Yea I move along in spurts. Lots of other stuff going on.

Had a little time today to look at the clutch release bearing between power outages. The original issue of the longer distance between trans and the flywheel is an issue but I can work with it. With all the supplied spacers installed the bearing just touches the pressure plate release fingers when fully extended. There is plenty of depth left to install some more spacers or a one piece spacer of the correct thickness. The bearing came with a new one piece steel input bearing retainer so there is much strength to support the bearing. BTW in case anyone is interested I'm using a Ram Clutches 78130 Throwout bearing. The installation is just mocked up at this point.

Nice. So you have good pilot tip into bearing and enough spline engagement on the clutch disc with the flywheel further away? I know one thing not to do with those concentric slaves is over extension.

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Closely following this thread. Mating a T5 to a M117/m116 seems like a very practical application because of T5 support in the USA.

There is about .75" input shaft into the pilot bearing if I remember without looking back at the thread. The bearing has a positive stop and .8" travel so it would be impossible to over extend it since it is set up with .2" clearance when compressed.

Got the TO bearing pretty much done. I determined a 1/4" thick spacer in the recess at the end of the bell would put the bearing in the .150"-.200" clearance range without using spacers. After some searching I found the correct adaptor to connect the existing slave cylinder line to the -3 AN of the new slave cylinder. A little more work on the remote shifter linkage and the project is done until I can actually install it.

Looking real good.

It all needs to be painted but I'm going to do that after it is sorted out. The only significant detail left is the trans mount. That will have to wait until I can get the trans in car. I will probably go with the T5 mount and adapt it to the existing crossmember at the correct height to obtain proper driveline geometry.

So I am thinking about installing the 325 ft/lb 2.95 1st gearset with a .80 5th in my project T5. Anyone have experience with these? There is a lot of internet support and I have some experience. My trans currently has the weaker wide ratio 3.35 first and I want the stronger close ratio 2.95 1st.

Tony:

Two questions, if you please:
1) What final drive ratios do you have to work with?
2) What is the tag # of the T-5 that you have?

I'm going with the 3.27 I already have. I regret giving up my 3.69. My T5 is a #169 from a 86-89 Mustang. I don't think I'm going to break the transmission but I think the 2.95 with .80 5th will work well. If I stay with the .68 5th my RPM would be like 1750 at 60-crazy low. The .80 would be about 2100 RPM. I think the gear change is well within my comfort level.

Just as a guess Tony, are you making reference to the currently available aftermarket (Chinese) $75. fifth gear pairs that would yield a .80 when used in a trans with a 2.95 first? That gear pair has a tooth count of 32 & 20; the OEM BorgWarner/Tremec pairs had tooth counts of 53 & 33. The new gears make so much noise as to be unusable on the street.
If you really wanted to know how noisy, that 32/20 pair could be installed in your trans and would yield a .92 fifth.
There are OEM pairs of 55 & 31 on the used market; they yield a .83 fifth with a 3.35 first, however the asking price is about $500 for the pair!

Thanks for the input Frank-I'm early in the research aspect. I do believe a shorter (numerically higher) 5th would be more drivable so that's the direction I'm leaning in. It's nice to have some options rather than just using what came with it. I see the "road race" 20/32 set you are referring to. I know the 33/53 set is hard to come by but I I'm early in the process.

I would try it as is. Super low highway gear is what you want. Bang it down to 4th to rip. Hell you can drop to second under 70 mph on a 24.9“ tire(205-55-16/225-50-16). Theoretical top speed is 200mph at under 6000rpm and it will rev to 63-6400+ before valve float.
2.22 In 5th is almost exactly what a 500sl has also. It's a 2.27. a 560sl is 2.47

I think it is going to be what it is-a lower 5th is not in the plan. I can't wait to take it to 200:D
Where I live not much 5 gear driving and even the Interstate is hilly. Probably overthinking the whole thing as usual. I think I would still like the 2.95 1st as with the larger engine the 3.35 will be pretty low. I don't want to blow up the transmission doing burnouts in the Cul-de-sac:D