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Old 02-22-2021, 01:11 AM
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Default Tremec TKX install in my 65 LeMans

I had planned on installing a Auto gear M22 variant this winter to replace the M20 mainly to increase the strength and I wasn't interested in cutting up the floor for a 5 speed conversion but after hearing about the TKX I decided to order one. The total cost is right around $6000 Canadian or about $4800 USD , yes its expensive but I was able to offset 1/2 the cost by selling my old set up and a few other parts I had laying around. The Auto gear was going to run just around $4000 with taxes and shipping so a couple thousand more and I get a OD trans. I still need to get the driveshaft shortened and the weather is still crappy here so it wont be until about April before it hits the road . I went with the close ratio version 2.87 , 1,89, 1.28, 1.00, .68 OD the car has 3.23. rear gear and the tires are 25.68" tall. so at 70 mph it will be right around 2000 rpm.
First Picture is right out of the box with the shifter handle installed.
Second is the offset shifter




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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt

Last edited by TB1; 02-22-2021 at 01:31 AM.
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Old 02-22-2021, 01:16 AM
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I had bought one of the Browell Bell housing tools awhile ago so finally got the chance to use it and it worked well. In the end I needed some .007 offset dowels to get it dialed in.






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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt
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Old 02-22-2021, 01:26 AM
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Once the bellhousing was dialed in I installed an 11" McLeod dual friction clutch kit and got right at installing the trans. No cutting to the tunnel is required it fits nice. But its not a direct bolt in Due to the shifter I used the shift porch needs to be cut as well as a small piece at the back left side of the tunnel this is only required to clear the shifter.

Shifter offset from above:


Shifter position in the car:


Shifter porch laying in place ( i cut to much out needs some welding)



Carpet laid in place to see how it would all fit.


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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt
  #4  
Old 01-31-2022, 09:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TB1 View Post
Once the bellhousing was dialed in I installed an 11" McLeod dual friction clutch kit and got right at installing the trans. No cutting to the tunnel is required it fits nice. But its not a direct bolt in Due to the shifter I used the shift porch needs to be cut as well as a small piece at the back left side of the tunnel this is only required to clear the shifter.

Shifter offset from above:


Shifter position in the car


Shifter porch laying in place ( i cut to much out needs some welding)



Carpet laid in place to see how it would all fit.

If you had purchased from SST you wouldn’t have had to cut the floor at all probably. I just had to make a little clearance in one corner with hammer in my 69. You’ll love that tkx

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Th400 gone. Tkx close ratio with .64 of
66 Pontiac Beaumont sport deluxe,BB 5sp tko 3:08 auburn 450hp 550 torque wife sold it
  #5  
Old 01-31-2022, 09:47 PM
70GS455 70GS455 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 66beaumont View Post
If you had purchased from SST you wouldn’t have had to cut the floor at all probably. I just had to make a little clearance in one corner with hammer in my 69. You’ll love that tkx
Or MDL

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Old 01-31-2022, 10:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 70GS455 View Post
Or MDL

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Living in Canada I purchased from a local supplier, This was to cut out the excessive shipping and if I had any problems down the road easy to deal with warranty etc. The shifter installed is the same one Modern drivetrain sells with there kits its made by https://redrobertsinc.com/ I would consider what I had to do a bolt in, But If I had to do it over again I would get the shifter mentioned below just to save a step or two. The trans was installed January 2021 and has about 2000 trouble free miles so far and I love it.

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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt
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Old 02-22-2021, 01:30 AM
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The factory crossmember was used and only required a small amount of cutting to clear.










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Old 02-22-2021, 08:37 AM
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Great write up. Thanks for the pics. I'd be curious how that McLeod clutch works out for you.

Charles

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Old 02-22-2021, 09:28 AM
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Default TKX

Tb1,. Nice job looks great, I’m planning on this same set up for my 64 gto,..

Who did you buy it from, and what other extra parts did you have to buy to complete the placement of the shifter.. and install..
What gear lube is recommended, what splines package is offered...

I plan on using a dual disc, Ram or Mcloed clutch setup...

Sorry for the Q&A...

  #10  
Old 02-22-2021, 09:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jspeed View Post
Tb1,. Nice job looks great, I’m planning on this same set up for my 64 gto,..

Who did you buy it from, and what other extra parts did you have to buy to complete the placement of the shifter.. and install..
What gear lube is recommended, what splines package is offered...

I plan on using a dual disc, Ram or Mcloed clutch setup...

Sorry for the Q&A...
Q&A is good: trans is a 26 spline input 28 output (ford style yoke)
I bought the trans, shifter, output shaft yoke, speedo adapter, reverse light pigtail as a package from a place in Canada called Gears to GO. reason being he's within a couple hours of my location so pick up was easy and if I have a problem I'm not sending it back to the States and waiting weeks on shipping each way plus the extra shipping costs.
I bought the clutch and Hurst shifter stick along with new flywheel bolts from Summit racing that completes the package other than getting the drive shaft shortened once measured.

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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt
  #11  
Old 03-24-2021, 02:17 PM
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TB1, thanks for posting your experiences! All your viewers appreciate it: I certainly do!

