if you have any other questions or want some pics just let me know