How to: 98 5.0 AWD Auto to 5spd M5R2 and 4406 M

[damarble]

Exactly... I envision doing this again in the future... some day I would like an 04+ F150 crew cab with the 5.4 and stick.

I'll raise you one. Wait til the F150 diesel is out and put a stick in it! It will have to be a ZF though.

 

[Nick26]

I'll raise you one. Wait til the F150 diesel is out and put a stick in it! It will have to be a ZF though.

haha good call... yeah i would probably want to put the ZF behind the 5.4 too... the main reason I picked the M5 for this is size.

 

[Nick26]

So I got the transmission bolted up now. This one is a little heavier then the M5R1 for sure so it took a while to line it up with jacks and straps where as the M5R1 I could just bench and stab. I took the extra dowel pin from the trans and put it in the other side since there was no dowel there to hold the block plate up while I tried to line up the tranny. After a while of trying to get it straight I got some 6" bolts of the same thread 7/16"-14 and got one in each side. Then I used some 3" bolts since the bellhousing bolts couldn't reach yet and cranked those as far as I could to pull the trans closer to the engine. Then eventually took out the 6"ers and replaced them with the bellhousing bolts and then did the same with the 3"ers. It was a process and it definitely helped having my half a body lift on there.

I don't think I could ask for any more perfect shifter placement...

And here's a pic of how I mounted the master cylinder. The aftermarket autozone one sticks out a little further then the factory one so i couldn't fit it next to the electrical box so I had to move that plug over a little and put it there.

 

[Nick26]

also it was a tight fit trying to get the tranny up with the shift linkage on it...

I started off hammering the floor board with a sledge but that wasn't enough so I just cut those brackets off the exhaust. There are a ton on there anyway, I don't think these ones were needed, and it gave me more clearance for the reverse bump in the tranny.

 

[Nick26]

So i hit my first non-straight forward thing... the distance from the center of the output shaft to the cross member mounting surface on the 4R70W is about 2 inches shorter then it is on the M5R2. Therefore I needed to take about 2 inches off the cross member. So I took the factory one, cut the top off then cut the top piece out and flattened it. Then just welded it right to the bottom piece. It lined up pretty well, I just had to do a little filler weld in one spot.

 

[Nick26]

So now I have the cross member fully installed and the trans technically fully installed. I hooked up all the hydraulics and filled it with fluid. Unfortunately though it looks like it's going to be a PITA to bleed. I tried doing the bench bleeding before I installed it but apparently it didn't work.

 

[Nick26]

also worked on my shifter some too.. I took the 92 F-150 shifter and cut it right above the wedge joint then angled the rod how I wanted it and flux welded the sucker on there. On top of this I plan to weld about another 4" of the threaded end of a 1/2" bolt with the correct threads for the billet mustang shift knob I picked up.

 

[Cobraguy]

Mad skills!

By the way Nick, you are dead on track with your pressure plate bolts. You MUST use a shouldered bolt if you don't have locating pins. These not only properly keep the plate centered (and thus balanced) on the flywheel, but they give a hardened wear surface. ARP or Mr Gasket should have what you need.

Failure to use a hardened shoulder bolt in this application will allow the plate to 'walk' on the flywheel and eventually lead to really ugly things...

 

[Nick26]

haha thanks... the welds could be a little cleaner but I went slow to make sure they really penetrated.

 

[damarble]

I did the exact same thing to my crossmember to lower my transfer case, except I went 1". I was trying to get rid of vibes.

Can I suggest some reinforcing though? It looks really flimsy now. I added some angle iron under the hump to stiffen it up, I can post a pic if you like.

 

[Nick26]

Can I suggest some reinforcing though? It looks really flimsy now. I added some angle iron under the hump to stiffen it up, I can post a pic if you like.

Sure... I'd like to see that, thanks.

It looks a little thin in one of the pictures but it is not really flat, there is still a little lip and a buckle before it gets to the mounting surface, kind of like a dimple. I stood on and it seemed pretty strong, not to mention how tightly it's bolted into the frame I wouldn't expect it to wrap or anything. If I run into problems it's easy enough to pull it out and make a new one or re-enforce this one.

 

[damarble]

Not the best pic but you get the idea. It may never fail the way you have it but I figured I would at least put back as much vertical material as I had removed.

 

[Nick26]

I guess this is where the fun starts...
So the tranny is in and filled up, starter is on, I uploaded the tune file from Bama Chips and I tried to start it but all I get is a click. I tried another battery that I know is good and same thing. I tapped on the starter, same thing. I'm wondering if the starter may have gone bad, even though the battery was disconnected the whole time, so i doubt that. I am kind of annoyed with this Matt guy at Bama Chips... when I was emailing him about what I wanted they usually got back to me within a day or 2, which is slow but acceptable. But now that I actually paid them and bought a tune, I emailed him a week and a half ago to confirm this tune removed the auto tranny stuff so I could get it to run and he still hasn't replied.

So I could start by taking off the starter and taking it to autozone to see if it's still good..

Otherwise does anybody know what might be preventing the computer from letting it start? The column shifter was left in the park position in case that matters.

 

[Nick26]

According to my haynes manual there was only a neutral safety switch on the 94 and older models. Anybody know how the 95+ trucks know if it's in neutral or not?

 

[Nick26]

Ok so I'm continuing to read... it looks like there is a transmission range sensor and it says the sensor the following...

There should be continuity between pins 1 and 4 in park or neutral
There should be continuity between pins 5 and 8 in neutral
There should be continuity between pins 2 and 3 in reverse

so I suppose I'll try shorting pins 1 and 4 and seeing if that helps.

 

[Nick26]

nope, that didn't do it... more reading...

 

[99SportX]

I was going to suggest the range sensor. Once mine was out of adjustment and I couldn't start the truck in park. I had to move the selector to neutral and it allowed it to start there.

When it happened I instantly thought it was a starter problem but then tried neutral and it worked fine.

It seems that whenever you do any kind of swap on a late model vehicle it is the electronics that really end up slowing things down.

You could just diagnose the starter and starter circuit itself. See if the starter solenoid is getting voltage and check grounds.

When I did my V8 swap I found that the starter terminals were real sensitive and they must be very clean and have good connections. Common sense yes, but when I just hooked them up as is it did not work.

The PCM programming has nothing to do about if it will crank or not. It will just cut ignition and fuel to keep from starting if there is a problem.

I looked at the wiring diagram for the AT starter circuit diagram and the DTR sensor is definitely needed or you will have to bypass it or wire in place of that a clutch switch. Try removing it from your auto trans and hooking it up if the wiring is still there. Maybe you were not shorting the correct pins?

 

[Nick26]

Yeah I'm kicking myself now because I gave the old tranny to a shop yesterday and I didn't take the TRS off. After looking more closely at my plug I don't even have a wire hooked up to pin 1 and there's no contact in there, so I tried shorting pins 5 and 8 but that didn't matter. I am going to call the shop Monday to ask if I can swing by and take the sensor off it, I hope they didn't trash it yet. The dealership wants $80 for a new one. I'm going to look more closely at the schematics and see what exactly happens when it's in neutral.

 

[Lacky01]

 

[downhillpat]

You need to jump pins 10 and 12 on the DTR connector C112. That will signal neutral position. You may also have a PATS problem...