Frankenstein Mach 1 in Vegas

[California 72]

As part of the safety inspection to get the title changed from salvage to rebuilt I have to make sure all the basic safety equipment works.

Hope your DMV is more title friendly than here in Virginia. Had an opportunity to get a '65 Fastback in decent condition, just a flood salvage. Anyhow, it was to be part of a settlement we won in a small claims court suit we filed against the restoration shop we sent our '66 F100 to because of work I couldn't do without a garage.
Anyhow, we were advised by a lawyer friend at the time it would take an act of God and enough money to bribe the devil into closing down his shop to get it changed.
Needless to say, it was a good enough reason and why I'm not posting on another forum. LOL

Understand the troubles but one thing that puts an edge above on a good number of us here, it's a 4spd. Mach 1. Have fun!

 

[California 72]

I think you might find the combination of your T5's 3.3ish 1st gear and your 3.5:1 rear end make your first gear pretty short. Like coming from a stop sign, you're shifting into 2nd gear before your back tires even cross over the white line. Thats pretty close to how my 1969 mustang is setup.

Its a tad silly. But at the same time, its impossible to drive that car without getting a big grin across your face.

If you want to make it a little bit more like a street car, they do sell rebuild kits that let you use the gear ratios from like the 83-84 T5 transmissions, but in a world class T5 like yours. They can handle up to like 450HP and not be quite so silly with 1st gear being that short. Those sets of gears give you almost the same ratios you can get in the new TKX transmissions, which make more sense for rear end radios like yours.

I'd stick with the "Granny Gear". Since it's also only 1st that winds it up quickly (as in clock and not air movement), I'm for keeping the rear-end what it is.
Either way it's work and with the rear, smelly. It's nicknamed "a pig" for a good reason.
Anyhow, think of the hole shots on a Friday night cruise and grabbing a car length off the start to shut the "other than Mustang owners" down quickly.

Edit: If you do change it out, I'll swap ya my 2. center section for yours. Only trouble is packing and shipping to or from the right coast might be almost as costly as a new gear and the setup time.

 

[351mach1]

Hope your DMV is more title friendly than here in Virginia. Had an opportunity to get a '65 Fastback in decent condition, just a flood salvage. Anyhow, it was to be part of a settlement we won in a small claims court suit we filed against the restoration shop we sent our '66 F100 to because of work I couldn't do without a garage.

They gave me the registration and said I'm good to go. The title doesn't come in for a month or so, so fingers crossed California doesn't put up a stink! A somewhat comical, not funny mistake they made; when I picked up the registration it said "Chevy Mustang". Didn't know they made those. I am supposed to get a corrected registration today. Maybe I should have left it a unicorn...

Edit: If you do change it out, I'll swap ya my 2. center section for yours. Only trouble is packing and shipping to or from the right coast might be almost as costly as a new gear and the setup time.

I'll keep ya in mind. I think I am going to swap the trans in (when the budget allows) and drive it a bit to see how I like it. Then I will decide if the rear end needs to be changed. Thanks for the offer!

 

[California 72]

They gave me the registration and said I'm good to go. The title doesn't come in for a month or so, so fingers crossed California doesn't put up a stink! A somewhat comical, not funny mistake they made; when I picked up the registration it said "Chevy Mustang". Didn't know they made those. I am supposed to get a corrected registration today. Maybe I should have left it a unicorn...

That's amazingly good fortune. I've seen some salvage title nightmares with a couple friends. We are NOT a GM family so, that is funny but also horrific at the same time. Although, I've always liked the looks of the old Firebirds with a hard stop at '73.