I've got a customer wanting to install a T5 in his Ute. He thinks that the X member will interfere with the U joint ect. Its a little difficult for me to tell him much since I'm 6000 miles away.

It appears that the Ute uses a frame similar to a Victoria.

Any answers to his questions?

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

John, i can tell you that when fitting C4 or Toploader 4 speed in a ute chassis which is a Sunliner convertible chassis with big X member, that because the replacement trans are shorter than orig trans and the uni joint is further forward, that the tailshaft will rub on X Member when the car is jacked up and diff and tailshaft hang down, just a matter of triming some of the central part of xmember. I think the T5 is longer but guy should compare length of T5 to orig trans length and may be ok. regards bill. 

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

John,

I haven't installed a T5 but as Bill stated the Australian Mainline uses the same Chassis as the convertible chassis. A transmission update is high on my want list and plan on either a T5 or an AOD.

The X member could be a deciding factor. Australia uses the same three speed gearbox that the US does I have seen ford-o-matics in some mainlines as well. The three speed uses a complicated linkage that attaches to the bottom of the box to convert it from left to right hand drive. There is a later version of this transmission that has the inspection cover and selectors on the right. 

From memory the transmission mounts to the front of the X member with a very short mount.

I don't know how hands on your customer is but I am currently rebuilding a three speed for my ute. As life keeps getting in the way of what I want to do , it may be a few weeks until I get under to replace the munted one that's there. If you require pictures I can drag a camera along.

I'll ask as I was looking at your site not so long ago. Will you be providing your Australian Customer the current or the previous version of your adaptor kit? Right hand drive cars don't need the shifter moved to the left If it's the previous one I may be interested in one too.

Any information that you can provide to installing the T5 or AOD to a convertible chassis would be helpful to me. 

Thanks

Warren

 BTW what chassis do the 57 rancheros use?

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

Warren, similar chassis to the 59 tank fairlane we have here. it was the new suspension style and 9" diff in the 57 .

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Thanks Bill,

Just trying to draw comarision.

That X member has to be one of the greatest pieces of over engineering ever

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

I am running my ute with a three speed toploader which was originally fitted to a 1969 Ozzie Falcon Ute - I believe that the box was originally sourced from mustangs of the same period. Bolted straight up behind the original bellhousing with no modification, though I think I had to cut about 3/8" off the input shaft pilot. Speedo was a no brained, just fitted the late model gearbox connection to the original speedo cable.

As Bill said it is tight between the tailshaft and the x member and the tailshaft when the car wheels are lifted off the ground, though on my car they have never comeinto contact.

It has been a great conversion.

I still retain the column shift.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!