Festiva's 5spd tranny, wtf is going on?!?!

[rotinaj13]

I was on highway the other day with my 88 5spd and I have no clue what happened.... I was going 70 in 5th no problem. Traffic started to slow so I went to 4th, well it wouldn't let me into 4th and was trying to grind.. I thought great I lost a syncro or 4th gear. I got off the high way and It grinds in every gear. When u start it in nuetral it sounds horrible. Going through the gears it grinds... I dunno what the hell happened... some one please advise... Thanks!!

[wtfman2]

Did you break the clutch cable???

Clinton

[rotinaj13]

no the clutch still works properly, I truely do not know..... I think it has to do with the input shaft, cause it starts making noise as soon as it starts.. in nuetral with clutch in or out no difference. does it between shifts gets worse when the clutch is not pressed.... I think i am going to pull it tomm. All i need is the info on what all I have to remove to get the room to drop the tranny. Thanks!

[aithanmier]

hmm if you can get it up high enough it's easier to drop it out the bottom, support the engine with a cherry picker and unhook the axles, unbolt the tranny from the engine, I'd pull the charcoal canister if your has it (just to keep from smashing it) you should have enough room to slide it out and tilt it to clear the bell housing. that's what I'd try anyway, to keep from having to pull the distributor, water neck, battery and battery tray, radiator (actually it might be a good idea to pull that anyway just in case).

Is the engine actually changing gears? it could be that the shift gate broke on you, that happened on my aspire, it could be flexing just enough that the gears aren't meshing quite right. if that's the problem good luck, dealer told me that there weren't any available anywhere. he may have just been full of it though.

[FB71]

no, the dealer's right, Ford doesn't stock festy parts anymore. they didn't break often enough to keep parts around. it sound like you might have frozen pilot bushing. this still requires you to pull the tranny off the engine. look at the end of the input shaft where it rides in the back of the crank, make sure its not galled up.

[rotinaj13]

well it was cold here this morning so that took the wind out of my sails on pulling the tranny when I get it out i'll shoot pics of it so you guys can give me an oppinion on it. This is about the last straw with this car any thing and every thing is breaking :-( Oh btw Jim I don't know how much ford used them but can you get any info on a borg warner 3 speed (bw type 35) auto box it is another project. I need to overhual it and find out why reverse and drive are trying to enguage at the same time. Thanks and sorry for jumping topics like that

[FB71]

I don't have any info on the BW autos, Ford never used 'em. But, google for ATSG. That's the auto trans rebuilders organization. I'm sure you could find info through them. And, it definitely sounds like a valve body issue.

[aithanmier]

hey Jim this one is also kinda off topic but since we are talking about trannys, do you know anything about the cobra t-56 tranny? i heard that the shifter box and basically the entire rear of the case is identical to the t-45 5 speed. I was wondering because I'm going to swap one into my 94 cougar, and I will have to relocate the shifter using an box extension, and i know a place that makes one for the t-45, but not for the t-56

[FB71]

I don't have access to one here in Philly, but I do have one in Boston. How soon do you need to know? I'll be in Boston the first two weeks of May, and can check for you then. I assume you're doing something like M5OD R1 that was in the SuperCoupe, and need to bring the shifter further back in the tunnel.

[aithanmier]

yeah that's exactly what i need to do, just bring it back further to line up with the stock center console. it's getting pretty common to swap in the t-45 on the 4.6L mn12's but i don't like the durability problems...just doesn't seem like the t-45 can barely handle a stock 4.6L. with plans for a twin turbo (if anyone ever gets a street worthy tubular k-member) and a stroker kit, I'll need all the strength i can get, and so far i don't believe anyone has put in a t-56 yet. there isn't any rush on it, I've been holding off on even buying the t-56 until I'm sure that the shifter box extension will work, i don't wanna have to try to resell it if it doesn't work out. so just whenever you have a chance would be great and I'd appreciate it! thanks Jim.