so i got my 2.3 c4 bell housing, now what?

robbo1987*2.3*

Founding Member
Apr 22, 2002
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varina, va
I want to put the c4 in my 87 coupe that has the turbo swap, what all do I need? I think my crossmember and driveshaft will work( car is currently a t5 5 speed) what year tranny should I be searching for? how are the as far as stock trannies go? should I go all out and do a manual valve body and yadda yadda? I don't know much about automatics but my 88 thunderbird turbo coupe pooped the a4ld out of it and I want to take the 5 speed stuff out of the mustang and put it in the turbocoupe and make the mustang a c4 car.............. side note, will the manual pedals out of the mustang bolt up and work in the thunderbird?? I hate hydraulic cluthes lol
 
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As you know, the A4ld is a ticking time bomb with anything more than about 180-200 hp a the crank. At least I killed two or three of them that way.

Yup, your T5 cross member and driveshaft should work. You'll need a C4 trans, bell housing, torque converter and flex plate. Your T5 would have a block plate, right? If not, you'll need one of those too. You can buy a stock replacement converter. Do a search over at turboford to find the right part number. You'll want a converter with the 2500 rpm stall (if you aren't having one custom made for an even higher stall). You should to add a vacuum line to the modulator valve so it knows how to shift automatically, but a check valve with a small bleed hole after that would protect the modulator valve from seeing boost (and breaking the seal on the valve). That happen to me a few times, but that was closer to 20psi. You may also want to add a kickdown cable, but I never did.

As for which trans, any case fill transmission should work well. There were lots and lots of cars that came with this trans. I suggest a V8 car as they supposedly got an extra clutch? and better servos? Something was different anyway. I would just suggest a simple shift kit. That will make the shifts quicker and more firm and allow the trans to hold more power. With a shift kit, an otherwise stock C4 will hold 300 rwhp all day long, year after year. That's what I ran in my 88 mustang.... rebuilt C4 with a shift kit and stock converter. I sprayed it off the line too many times to count, and went quick as 1.6 60' times, on to 12.2's at~110mph.