My Mustang originally came with a C4 automatic transmission, whoopty doo.  After dropping in the 351W, I wanted something more capable of handling the power output, something fun to drive, and something that could get me better gas mileage.  So, I came across the Borg Warner T5.  Perfect.
 
 

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	R
C4	2.46	1.46	1.00			?
T5	2.95	1.99	1.33	1.00	0.68	3.15

    This little table compares the gear ratio's found in the C4 automatic and the Borg Warner  5 spd.  Price for the transmission (came from a 93 Mustang), a late model bellhousing, an early model bellhousing (4 spd), and flywheel, $580.  I purchased a yoke for the transmission from the junk yard for $15.00.

    In my quest for the easiest clutch linkage to apply to the T5, I have come across one idea that I really liked the looks of.  I first considered the mechanical linkage, then I came to my senses.  Next was a cable clutch setup.  Not a bad idea, since the T5 is all ready to handle the cable setup.  But, price was a big negative on that idea.  To get my clutch pedal modified would cost in excess of $300, more than my Mustang cost me.  No go there.  Then I found an article in a Mustang magazine about somebody who made a hydraulic clutch kit for the early model Mustangs.  I had been pondering the idea of a hydraulic linkage for a few months before this article came out, then I knew it was possible.  I would have ordered the kit from the company that was making it, only, it too was over $300.  That's when I hopped into my car and drove to the nearest Pick N' Pull to see what was available.

    I went through every Ford in the yard, and found nothing that looked workable.  So I figured that any clutch system could work, because it would need some modification anyhoo.  I found something that would work, quite well actually, and pulled it.  I pulled the setup from a 1987 Pontiac Fiero, V6.  Now the fun part begins.
 
 

    On the left is the master cylinder and on the right is the slave cylinder (each black spot and each white spot is equal to one inch to get an idea of how large these things are).  The design of this setup is very good for adapting it to the Mustang.  Price, $12.00 for the master, $12.00 for the slave, used.
 

The master cylinder needed to be modified as to where it bolts to the firewall.  The reason: there is almost NO room to bolt anything to the firewall where the clutch hole is located.  One of the holes on the master cylinder needed to be moved closer to the cylinder bore to allow room to bolt up.  The mounting holes on the master were about 45 degrees off of vertical.  The most ideal position would have been vertical, but this was better than having them side by side.

    The clutch pedal to master cylinder pushrod was not going to work, so I had to make a new one.  I used a long bolt and a threaded ball type joint to connect to the pedal.  The head of the bolt was shaped into a dome shape, just like the original pushrod, and it worked great.  Not only is it stronger than the Fiero pushrod, it is adjustable too, something that might come in handy for fine tuning.

    One of the biggest hurdles was the adaptation of the slave cylinder to the transmission.  My original idea was to have a piece of steel plate, about 1/8 inch thick bolted to the transmission-to-bellhousing bolts and then a support piece routed all the way back to an existing hole on the transmission.  But while I was rummaging around the stock yard, I found a hunk of 1/2 inch thick aluminum plate that was just screaming my name, so I got that too.  Took both pieces home, looked them over with my bud Ben (I couldn't have done any of this with out him, thanks Ben), and we decided on using the aluminum.  One reason we decided on the aluminum was the ease of shaping, cutting, and drilling, and the fact that it was half an inch thick meant it did not need that complicated support piece running half the length of the transmission to keep it from bending.
 

In this view you see the bracket as it would look if you were standing in front of the transmission, looking from front to back.  The two big holes, one upper left and the other lower left, are the holes where it bolts down to the transmission-to-bellhousing bolts.  The big hole on the right is where the slave cylinder goes through and bolts to the two smaller holes near by.  All of those smaller holes were there already, small price to pay for a 1/2 inch thick hunk of aluminum.  Price, $6.00, and an evening's worth of work.

    Well, it turned out that the aluminum wasn't going to work.  In order to get the correct angle for the slave cylinder to push on the throwout arm, it would have to be bent or machined at an angle.  So instead we used the 1/8" steel with the reinforcement pieces.  We are now pondering the idea of a Carbon Fiber bracket.  Ben is a Carbon Fiber nut, so we will see what happens with that experiment.

    The trick with getting the system to work properly was to have enough throw in the clutch release arm.  The first try, we used the outer hole, the one that was originally used for the clutch cable.  It worked, but the clutch didn't fully release, so reverse would "crunch" when trying to engage, all the other gears were ok.  So we were close, very close.

    We had two options: find a slave cylinder with a smaller inner bore OR change where the pushrod pushes on the clutch release fork.  Either option would give us the right amount of throw, but moving the pushrod was far easier than finding a new slave cylinder.  So it moved, and it worked.

    The Centerforce clutch and hydraulic clutch linkage are in harmony together.  It drives beautifully.  The dual friction Centerforce is stiff, but it is not tiring because of the ease of the hydraulic linkage.  I have been driving with this setup for a few years now, and I have had ZERO problems with the clutch linkage system and the clutch itself.
 

This is what the clutch master cylinder looks like when installed.  Its a tight fit, but it works.  A clutch master with a remote resovoir would be ideal, but I dealt with what I had.  Maybe some day I will change it over to one, but until then this one works fine.