VT_Maverick's 5 Speed Swap

[Buffy]

So, if an AR-15 shoots 5.56 and an AR-10 shoots 7.62x51, then what the hell would an AR-5 shoot?

Hmmmmmm .223????? 22-20???

[Etfren]

Thanks for bumping this Eternal, reminded me I had a question for Mav.

What RPM are you running at at 60 and 70 MPH? Curious about some stuff on my rig and you are the only other person with a 5-speed to compare too. Glad you made it out to Moab, it was cool to see your setup in person.

[vt_maverick]

Checked last night and 60 MPH was about 2300-2400 and 70 MPH was roughly 2700-2800. IIRC from the trip 80 MPH was 3100-3200. How does that compare?

[Etfren]

Checked last night and 60 MPH was about 2300-2400 and 70 MPH was roughly 2700-2800. IIRC from the trip 80 MPH was 3100-3200. How does that compare?

Awesome, thanks for checking.

I spent most of my drive with the cruise set at 60 on the speedo, but thanks to my 35's, my GPS said I was doing 72 MPH. I was right on 2500 RPM.

[89Vette]

Awesome, thanks for checking.

I spent most of my drive with the cruise set at 60 on the speedo, but thanks to my 35's, my GPS said I was doing 72 MPH. I was right on 2500 RPM.

Bigger tires would lower the torque rating at the rear wheels. IOW, making it feel a hair less powerful. Plus, we've yet to see anyone report an improvement in MPG from larger tires. Looks and traction are cool though!

[89Vette]

Checked last night and 60 MPH was about 2300-2400 and 70 MPH was roughly 2700-2800. IIRC from the trip 80 MPH was 3100-3200. How does that compare?

Pretty darn close to stock. IIRC, the 5th gear is the same as 4th in the stock automatic. So, it stands to reason there won't be any difference on the hwy.

[vt_maverick]

Pretty darn close to stock. IIRC, the 5th gear is the same as 4th in the stock automatic. So, it stands to reason there won't be any difference on the hwy.

Yeah I've come to realize that there aren't serious MPG gains with the AR-5 in highway driving. But the fun-to-drive factor and (hopefully) better reliability still make it well worth it IMHO.

[Ldub]

On 35's with 4:77's...(All values in 4th, TC locked)

55=2k

68ish=2.5k

Pulling trailer, 13.47 mpg best recorded on Moab excursion.

[Etfren]

Bigger tires would lower the torque rating at the rear wheels. IOW, making it feel a hair less powerful. Plus, we've yet to see anyone report an improvement in MPG from larger tires. Looks and traction are cool though!

Oh yeah, it accelerates way slower than it did on stock size tires due to the extra weight and change in the gearing. Mileage wise, I only ran about one full tank through it on stock tires and got 16 MPG. I've been getting the same 16 MPG average with the 35's so far.

On my trip to Moab most of my tanks I got 16 MPG as well. The best I got was one tank of 20 MPG, which was the last tank coming into Moab. I think it was 'cause I was driving a bit slower coming down Hwy 6 and I had the TOD off. I left the TOD off the whole way home and didn't notice any mileage difference.

Yeah I've come to realize that there aren't serious MPG gains with the AR-5 in highway driving. But the fun-to-drive factor and (hopefully) better reliability still make it well worth it IMHO.

Doesn't seem to be. I wish we could get a 6-speed with a super low 1st gear for crawling and a nice long 6th gear for highway cruising. The fun to drive factor is certainly a nice feature of the 5-speed though.

[VXorado]

I drove the 5 speed in Moab and the 3.5L-AR5-TOD work really great together. I'm very surprised Isuzu didn't add the option when they put the VX into production.

I'm waiting for my 4l30e to show some signs of failure... then the 5 speed swap will be at the top of my list.

[eternal21]

Buffy, I'm wondering if you could answer a question for me. I'm in the midst of my swap, and I had a question about the brake pedal assembly.





In the top picture, you have them displayed side by side, with the Vehicross pedal on the right, the Trooper pedal on the left. When I pulled the brake pedal bracket assembly there is a noticeable size difference, as well as a the bolt holes along the top not matching up. Obviously you got the Trooper pedal assembly inside. Did you a) disassemble the bracket assembly and just take the pedal arms, or did you b) somehow mate the entire pedal assembly in there by re-drilling the mating holes?

[tom4bren]

I didn't see where anyone had started a document on this mod so I took a cut at it. It only contains info in this thread & I think that Buffy had a lot of stuff he wanted to add to it. I still need to clean it up IRT layout & stuff but it's worthless to do that until all of the content is in there.

Word file is too large to post here. The attachment is a low res pdf so don't worry about the image quality for now (just the content). Y'all can just email me stuff you want added or I can try to find a FTP to post it to for all to access.

BTW, I'm missing some pix on page 34. If anyone has them, lemme know.

[tom4bren]

Hopefully sending the Word file to Buffy today so fingers crossed that a full write up will be forthcoming soon.

[bartmanS4]

Hey Tom,
I've got some more information that should go into this since I just did the swap.
1. The fuel lines from the Trooper will work. The VX connections are different towards the engine but just cut the rubber line before the connectors and install the same way they are on the Trooper with hose clamps.

2. Cruise control needs a constant 12v to go to pin 12 of connector B-9 at the cruise control module interrupted by the clutch switch. This can be done at either the CC module itself which is located behind the kick panel on the passenger side. This can be done by running two wires under and behind the dash splicing into pin 1 and 12 of B-9 and connecting to the lower of the two clutch switches. This is how I did it but it was tougher to do than I expected. Or you can run the wires from the clutch switch out of the firewall and down to the mode switch connector M-25 pins 5 (D) 12v and 7 (B) cruise.

3. Pins 1 & 4 of M-25 need to be shorted to start the car. I shorted them directly at the M-25 mode switch. The downside of this is the car can be started when the trans is in gear and the clutch is not depressed. No big deal to me but some people might not want that. To avoid this run these back through the upper clutch switch for starter interlock i.e. car can only be started with the clutch pedal depressed. Pins 1 & 4 are the two thick wires on that connector. Because I didn't do it this way I didn't need to run any wiring through the firewall.

4. Brake pedal doesn't have to be changed but it is too close to the clutch pedal in it's current state. I cut mine down to the size of the clutch pedal with a cutting wheel and now there is no clearance issues.

5. The only electrical connection that needs to go to the 5 spd tranny is for the reverse lamp. This goes from M-25 pin 5 (D) 12v and pin 2 (F) to the blue two pin connector on the tranny.

6. The shift indicator controller box can be removed. This is the small plastic box that is right above the alarm/keyless entry module in this picture.

7. Remove the A/T lamp from the instrument cluster to get rid of the shift light.

8. Try fitting the console over the shifter and running through the gears before doing any trimming as you may not need to do any at all.

That's all I can think of right now.

[tom4bren]

Thanks. I added it to the file. I was about to send the Word file to Buffy on a CD. I'll burn a fresh copy with this added info before mailing in case he wants to use any of the info.