Hey..... I'm going to make this as detailed as possible, so I can just copy and paste the link any time someone asks this question. It happens alot.
If your planning on "just putting the money for a J-Mod in to a manual conversion" Don't. Your going to spend ALOT more that on a conversion. I'll make a list of what I had to do, and post a few pictures afterwards, and then me and joey can go over it and make a "how to" for the technical page.
List of Parts
Manual tranny:
T45 (96-2000 4.6 mustang)
3650 (2005 mustang)
T-56 (03-04 cobras)
The T45 is what I went with because it was cheap, and there are ALOT availible. I wish I would have went with either the stronger 3650, or just put the T56 I have sitting for my 95. The syncros and input shaft bearing are weak in the 45, and mine is making a hell of a racket. I say only use the 05+ 3650 because it is already designed for a remote mount shifter and needs minimal fabrication to fit the Marks.
Both the T45 and T56 need extensive mods to the shifter linkage and housing to extend them back to fit the stock hole in the console. This includes TIG welding a new housing on the back of the tranny, and welding a new shifter rail to fit. Pics will be posted at the bottom of this. If I were going to do this, I would use the t56 as it has the taller overdrive gear, and can support 4.56 or higher gears and still have a low cruise RPM.
Clutch
The clutch is kind of up to you. I went with a McLeod unit, with a McLeod billet steel flywheel. I DO NOT recommend an aluminum wheel as the mark is a heavy car, and needs the added inerta to get the car moving from a stop. (this is really nice to have in a tight manuvering situation, like in a parking lot).
The release mechanism has different options also. I went with an external "push" style Slave cylinder and a willwood 5/8's inch master. The cluch pedal is out of a 94 thunderbird supercoupe, and had to be modified to fit the mark. I also had to have an adapter machined out of aluminum to fit the willwood M/C to the stock pedal. Pic of that comming up also. Another way is to use the same master setup, but use a McLeod slave cylinder/T.O. bearing assymbly. This cuts down on required fabrication, but costs alot more. I have thought about using a stock mustang cable actuated clutch, but decided aginst it.
ECM relocation
To fit the clutch pedal in, you have to move the ECM out from under the dash. I chose to mount it under the drivers seat, but am regretting it now. My 95 will get is ECM moved to the back electronics rack in the trunk. ALOT safer back there than under a seat that moves back and forth everytime someone gets in. The wiring harness has to be extended to reach to the new location, and for mine, required 850 feet of 18 gauge wire, 130 solder joints, and a few 25 pin D-Sub connector pairs. Pics also. (This is the most time consuming part of the job, except waiting for that beautiful new MMX driveshaft.)
Driveshaft
Which brings us to the driveshaft..... It has to be 1" shorter than the mark shaft. You are better off to spend the money now and get the good shaft because you will be kicking yourself in the ass once you get steeper gears. I paid 525 with shipping for mine, and have NO trouble with vibration or any other common MarkVIII driveline complaint.
Odds & Ends....
My shifter right now is a stock ford unit with a regulation size cue ball drilled and tapped to fit. (M12x1.75) The shift boot is out of a 97 camaro that my buddy did'nt need anymore so I swiped it from him. Your going to have to wire a clutch safety switch in to the starter circuit to keep unknowing people from wrecking the frontend. Believe me, a stock starter will pull a 4000 pound car pretty quickly. I found out the hard way.
If you go with a T45 you should go with an older unit. in 2000 they updated the tailshaft to use a magnetic VSS, and the stock gen1 ecm can not read it correctly. Dallas mustang has a calibration box that will correct this, but it's 100 bucks. No need to buy it if you get the older tranny with the gear driven VSS, it will hookup fine. Your cross member will need to be modified slightly but thats nothing if you've come this far. It takes about 5 minutes to do everything needed to make it fit.
