Buying a new 5L

[Norm Peterson]

those who say an auto isnt fun are lying to themselves.. my auto is a blast to drive and just as much if not more fun then a manual.

I can understand how you might feel that way, but some of us are just wired differently when it comes to transmission choice.

Try to understand that there are people who do not find fun in a device that insists on shifting at slightly different times and even into different gears than they would by their own free choice. Constantly bickering with some control module over what the tranny itself should be doing is not enjoyable. Just annoying. I'd be lying to myself if I said I was ready to let somebody else's thoughts on shifting take the place of mine, and this absolutely does include daily driving. Hell, I'd be lying to myself if I said that I could even live with that at all.

I'd only be kidding myself if I tried to take credit for an automatic's ability to make quicker shifts than I ever could, because it wouldn't be me getting better (more like me giving up on part of myself).

I won't race for money and don't dragrace anyway, so the the handful of missed shifts a year (yes, they still happen if I get too sloppy) only means that after 47+ years there is still room for improvement on my part. I'm not only OK with that, I'd rather have that incentive to keep trying to get better than turn slacker and let the contraption's shift programming do its thing for me.

BTW, in that 47+ years, I've never had an occasion where "the clutch pedal stuck to the floor". Doubt that I ever will.


Norm

 

[302]

BTW, in that 47+ years, I've never had an occasion where "the clutch pedal stuck to the floor". Doubt that I ever will.


Norm

Yea, well times and things do change. Check out this TSB:

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=647369&postcount=1

Happened to me a few times before I had the TSB performed.

 

[VTXFrank]

Thanks for the input guys.

How much power cam these 5L's hold before grenading?

There are shop cars pushing 700hp on the stock engine and MT-82 trans who drag their cars all the time. Personally, I'm thinking 9psi and 650 would be safe. But so far, I don't think I've heard of anyone popping a 5.0L due to power adders pushing to much HP.

I LOVE my 6M trans. To me, the exhaust sounds so much sweeter on a manual car than an auto. Plus, I LOVE rowing my own gears. I even have weakness issues on my left side that cause me to have to put extra effort into clutching, even considered a swap to an auto. But then I drove my baby again and just couldn't imagine her with an auto.

 

[*JZ*]

I love my 6R80 Automatic transmission. Best auto Ford has ever used.

Even 100% stock that thing will out shift a manual any day of the week. They are so quick, it's no even funny. Then you throw a tune in the mix and they are just INCREDIBLE!!!!

 

[2012GT]

I've been a manual guy my whole life. I got a Lentech AOD in my 93 notch and I have been a believer ever since. Tuned Autos are nasty and bullet proof. I wouldn't own a manual unless I was a road racer and if that was the case I'd get a Z06.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Yea, well times and things do change. Check out this TSB:

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=647369&postcount=1

Happened to me a few times before I had the TSB performed.

Not saying it couldn't happen, only that it's never happened to me.

This problem was originally more of a GM problem back when they first went to the diaphragm style pressure plate back in the 1960's, but I never had trouble with the OE or any replacement on my '79 Malibu.

Didn't even have it happen with the OE diaphragm clutch on an early Pinto all the way up to 7700 rpm or so, or the '95 Mazda 626/V6 to 7500.


John - if I was to take up drag racing I know that I'd have to go with the automatic for at least two other reasons besides the one about the quicker shifting. But catering to any or all of those reasons would not (for me) make an automatic the least bit fun to drive anywhere except between the tree and the traps.

I really would rather drive a 16 second MT car than a 12 second AT car. Fun to drive and involvement in the details are that important to me.


Norm

 

[LTHLCHRG]

RAF just buy it they are awesome,but if you want to drag race it get the auto

 

[millertime]

so i know we havent heard any motors letting go cause of power but is there any cases of transmissions letting go whether it is auto or manual? has anyone found the power limit a stock tranny is capable of holding?

 

[MUSTANG GUY]

Good advice guys. Thanks
I would like the auto because I realize it is much more efficient at the track and better numbers can me accomplished but I don't go tothe track more often than a few times a year and after test driving both an auto and manual I found the auto extremely boring. I could imagine it would feel ether after some mods but I still would like to be able to shift some gears. At this point its still a toss up but I'm leaning a little more towards a manual car.
I'm glad to hear the motors are fairly strong. I'd hate to switch from a bulletproof termi to something that would explode after a few bolt ons.

Lastly, do most of you guy have problems with erring warranty work done after a few simple mods like tune, exhaust and cai?

