Hydraulic Clutch and Mitsubishi F5M51 Transmission swap

[Dirk37]

There's some big things happening with turbosho in the next few months. I've been talking with shomethe$$$ who's successfully adapted a Mitsubishi F5m51 transmission to the sho engine for his Prelude project. He's parting the car and I'm buying his adapter plate and all the parts he has, and am going to be putting one of those transmissions in my car in the next few months. I will document the process in detail so hopefully it can be replicated by anyone interested. The F5M51 trans is rated for 375 ft/lbs of torque, has Wavetrac's available for it, and has rebuild kits available. It can be found in the 00-05 Mitsubishi Eclipses.

I won't get started on the trans swap until I finish my turbobronco project, but I am going to adapt my car to a hydraulic clutch as soon as I get the parts. Shomethe$$$ made a bracket with a slave cylinder for the sho trans he's selling me as well along with a Honda master cylinder and other parts. I'll document that as well. I've had nothing but problems with my cable clutch and this should be a big improvement.

 

[SHOVNST]

 

[shomethe$$$]

I agree hydraulic all the way. Took some pictures, just a few bolts fastened but you see the trans is almost as big as the engine and about 115 lbs.

 

[Shamwow]

This is awesome. Does his swap use the sho clutch? Any idea what is done to the axles?

It looks like the 00-05 gts have pretty favorable ratios

1st ----- 2nd ----- 3rd ----- 4th ----- 5th ----- 6th ----- R --- Final Drive

2000-2003 GT (F5M51-1-F5N2) 5/MT -- 3.333 -- 2.105 -- 1.407 -- 1.031 -- 0.761 -- 0.000 -- 3.416 -- 3.736 2003-2005

GTS (F5M51-1-S5N) 5/MT -- 2.928 -- 1.950 -- 1.407 -- 1.031 -- 0.720 -- 0.000 -- ?.???? -- 4.111

 

[shomethe$$$]

Yes mostly, it does, my picture shows a SHO flywheel, SHO Valeo pressure plate and then a Mitsubishi disc. I talked to Lonnie at ClutchMasters and they can change any clutch hub to suit customers needs. For the axles, you'll have to do some measuring of a few parts but they are about 1/2" difference in length, so mostly just have to change the outer CV's to match the SHO.

 

[Shamwow]

Does it use sho starter?

Some preliminary research shows its the same/similiar guts as w5m51 evo viii (and earlier?) and there is a lot of crossover into factory lsd and several final drive ratios. Not to mention a ton of aftermarket and knowledge.

Would be awesome for our lemons car. Can i have the adapter plate drawing?

 

[shomethe$$$]

Does it use sho starter?

Some preliminary research shows its the same/similiar guts as w5m51 evo viii (and earlier?) and there is a lot of crossover into factory lsd and several final drive ratios. Not to mention a ton of aftermarket and knowledge.

Would be awesome for our lemons car. Can i have the adapter plate drawing?

Sure does, the mounting for the SHO starter isn't much different that the Mitsubishi, the holes just have to be egg shaped a bit. The trans guts are exactly the same for the EVO and F5, back casing is the same part number, the ratio's are slightly different, 5th gear swap from an Eclipse to an EVOVIII is very popular. And obviously the EVO has a AWD center diff. vs. FWD differential for the Eclipse so that is not the same.

As for the drawing, I don't have one, I just welded a jig for the SHO MTX4 transmission dowels. Drilled the rest of the plate to match the SHO engine. Then used a co-axial indicator mounted off the SHO crank and zeroed the Eclipse transmission, then welded dowels in place.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shamwow]

Thanks for the response! Super awesome.

One clarification, my understanding is that the EVO has the front diff is in the transaxle while the center diff (called the transfer case) is a separate unit.

 

[shomethe$$$]

You have it backwards, center differential in the trans controls slip front and rear, although stock is open, Quaife sells a center diff. One set of spiders in the center differential turn a drum assembly in the tcase to send power to the rear coupled through either a active clutch or viscous coupling once front wheels start to slip. So the car is mostly fwd. Other set of spiders in the center diff turn the entire front diff in the transfer case.

Front differential is in the transfer case, its output shaft goes through the center diff. for the left wheel and a small stub shaft from tcase for right wheel. So the tcase houses the front diff, rear power drum assembly and the active system for the rear.

 

[TheCrimsonTurdis]

looking forward to this one!!! Those Transmissions are SO PLENTIFUL!!!

 

[Dirk37]

This project is still on hold until I finish my bronco, but I'm getting close with that finally!

 

[TheCrimsonTurdis]

Oh i totally understand. But you will be doing the whole SHO community a MEGA SOLID when you do get this done and sorted out. We will FINALLY able to really get a BUILT TRANSMISSION.

 

[Dirk37]

I'm slowly getting back to work on this finally. I was looking at taking CV axles apart to make franken axles, and I have not been able to get the outer CV joint off an axle. The inners on the other hand are very easy to remove. I'm hoping the length will be close enough using sho axles with mitsubishi inner joints rather than the other way around.

 

[shomethe$$$]

If I remember correctly the outer does have a c-clip, once that is off you can pull the retainer up and hammer it down which compresses the inner c-clip which knocks it out, you have to use a piece of wood or something otherwise it will damage the ball retainer. I've damaged plenty, usually have to scrap the retainer at this point, basically the whole axle. This usually only happens with new axles, reman still use SHO parts so those should be okay. 28 spline axle bars are very common with Ford.

The other method is cut the axle bar close as you can to the retainer so you can angle the CV which makes all the balls fall out, then it just a matter of move the sliding it out.

 

[Dirk37]

I was reading on some of the offroad forums about getting the outers off and there was one method people said worked the best. First take the inner off, then put the whole assembly in a metal pipe with the outer facing up. The pipe should be slighly smaller than the outer so it sits on the pipe, and longer than the length of the axle. Then you pick the whole thing up and slam it onto the ground and it will pop the outer off.

 

[shomethe$$$]

That works too probably better because even if you knick that part of the ball retainer with a perfect sized pipe it will still be usable.

 

[Shamwow]

Updates?

 

[Dirk37]

Haven't done much lately since everything else has been breaking. Just had to do headgaskets on the SHO and now my Bronco is having problems.