I've been considering the TKX since last fall for my '64 GTO. I'm in the US between DC and Baltimore and have been in touch with Silver Sport, who advertises, I think, over 25 custom shifter adapters. So far, they are my supplier of choice.

I understand that we need to move the transmission crossmember back, but is it still the correct height? I don't want to mess up my pinion angle. Please let us know.

Again, thank you for sharing your upgrade!

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Old 03-24-2021, 02:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guido View Post
TB1, thanks for posting your experiences! All your viewers appreciate it: I certainly do!

I've been considering the TKX since last fall for my '64 GTO. I'm in the US between DC and Baltimore and have been in touch with Silver Sport, who advertises, I think, over 25 custom shifter adapters. So far, they are my supplier of choice.

I understand that we need to move the transmission crossmember back, but is it still the correct height? I don't want to mess up my pinion angle. Please let us know.

Again, thank you for sharing your upgrade!
Due to me living in Canada I figured better to buy locally if I needed the warranty etc, But the Silversport set up with the side exit shifter would have made this all a direct bolt in I'd consider what I ended up doing is 98% bolt in It didn't require a welder just some time to make the one patch panel.

The trans cross member is moved back I had to drill one new hole on each side, basically the rear hole from the original mounting location becomes the front hole with the TKX or TKO, Pinion angle should not change at all I have been using the lower profile Energy suspension mount part number 3-1158G as I found the stock replacements available were too tall and the yoke would smack the floor with a passenger in the car. I also had to install adjustable upper rear control arms to dial in the pinion angle after lowering my car as wheel hop was pretty bad with the 4 speed I had previously. but I 'd think a stock ride height car would be fine.

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65 LeMANS , SD performance 462ci Engine, Tremec TKX 5 speed with a 3.73 geared 8.5" 10 bolt
  #13  
Old 02-22-2021, 09:20 AM
gtospieg gtospieg is offline
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Did the shifter handle and offset piece come with the trans? I see you checked for concentricity but did you check for parallel first?

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Old 02-22-2021, 09:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtospieg View Post
Did the shifter handle and offset piece come with the trans? I see you checked for concentricity but did you check for parallel first?

The shifter came with the trans as part of the package. Its made by these guys
https://redrobertsinc.com/ The shifter stick was purchased from Summit and is the only round stick I could find with the Hurst logo to remain looking somewhat stock, original application is a 69 Camaro so it does have a bit of an different offset. As for checking for parallel no I did not, actually never thought of it but I'm in the mock up stage somewhat so could go back and check it.

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  #15  
Old 02-22-2021, 10:38 AM
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TBI, thanks for the info...
I’ll be checking here in the states on pricing soon...

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Old 02-22-2021, 11:21 AM
70GS455 70GS455 is offline
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Very nice write up. Another option for those of us with the offset shifter is one from Silver State. They have a proprietary STX shifter which moves the shifter porch or turret to the side where the shift opening is. The prevents contact with the tunnel and requires no cutting.

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Old 02-22-2021, 12:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 70GS455 View Post
Very nice write up. Another option for those of us with the offset shifter is one from Silver State. They have a proprietary STX shifter which moves the shifter porch or turret to the side where the shift opening is. The prevents contact with the tunnel and requires no cutting.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Had I ordered from the states this is the route I would have gone for sure As I wanted to use my stock shifter boot but now will need to get something bigger but my car is by no means stock so I'm ok with that.

On a side note I pulled the whole works out again this morning to check that the bellhousing is perpendicular to the rear of the engine block which I missed when reading the instructions from Tremec so once this is completed I'll check the bellhousing run out again and install the trans hopefully for the last time.

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  #18  
Old 02-22-2021, 12:10 PM
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You're going to love it.
Both SST and American Powertrain make the small offset shifters that clear the tunnels nicely and have several clocking positions as well for specific placement.

What you did though isn't bad to do and works fine. No big deal.

Hope the weather in the great white north clears up enough to enjoy that overdrive. It'll completely change the driving experience.

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Old 02-22-2021, 04:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formulajones View Post
You're going to love it.

Both SST and American Powertrain make the small offset shifters that clear the tunnels nicely and have several clocking positions as well for specific placement.



What you did though isn't bad to do and works fine. No big deal.



Hope the weather in the great white north clears up enough to enjoy that overdrive. It'll completely change the driving experience.
I believe it's apples and oranges here. From looking up the white lightning on the interwebs, it appears that solution is simply a shift handle offset extension or link. The STX actually moves the shift tower off center and places it in the factory shifter hole opening, where it won't contact the tunnel.

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  #20  
Old 02-23-2021, 05:16 PM
GTO3DEUCES GTO3DEUCES is offline
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Default 🔰 Hiya 70GS455...

I think it’s Silver Sport not Silver State...I really appreciate your pointing out the alternative offset shifter...👍

https://shiftsst.com/


Quote:
Originally Posted by 70GS455 View Post
Very nice write up. Another option for those of us with the offset shifter is one from Silver State. They have a proprietary STX shifter which moves the shifter porch or turret to the side where the shift opening is. The prevents contact with the tunnel and requires no cutting.

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