Identify this "Ford" transmission

Hey guys,

My friend Bruce has a carb fed Ford Ranger engien that he is installing in a Hillman Husky. With the engine came a manual transmission that he is unsure if it is a 4, or 5-speed, and it is also missing the shifter tower, and shifter. He read in the FSM that it is either a Mazda or Mitsubishi transmission. He brought it over tonight and man did it look almost exactly like my RX-7 transmissions. I would bet my life it started life as a Mazda design. He is looking for the shifter tower, and shifter for it. Can you guys help him out?

The transmission has a sticker that says E47A GA.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Chris

It's a 4 spd and it came in 83/84 rangers. Not sure what else, but it seems to cross to the Mitsubishi trans.

yeah its the mitsu trans and hard to find parts for,is the motor a 2.9 by chance?

No idea what size the motor is.

2.3 litre I have been told.

Any chance he will be able to find the shifter tower and shifter?

Chris

According to this page, it's a Toyo Kogyo, i.e. Mazda transmission. I seem to recall from my Ford daze the shifter towers were a molded plastic piece and broke with some regularity.

http://www.drivetrain.com/parts_catalog/manual_transmission/what_ford_manual_transmission_is_in_my_vehicle.html

If it's definitely the Mazda box, it might be possible to adapt a 81-up RX7 or maybe a Miata shift tower fairly easily. If nothing else, it may be possible to swap the front half of his trans (i.e. the 'bellhousing') to a Miata or similar transmission. That's how we rotards use Miata transmissions behind rotaries.

Another possibility: the same type box was used in the Mazda pickups of the era such as the B2200, B2600 etc. Might be able to use the rear housing off one of those. I seem to recall GRM's RoSpit shifter was done that way, they used a B2200 tailshaft housing and associated mechanism to move the shifter forward.

If the engine is a 2.3L OHC Ford then you could also convert it over to a T5 trans. Better trans, stronger, and easy to find parts for. The shifter tower is also available in many styles. Some cars had a forward position and some near the back of the tail housing. There are some ultra short tail housings available as well if you need the space to make the drive shaft longer.

The only reason to stay with the present trans is cost since your friend already has it.

The Mitsubishi trans has a flat bolted on pan.

If it has a carb and did in fact come from a ranger, it will be a 2.0, which is identical to a 2.3. The difference is bore size.

Go to the tech section over at therangerstation.com. They have a good photo id section.

I think that we now know just what it is, still looking for the shifter/mounting plate/tower for it. Much harder to find that we thought. No luck in the local junk yard(s), no luck on the internet either so far.

The aftermarket shifters all seem to be for a five speed and cost as much as a complete used transmission.

Who knew that a Ranger/Bronco parts would be rare ? ! ? ! ?