Ah, the old "Myth of How All XF Fords Used A NWC T5' rears its head again:
GreenGL Has anyone successfully done a Volvo T5 conversion using a T5 box with extension housing no: 0552-066900?
These are the Non World Class T5 from the Series 3 Ford XF Falcon (Ute/Van only)
Firstly, see [3] above - you must use tag numbers for box identification; you cannot identify what's inside a T5 or what it's out of, by merely looking at any casting numbers on the transmission case components.
Secondly, it is a myth that XF Fords used NWC boxes - that myth even extends to EAs having NWC boxes. WC boxes began production in mid-1985. Oz Ford boxes were WC types before the 6-pot boxes with 3.25:1 first gear and strange BTR innards appeared. Of OZ manufacturers, only Holden used NWC T5 boxes in their cars, pre-VN - specifically, in VK-SS, VK Group A, VL V8, and VL Brock Group A. AFAIK, Ford did use some BW 5-speed gadget in XF before they went to T5 - that was the BW507, the single rail 5-speed, also used in the Sigma. The differences between WC and NWC are shown in [9] above.
There's a 0552-003 / 87DA-7003-AB box in my shed with a 0552-066-900 extension housing (87DA in Ford-speak means EA*).
It is a WC box (as seen by the rusty-looking bearing cap, which hid behind a bellhousing for about 27 years until Friday) with a 1352-85-039 10 spine / 22 tooth needle roller type input shaft.
I haven't pulled this box down completely yet, but I suspect it's the box listed on the US lists under 1352-163; application "BTR". In which case, it uses a 1352-077-050 cluster which has 35 teeth for mating with the input. That 050 cluster is used in 2 other US-type assemblies - 1352-116, and 1352-168 - both of which were not fitted to V8s. There isn't any 22-tooth needle roller input shaft of the necessary dimensions known to be available off the shelf to suit the available Volvo swap kits.
Assemblies 163, 116, and 168 have the following ratios:
1st - 3.50:1 / 2nd - 2.14:1 / 3rd - 1.39:1 / 4th - 1.00:1 / 5th - 0.78:1 / rev - 3.39:1
Which oddly enough matches the advertised ratios in the EA-1....
I measured the 0552-066-900 housing, and also the ex-ED 0552-066-903 as fitted to FrankenBox - they are identical in length. The difference between them? My guess is the 903 housing had space for the tang used on the reverse brake assembly.
It appears the change to 3.25:1 first gear in Ford 6-pot boxes came about when the BTR-made 0552-077-029 cluster and 0552-085-029 needle roller input shaft were introduced (the BTR dealer seminar notes dated August 1994 don't mention this changeover date) and it's known that BTR-made clusters don't mate with US-made V8 input shafts with the same tooth count.
tl;dr? That box was probably never used for a Volvo swap, because off-the-shelf 22-tooth input shafts won't work with the off-the-shelf kits.
As for the future of this 0552-003 box in my shed - it will need a cluster change and some gear swaps before it's useful. The 5th driven gear and 5th drive gear are useful since they're 28 spline. The 1352-671-087 mainshaft is also used in V8 boxes with the needle roller type inputs, and since replacement cost for these is over a grand, it can be reused. An 068 cluster mates up to a 1352-085-025 needle roller input shaft with 23 teeth; these work with the adapter kits. Using a replacement 068 cluster and its associated gears, plus the leftover 5th gearset, means I'll end up with a T5Y.72 gearset, which should rate at least 290 lb ft /100,000 miles (plenty for the B20B 144), and will have the following ratios:
1st - 3.35 / 2nd - 1.99:1 / 3rd - 1.33:1 / 4th - 1.00:1 / 5th - 0.72 / rev - 3.15
Edit: correction noted as * re EA and XF
