The down sides to the Ram/Van 5-speeds like the 3500 and AX-5 & AX-15 are that they have nice truck gear ratios (3.8-4.x:1 first gears), and they're physically large boxes in spite of relatively low torque capacities. Major floor and t-bar X-member surgery WILL be required with those transmissions. However, the architecture of those transmissions is shared across a wide range of other Aisin/Warner boxes, including the ones used in the new Chebby Colorado trucks, and the Solstice/Sky roadster twins, among many others.

You can see how large the trans is, and track the progress that Buschi340 is making on his install of a similar Toyota Supra Turbo transmission in this thread. I'm going to install the same trans, only because I got a better deal on it than any of the T-5's in my area... that said, T-5's can be had for cheap, I've been quoted $3-400 for nice used units at local salvage yards, and some pick-n-pull yards sell them for $75 or so. I think even current V-6 mustangs still use the T-5, so it's a solid, stout, light transmission with a huge amount of aftermarket support. I think there will still be some cutting involved on the t-bar X-member, though. Seems that there just isn't much you can do about hacking up an A-body.

Clair