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

Good advice guys. Thanks
I would like the auto because I realize it is much more efficient at the track and better numbers can me accomplished but I don't go tothe track more often than a few times a year and after test driving both an auto and manual I found the auto extremely boring. I could imagine it would feel ether after some mods but I still would like to be able to shift some gears. At this point its still a toss up but I'm leaning a little more towards a manual car.
I'm glad to hear the motors are fairly strong. I'd hate to switch from a bulletproof termi to something that would explode after a few bolt ons.

Lastly, do most of you guy have problems with erring warranty work done after a few simple mods like tune, exhaust and cai?

The simple answer to these cars and warranty is yes its a problem if you mod. Id find the tsb Ford issued but im on my phone. its in the tsb thread.

 

[MUSTANG GUY]

Right. I heard of guys getting warranty work with blowers on meanwhile some get the boot with just a set of rims on

 

[JEWC_Motorsports]

It all depends on your relationship with the service manager.

 

[Full_Tilt]

My M6 hasnt given me a lick of trouble. It shifts rough when its cold, but if youre just patient and dont force it into gear, its fine. When its cold outside Ill double clutch it until the trans warms up just to be extra nice to it.

I have a theory that many broken transmissions are the result of people who cannot deal with a temperamental transmission and constantly force it into gear like a retarded gorilla.

 

[tjm73]

If you think an automatic is a "slush box" and wishy-washy on it's operation, you haven't driven or ridden in a car with a properly setup automatic. A properly setup auto will destroy a stick in every use except maybe road racing...and I would bet a paddle shifted manual/auto would destroy their too.

If Ford puts a 6 speed auto in the next gen Mustang with a paddle shifter manual shift mode, I suspect we will see many autos killing stick shift cars.

 

[TimMcc]

I have had warranty work with the whipple on my car, just a matter of who you know I guess.

 

[Norm Peterson]

If you think an automatic is a "slush box" and wishy-washy on it's operation, you haven't driven or ridden in a car with a properly setup automatic. A properly setup auto will destroy a stick in every use except maybe road racing...and I would bet a paddle shifted manual/auto would destroy their too.

They'll be fine on the upshift, though even that will depend on how harshly it accomplishes the shifts. Downshifting is another matter entirely, as is the number of gears to drop down which I guarantee won't always match my intentions. No programmer on earth is going to be able to anticipate the level of enthusiasm that I might have in mind at any given instant.

I've owned what you would call a slushbox - a mid-1950's 4-speed automatic that used a 2-element fluid coupling instead of a three-element torque converter. No stall ratio, just a sort of granny-gear 1st and mostly just engine noise until you got it moving. So I know how far automatics have come over the length of time since they were an oddity at the dragstrip. By the late 1960's, I could see the writing on the wall as far as the majority of drag racing was concerned.

But it didn't quite fit me then, and doesn't at all now.

I'd really rather not get very far into a paddle shifter discussion. It's still a sequential device that puts control over the actual powertrain engagement under electronic rather than human control. Most reports so far aren't all that complimentary with respect to part throttle manual gear selection operation. You'll save a fraction of a second here and another fraction there, which is meaningless in normal driving, most autocrossing, and virtually all HPDE/open tracking. If that covers all of the driving you ever expect to do, there is no benefit. I left "having it as a bragging point" out intentionally, because I honestly couldn't care less about that sort of thing.


Norm

 

[stang1971]

actually i can control how far my auto downshifts. 1/4 or more will go 1 gear down and half or more will go 2 gears down. very predictable. i am just saying for me, the auto has been perfect... drag racing wise

 

[5PointOHNO]

Was making 590RWHP and now over 600WHP with the Boss intake - 6M - still OK with my April 10 build date. Running 7.5-8.5PSI.

I did have the pressure plate issue a while ago, but it was easily addressed.

Raf, despite me having the 6M (and loving it), there is just no stacking up to the automatic for drag racing. These transmissions are unreal to be in the 9's (or better) with nothing more than a converter.

 

[Norm Peterson]

actually i can control how far my auto downshifts. 1/4 or more will go 1 gear down and half or more will go 2 gears down. very predictable. i am just saying for me, the auto has been perfect... drag racing wise

I guess that would work well enough if your driving tends to be laid back in the turns everywhere and balls-to-the-wall hard in any or all straight lines.

It's when you want just a little more throttle in whatever gear you're in without triggering an unwanted/unnecessary downshift that you start to appreciate full separation between the engine and transmission controls. You don't need to be running laps at the local road course to run into this situation.


Norm