Hydraulic Clutch Setup for a T5?

I'm increasingly unhappy with the stock Z-bar setup in Susie.  I've been half-assedly scrolling through various sites that advertise hydraulic clutch setups for classic Mustangs.  It appears to be a fairly standard setup, the one concern I have is that the bellhousing might not allow an internal slave cylinder so I need to do more research on that.

I'm sure someone has pieced together a hydraulic setup for the Challenge, what sort of issues did you run into?  Did you just pull everything from a donor?

If I go with a full kit, are there any companies to completely run away from?

The 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was the only factory hydraulic clutch setup for a T5 (in a Ford anyway) buy the parts are getting a bit $$$$. 

I used an old NASCAR throw out bearing in my build. It locked on the  pivot arm stud. Cheap on ebay.

The GM version of the T5 used a hydro setup. Mostly on Camaro's.  Their not easy to find but their out there.  It required just changing out the front bearing retainer from the Ford style to the Camaro's and then getting the hydro throw out bearing.

Any clue what year GMs?

Anyone run into an external slave cylinder that uses the fork?

the 85-93 S10 2.5 and 2.8 used a T5 with hydraulic throw out.

Javelin said:

The 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was the only factory hydraulic clutch setup for a T5 (in a Ford anyway) buy the parts are getting a bit $$$$. 

Not true. Early s197 v6 cars have a hydraulic clutch and it's a T5 too. The case carries a different part number than anything previous, but everything that fits in the case is the same.

Ranger50 said:

Javelin said:

The 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was the only factory hydraulic clutch setup for a T5 (in a Ford anyway) buy the parts are getting a bit $$$$. 

Not true. Early s197 v6 cars have a hydraulic clutch and it's a T5 too. The case carries a different part number than anything previous, but everything that fits in the case is the same.

I had no idea that the T5 made it into the S197.

Yup, have one in my 2006. Long throws and almost nobody makes a short shifter for it anymore.

In reply to ddavidv :

Try MGW?

Javelin said:

Ranger50 said:

Javelin said:

The 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was the only factory hydraulic clutch setup for a T5 (in a Ford anyway) buy the parts are getting a bit $$$$. 

Not true. Early s197 v6 cars have a hydraulic clutch and it's a T5 too. The case carries a different part number than anything previous, but everything that fits in the case is the same.

I had no idea that the T5 made it into the S197.

By that time they were calling it the T45 or TR2560 or something like that.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

The 302 miata guys have this handled and after using one of their recipes that involved a Toyota landcruiser  master and a miata slave on the Molvo, I decided that I would do the same for the challenge Volvo 760.

For the 760 I went ahead and used the entire Miata clutch pedal assembly bolted up into the Volvo. Was pretty easy. The 1986 ? Toyota MC is clocked alsmost pervectly to fit on the Miata studs. Bit of file work to sort the spacing. See page 103 on Molvo build.

At the gearbox end there is a very simple bracket fabricated to mount the slave to the box and you need to move the push point on the fork inwards to make for more travel.  Pedal feel is perfect. Cant recall as I took pics cause it was all so obvious at the time.

Pete

Knurled. said:

Javelin said:

Ranger50 said:

Javelin said:

The 87-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was the only factory hydraulic clutch setup for a T5 (in a Ford anyway) buy the parts are getting a bit $$$$. 

Not true. Early s197 v6 cars have a hydraulic clutch and it's a T5 too. The case carries a different part number than anything previous, but everything that fits in the case is the same.

I had no idea that the T5 made it into the S197.

By that time they were calling it the T45 or TR2560 or something like that.

See that's what I thought, and those transmissions are not T5's at all. 

The t45 was a short lived sn95  v8 transmission. The s197 v6 T5 was more or less the original t5.

The PO of my project Mustang put a hydraulic clutch in it. I'm no clutch-y expert but I know he got a Tilton brake master cylinder and put that against the firewall behind the clutch pedal to replace the cable clutch. It's kinda wonky, a lot less so now than it was when he was rushed, but he did say that the bellhousing provided a bit of a hurdle. I also have the trans out, it's going in today (hopefully) after a 5th gear rebuild, so if you think of any pictures you'd like I'll see about getting them for you. (WC T5 behind a modded 4.8L LY2 and SFI bellhousing with too stiff of a clutch)

In reply to NOHOME :

Great info, thanks 

The 1996-02 F-body V6 T5 transmission has a Ford bolt pattern (trans to bellhousing pattern), it might be adaptable for your use. 

81cpcamaro said:

The 1996-02 F-body V6 T5 transmission has a Ford bolt pattern (trans to bellhousing pattern), it might be adaptable for your use. 

It has a longer input shaft, though.  I forget if it's the same length as Ford SN95 V6 or not.

I'm all but convinced that Chevy went to the Ford trans pattern because they were using T56s in the V8 cars and it was cheaper to make their bellhousings Ford pattern than it was to have Borg-Warner make special Chevy castings.  No doubt that Ford also benefited as well.

To the OP:

Which T5 do you have? 28-spline? 10-spline? What motor is it connected to? Chassis?

When I 302 swapped my e36, I ended up using a bracket from one of the mustang hydraulic swap sellers, but I could have made a bracket really easily from angle iron. 

Then I bolted the external slave from the e36 right to that bracket and with a trick little metal bead (a large ball bearing with a hole drilled in it) on the end of the slave pushrod held by a nut, it pushed the t5 throw out arm perfectly. 

Bonus because the master and slave were still matched so hydraulic line and fittings all worked. Lucky because the motion ratio was still good and pedal effort was normal.