Transmission Install Continued

While the transmission is technically installed, there are several items left to address:
· Install shifter
· Reinstall sill plates and kick panels
· Repair cut exhaust
· Bolt up and connect starter
· Connect parking brake

I started on these projects at about 10 o’clock today and finished up around 3 o’clock. The two difficult jobs were installing the starter and fixing the exhaust.

As I’ve mentioned before, the starter is trapped by the exhaust. I had a hard time balancing it between the exhaust and the flywheel. I thought I had it in place but I did not. It is not high enough. The only way to get it in the correct location is to remove the transmission or remove the exhaust manifold. Considering the options, I removed the exhaust manifold. This was a little difficult but not too bad.

The second difficult part was managing to link back together the two pieces of the exhaust on the passenger side. I had a coupler and two clamps. The rear section of the exhaust is welded directly to the car. I had to bend the mounting bracket to move the exhaust tub back to fit it into the coupler. I cut a little off the tube, installed it in the coupler, and then had a very hard time bending the mounting bracket back so the exhaust would slide forward.

The rest of the job was not bad at all. Once I was done, I cleaned up the interior and exterior of the Mustang. It was incredibly dirty from stripping the undercarriage. I started the car on the jack stands to set the clutch linkage and to make sure the clutch would engage. Since all was well, I took the car off the jacks.

I was not able to drive the Mustang until later tonight because of rain. When I drove it around, it drove nicely. It seems smoother and quieter than before (especially at highway speeds). The clutch is about as stiff as stock if not a little easier to press. There is about a 1-1.5” zone between starting to engage and fully engaged. The old parts were so worn it was about a 2.5-3” zone for the clutch to fully engage.

The only odd thing which happened during my test drive was the engine died while backing out of the driveway. I started it back up but it was rather odd that it died for no reason.