The main parts of the T5 swap are done; I've been driving the car around for the last few days. As i was eagerly expecting, the car is a completely different beast.
I had to pull the gearbox out another three times mostly due to my lack of knowledge. Turns out I didn't align the pressure plate on the flywheel correctly (dowel pins had to be deleted for the exedy clutch to work on a Volvo flywheel) and I had some fouling issues where the pressure plate gouged out material from the inside of the bellhousing - i fixed that by grinding material off the part that poked out, and by aligning things correctly.
My bellhousing also has some cracks in it that must have been a result of pulling the gearbox on and off repeatedly (a couple times I used the bellhousing bolts to draw the gearbox in; never again).
I do not have a shifter boot yet, so in the cabin I get a lot of hot air from outside through the shifter hole. The transmission itself is not a quiet one either. The boot will be coming soon once I sort out all the auto wiring and shifter, which are all still inside the cabin.
I was worried that the gearing would be a bit tall with my 3:73 rear end; however with my new Achilles ATR K-sport 225/50r15 semi slicks it isn't too bad; the 4:11 I had waiting to go in might get a little annoying on the highway as right now it sits at APPROX 2400-2500rpm at 100km. To give an idea of the drastic change of tyre size, my speedo now reads nearly 120 when I'm at 100.
The car also now has a loud 2.25 exhaust system (100 cell cat, single straight through muffler), a fantastic Davies Craig e-fan which my mate put in for me, and I've also pulled out the carpet and sound deadening from behind the front row of seats.
An issue I've had with the exhaust system are violent vibrations up at around 4000rpm; i assume that this is because my hurricane extractors are not secured to the bellhousing like the factory exhaust was. Tomorrow or the day after I'll take it back to the exhaust shop to hopefully get a flex joint put in, or another hanger or support closer to the header flange put in.
Coming soon (hopefully) are a cam swap, adj timing gear, timing belt and a lot of adjustments.
Don't worry, the grill is going back in, I've kept forgetting to do it
