Has anyone donr the Tremec TKO tranny swap in a 1970 mustang? I want to do the swap but I am concerned with getting it to fit. I know Keisler makes a "perfect kit" fit for the modification but they are very expensive. The two areas that need to be figured out is the shifter location (the TKO has 8 different locations to pick from) and fabbing a crossmember. The information that I need it the angle of the driveline. Once this is discovered, the crossmember can be made and everything should work without cutting the transmission tunnel. Keisler says with there system, nothing needs to be cut and the driveline angle is original. Am I missing anything? Has anyone done the swap? Thanks.
Tremec TKO in a 1970 Mustang?
- Thread starter wickedmach1
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69gmachine
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It is not necessary to get the $4000 Kiesler kit to make it fit.
I bolted a TR3550 up to the bellhousing and raised it until it contacted the tunnel of my '69. I then marked where the tranny fouled the tunnel, which was the front inspection cover on the passenger side. Next, I disassembled it completely in preparation for converting to the TKO 600 gear set with the 2.87 1st gear. After removing all the shift rods, I took the front cast aluminum cover to a local machine shop and had the sides stepped down with 0.5" milled off the top, and 0.75" in from the sides. I also had 0.2" milled off the middle. That left just a few threads to retain an inspection cover. I had the shop fabricate a new cover that has stepped sides. Although I have not bought a Keisler kit to reverse engineer it, I think that is almost exactly what they have done (although the dimensions are probably slightly different). I bolted it back up again and set it at 4 degrees. Now the second inspection cover was just about an 1/8" away from fouling the tunnel, again on the passenger side. Since this was the angle I was trying to obtain, all that was needed was to use spacers under the tranny mount of the correct height, and to beat the edges of the 2nd inspection cover down to allow a little more clearance. I have not yet installed the finished tranny as I did not receive the input shaft bearing with my "kit". I did not find it necessary to modify the tunnel brace as I have seen in an article on the Keisler installation.
The kit btw, was put together by D&D performance. They have been very helpful when I run into snags, but I have lost some time waiting on parts that were not included in the original shipment. I may be the first person to do this conversion, as they didn't seem to have a concrete list of the parts that were required. They have been very good in getting them out to me though. There are several differences that must be taken into account when doing this conversion. I've taken lots of pics, and plan to write an article when it's complete.
As for the shifter, I'm using a modified Pro 5.0, with a custom made handle. The top is an orignal '69 4 speed handle that was cut off just below the knee. Then a 3/4" block was welded to it to offset the handle from the shifter, centering it in the console. The top steel ring of the Pro 5.0 was cut down on the passenger side so as to minimize the butchering of the original sheetmetal around the shifter hole.
I bolted a TR3550 up to the bellhousing and raised it until it contacted the tunnel of my '69. I then marked where the tranny fouled the tunnel, which was the front inspection cover on the passenger side. Next, I disassembled it completely in preparation for converting to the TKO 600 gear set with the 2.87 1st gear. After removing all the shift rods, I took the front cast aluminum cover to a local machine shop and had the sides stepped down with 0.5" milled off the top, and 0.75" in from the sides. I also had 0.2" milled off the middle. That left just a few threads to retain an inspection cover. I had the shop fabricate a new cover that has stepped sides. Although I have not bought a Keisler kit to reverse engineer it, I think that is almost exactly what they have done (although the dimensions are probably slightly different). I bolted it back up again and set it at 4 degrees. Now the second inspection cover was just about an 1/8" away from fouling the tunnel, again on the passenger side. Since this was the angle I was trying to obtain, all that was needed was to use spacers under the tranny mount of the correct height, and to beat the edges of the 2nd inspection cover down to allow a little more clearance. I have not yet installed the finished tranny as I did not receive the input shaft bearing with my "kit". I did not find it necessary to modify the tunnel brace as I have seen in an article on the Keisler installation.
The kit btw, was put together by D&D performance. They have been very helpful when I run into snags, but I have lost some time waiting on parts that were not included in the original shipment. I may be the first person to do this conversion, as they didn't seem to have a concrete list of the parts that were required. They have been very good in getting them out to me though. There are several differences that must be taken into account when doing this conversion. I've taken lots of pics, and plan to write an article when it's complete.
As for the shifter, I'm using a modified Pro 5.0, with a custom made handle. The top is an orignal '69 4 speed handle that was cut off just below the knee. Then a 3/4" block was welded to it to offset the handle from the shifter, centering it in the console. The top steel ring of the Pro 5.0 was cut down on the passenger side so as to minimize the butchering of the original sheetmetal around the shifter hole.
FWIW here is my 69 with a 3550 up in it. Obviously hasn't been on the road but it should fit for sure. This is with a stock Pro 5.0 shifter and a modified FMX tranny mount.
http://www.protowrxs.com/Nolen/Stang/Rebuild/2007-01-01.asp
-Stephen
http://www.protowrxs.com/Nolen/Stang/Rebuild/2007-01-01.asp
-Stephen
