TKO fitment

[DukeGnarley]

well, i've got myself into a situation. I don't want to move my car into paint until i have everything the way it needs to be to fit a tko. my problem is that i don't have an engine or transmission at the moment, and I can't really swing the $4000 for a TKO swap kit right now.

For those of you who have installed a TKO into a '65-'66, do you think it would be possible to make the necessary modifications to the transmission tunnel without having the transmission? how much did you raise the tunnel and where?

I would also really like to find a cheaper alternative to the TKO, but i can't find anything that will handle the torque levels i'm looking at (360+) and still be a manual with overdrive, so if anyone has any suggestions there that would be great as well.

Thanks,

-duke

 

[BarnStang]

We did a 65 Coupe with a TKO 600. I basically cut the tunnel right down the middle with a plazma cutter, then make a perpendicular cut accross the tunnel at each end. Took a cut off wheel and slotted the floor support and heated up the tunnel where I wanted to bend the flap up on each side. What might be easier though would be to just cut the top out of the tunnel completly and remove it. Once we had the trans in place. We heated the flaps up with the torch up above the original bend and folded it back over the trans. Gave us about a half inch clearance. THen bridged the gap with some fitted sheetmetal. I think it will be extreamly difficult to cut you opening without the trans. But you can do it. Just make the hole big enough. You can get the diminsions for the trans of the Hanlon motorsports website. SHould get you close. You can do that work after the car comes back from paint, just need to protect the paint. Obviously not the best option. TO answer you question, we raised the tunnel about three inches. Not sure if I have any pictures anywhere of it or not. Was over a year ago. THe trick of course is to get the trans high enough to get the angle right. You can figure the rear part of the shifter housing will come back at least flush if not a bit more to the rear of the stock opening in the tunnel for the shifter. And offset to the passenger side about an inch or so. SOmeone should have some pictures on here. I'll try and dig up the pictures we took. But I think the customer took them with his camera. Sorry.
http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/3550.html

 

[jcode68]

For 360 ft lbs, I would bolt in a T5Z and call it a day. They are rated for constant 330 ft lbs, so unless you are abusing the tranny full time, it should do the job. $1400 new from Summit and will bolt in without modification to your tunnel. You may already know this, so apologize if that is the case. Just seems to me like you are about to spend a lot of time, money and perform some major surgery for something that might not be needed. If you are still concerned, you can have G-Force build it to handle 600+ HP for a few bucks and still have a bolt in deal. Just my .02 cents.

 

[2bav8]

I found hacking my tranny tunnel too much work so I left it alone.
Instead I altered the pinion angle on the rear end to achieve the proper driveline angle. Seems to be fine 10 years later. Gotta love TKOs.

 

[96 DOHC Cobra]

The TKO can be bought any day for under $2000. I found a couple of places that are close to $1800. The ccustom crossmember costs about $150. What other parts are needed that'll add up to another $2000?

 

[DukeGnarley]

do you guys think a WC T5 (300 ft lbs) would live behind a 360 ft lb 302 for a little while? I'm thinking i can source a used WC t5 with bellhousing block plate and clutch for a few hundred dollars, then upgrade to the gforce gearset later on. (and obviously upgrade the clutch). The engine i've been looking at is the 390hp ford racing one.

 

[DukeGnarley]

i should mention that it was an automatic car before i sold the c4.
i was basing the price off of the complete kits i've been looking at. like the one JMC sells which includes.


tko 600

bell housing

engine block plate

clutch

fly wheel

clutch fork

hydraulic clutch kit

cross member

transmission mount

hurst shifter, ball, boot, and bezel

and clutch pedal

 

[CraigMBA]

I found hacking my tranny tunnel too much work so I left it alone.
Instead I altered the pinion angle on the rear end to achieve the proper driveline angle. Seems to be fine 10 years later. Gotta love TKOs.

4wd guys do it all the time. As long as the angles are complementary there is no problem.

 

[DukeGnarley]

2bav8,

do you have any ground clearance or firewall clearance problems?

 

[2bav8]

Nope.

 

[BarnStang]

2bav8, it might help if you tel him what your ground clearance is. Everyones car is different. What is the distance of the lowest point to the ground?
DukeGnarly, as long as the angles at the U joints are the same, you should have no vibration. Meaning, if the front is +3 the rear should be -3. That being said, the only reason to cut the tunnel to make it easier to achieve the correct angles and to make the rest of the motor and trans sit level. THink about exhaust mainly. Easily overcome, but keep things like that in mind. You will need to shim the rear to balance out the U joint angles. We had to shim that coupe even after cutting the tunnel. Probably was overkill, 1 degree, but the customer is always right...
ALso, it was a coupe. I would not cut a fastback unless a customer demanded it. Too hard to go back once it's done. It would be better to put a G force in a T5 case. But you will not easily break a TKO 600 either.

 

[DukeGnarley]

I'm starting to lean towards the gforce T5. not that i don't want to cut and weld, but because i think i can get it done cheaper.

does anyone know where i could order a set of gforce gears? or would i have to order them directly?

 

[iapexl8r]

go gforce you wont reget it. I have a g force behind a 408 that makes 460 rear wheel ftlbs of torque and beat the living hell of it all the time no problems so far 2.5 years chris

 

[BarnStang]

http://www.moderndriveline.com/