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After researching this conversion for about a few months I realized there wasn't a straight up solid how to with pics available for folks wanting to do this to a 1965/6 Mustang. I wanted to use off the shelf parts to get it done. The good news is that it was a lot easier than I expected and I did it alone in my garage. This is a step by step write up and I'll list all part numbers at the end.
First step was getting it up in the air. I used a 2001 4r70w from a v6 Mustang. Only had 51k on the clock and it had the teeth on the output shaft needed to turn the speedometer gear. Also you can see in the pic that the tail housing is from an 89 mustang AOD. This allows me to used the stronger smaller diameter T-5 driveshaft yoke. It's just a straight up simple bolt on swap for tail housings.
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With the car in the air I removed and discarded the old tri-y headers as they would not fit the new 4r70w. Also I pulled the starter. The stock 1965 manual transmission starter was completely reusable for this swap.
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Next I drained the T-5 and got it ready to drop.
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With the T-5 out of the way I pulled the bell housing, clutch, flywheel, starter index plate, pilot bearing from the crank, and in my application, the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder.
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With all the T-5 stuff out of the way, I moved on to the shifter. I used a stock 2001 mustang v6 shifter and it fit perfectly with only some minor trimming to the cable bracket on the shifter.
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In this pic you can see that I slightly trimmed the cable bracket for clearance. If you are using this shifter, you will know what to trim with a basic test fit in your own car.
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Here it is installed from underneath and from inside the car. Damn near fit as if it were designed for the car.
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Next I used a 50oz 164 tooth flexplate for a 1990 mustang 5.0 AOD transmission. Fit perfectly and I also used new flexplate mounting bolts torqued to spec. Don't forget to put the starter index plate on before the damn flex plate like I did unless you like doing work twice. The index plate I used was a 1990 mustang 5.0 AOD aluminum reproduction from CJ Pony parts.
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Next I strapped the tranny onto the scissor transmission jack that I got off eBay and rolled it into place. But before I didn't that, I installed the stock v6 mustang torque converter into the tranny. Make sure to put a quart of new fluid into the converter before putting it on the tranny. Also, make sure you fully seat it on to the input shafts completely. You will feel a series of clicks as it seats on the shafts. As you line the transmission up to the back of the motor, be sure that when your torque converter studs go through the flex plate holes that nothing is binding and that you can slightly wiggle the converter. That way you will know you are all the way on the input shafts fully. Install your trans bell housing bolts to the engine. I used reproduction AOD bolts from latemodel restoration and I also used their AOD torque converter hardware for AOD to mount the converter to the flex plate.
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Now here's the mystery that no one on the internet seemed to confirm in my months of research... What crossmember do you use?!? Well if you are using the same transmission as I am from a v6 mustang then just a regular 1965/6 AOD conversion crossmember will work perfectly!!! The only thing I did was enlarge the mounting holes slightly for ease of installation. For the tranny mount, a 1965 stock C4 mount works perfect as well. Also I ground down the rear passenger corner of the trans where the pan mates up simply for clearance to drop the pan in the future.
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Now here is where I found a clearance issue. The tab I'm pointing at is useless to us so I simply cut it off and went on with my life. Before I cut it, it was contacting the trans tunnel.
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Next with the transmission resting on its new AOD crossmember, I torqued the converter bolts to spec.
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When I went to bolt the shifter cable to the transmission I found that the mounting bracket needed to be slightly trimmed to fit. Two seconds with a cut off wheel and it fit like a glove, bolted up perfectly, and went through its gears like it was meant to.
![]()
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First step was getting it up in the air. I used a 2001 4r70w from a v6 Mustang. Only had 51k on the clock and it had the teeth on the output shaft needed to turn the speedometer gear. Also you can see in the pic that the tail housing is from an 89 mustang AOD. This allows me to used the stronger smaller diameter T-5 driveshaft yoke. It's just a straight up simple bolt on swap for tail housings.
With the car in the air I removed and discarded the old tri-y headers as they would not fit the new 4r70w. Also I pulled the starter. The stock 1965 manual transmission starter was completely reusable for this swap.
Next I drained the T-5 and got it ready to drop.
With the T-5 out of the way I pulled the bell housing, clutch, flywheel, starter index plate, pilot bearing from the crank, and in my application, the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder.
With all the T-5 stuff out of the way, I moved on to the shifter. I used a stock 2001 mustang v6 shifter and it fit perfectly with only some minor trimming to the cable bracket on the shifter.
In this pic you can see that I slightly trimmed the cable bracket for clearance. If you are using this shifter, you will know what to trim with a basic test fit in your own car.
Here it is installed from underneath and from inside the car. Damn near fit as if it were designed for the car.
Next I used a 50oz 164 tooth flexplate for a 1990 mustang 5.0 AOD transmission. Fit perfectly and I also used new flexplate mounting bolts torqued to spec. Don't forget to put the starter index plate on before the damn flex plate like I did unless you like doing work twice. The index plate I used was a 1990 mustang 5.0 AOD aluminum reproduction from CJ Pony parts.
Next I strapped the tranny onto the scissor transmission jack that I got off eBay and rolled it into place. But before I didn't that, I installed the stock v6 mustang torque converter into the tranny. Make sure to put a quart of new fluid into the converter before putting it on the tranny. Also, make sure you fully seat it on to the input shafts completely. You will feel a series of clicks as it seats on the shafts. As you line the transmission up to the back of the motor, be sure that when your torque converter studs go through the flex plate holes that nothing is binding and that you can slightly wiggle the converter. That way you will know you are all the way on the input shafts fully. Install your trans bell housing bolts to the engine. I used reproduction AOD bolts from latemodel restoration and I also used their AOD torque converter hardware for AOD to mount the converter to the flex plate.
Now here's the mystery that no one on the internet seemed to confirm in my months of research... What crossmember do you use?!? Well if you are using the same transmission as I am from a v6 mustang then just a regular 1965/6 AOD conversion crossmember will work perfectly!!! The only thing I did was enlarge the mounting holes slightly for ease of installation. For the tranny mount, a 1965 stock C4 mount works perfect as well. Also I ground down the rear passenger corner of the trans where the pan mates up simply for clearance to drop the pan in the future.
Now here is where I found a clearance issue. The tab I'm pointing at is useless to us so I simply cut it off and went on with my life. Before I cut it, it was contacting the trans tunnel.
Next with the transmission resting on its new AOD crossmember, I torqued the converter bolts to spec.
When I went to bolt the shifter cable to the transmission I found that the mounting bracket needed to be slightly trimmed to fit. Two seconds with a cut off wheel and it fit like a glove, bolted up perfectly, and went through its gears like it was meant to.
