Tremec TKX 5-Speed Conversion

[Kern Dog]

If I recall, the new shaft was about 6 inches longer. The Tremec swap resulted in a 20 lb weight loss in the car too.
My shaft came as part of the SST kit included in the price. I think to keep prices from exploding, they now charge extra for the drive shaft. Mine is at least 3" in diameter, maybe 3 1/4".

The stock drive shaft weighed less due to the shorter length and smaller diameter.

I plan to put the car on the lift soon to take a bunch of pictures of the underside that I want to have on file. I have a lot of them already but many were taken before the Tremec swap, brake upgrades and other things. Pictures are so much easier to take with cars up on a lift.

 

[CoronetDarter]

@CoronetDarter with the install of the TKX, how much longer is the new driveshaft compared to your old one with the automatic?
@Kern Dog with the install of the TKO, how much longer is the new driveshaft compared to your old one that you removed?

What diameter did you guys go with?

The new driveshaft is 6" longer than the automatic. The auto driveshaft is 3" diameter. I don't have the car here right now but the new driveshaft felt a bit larger in diameter. I think the Tremec slip yoke is a larger diameter than the 727.

 

[CoronetDarter]

During the week, Greg spent time fabbing the doghouse. Starting with the cardboard buck, he then replicated the shape onto the metal. Another thing I just found out - he has a benchtop bending brake for forming sheet metal.
The first mock up was without any cutting. The supplied sheet metal was much longer than needed, probably a leftover piece from TKO inventory.

I decided to go with a tapered rear to transition onto the top of the tunnel while keeping a low profile. The front radius was enlarged to get the form to sit down lower on the tunnel.


Initially the folds were held in place with sheet metal screws.


I was inside the car, checking for rocking and marking the high spots. We went back and forth several times; Greg grinding down the high spots, me checking it and marking it again. On a non-console car you want to take your time to achieve as perfect a fit as you can because once it's welded in, it's there for all to see.
Once we were satisfied with the fit, Greg welded the seams and smoothed down the edges. The end result is Kindig It quality. Final fitment before welding.

Prior to welding to the floor, Greg noticed the shifter knob still sat extremely close to the opening, so he radiused the front and back, with still enough meat to secure the shifter boot and trim ring. The extra fore-and-aft room will come in handy if the tranny ever needs to come back out.

 

[Kern Dog]

You're in the home stretch, Rich!

 

[CoronetDarter]

Front of the doghouse

Once the doghouse was secured, time to bolt on the pistol grip. First slide the two boots up the shaft.

Before securing to the shifter knob with the supplied button head bolts.

I applied the seam sealer after the shifter install to avoid getting any on the handle.

Ford and GM guys wish they had as cool a shifter

 

[CoronetDarter]

Those of you that don't weld or know someone that does, the doghouse can be secured to the tunnel with sheet metal screws and panel bond. The only difference from welding is to bend (or panel bond) a bottom flange to give the screws something to bite into and for the panel bond to adhere to.
The PO of my Dart did exactly that when he installed the TKO. Been driving it like that for over ten years. The carpet covers all the warts.

 

[Kern Dog]

The side cover on the bell housing has 2 holes with grommets.

Only one of those is used.

These pictures are of my Tremec installation that was done early 2021. The "goal" is to have the bleeder screw pointing straight down for optimal air bleeding. Mine had to be skewed a little to allow the cover plate to fit better.

The hole in the cover should be drilled forward by about 1/2" to 5/8". That would allow the hard line to be "clocked" to keep the hydraulic line bleeder screw truly plumb/straight up and down.

Mine bled out fine but oddly, bleeding the one in this car is taking a little more effort. We did find a slight leak at the pressure fitting off of the clutch MC but it wasn't enough to produce any dripping, just some slight wetness around the fitting.
It has been almost 3 years since I did my car and while much of it is still fresh in my mind, some things like this escaped me. Rich and Dwayne tightened the inner fitting at the throwout bearing not knowing of how it affected the fitment of the cover plate. Dwayne has thinner hands than us so he just tightened the line keeping the bleeder screw pointing straight down, which actually makes sense.
Regardless...Mine bled out fine with the screw being a little out of perfect placement so we will have similar results here.

 

[Kern Dog]

We’re having some trouble getting the clutch pedal feel where it should be. We have checked the feel of it in my car and mine has resistance all through the travel. This pedal feels unrestricted in the first 1/3 of pedal movement. We have pumped and bled the line at least 15 times and for the last 7 or 8, the fluid is clear with no bubbles.

No leaks.

I measured the amount that the hydraulic throw out bearing is moving.
I measured barely more than 3/16” of movement. The instructions state .910. That seems like a lot.

 

[Kern Dog]

With the system seemingly bled of all air, Rich figured the pedal travel needed to increase. These setups have this connector:

I don’t know what that hex shaped linkage piece is called, I call it a turnbuckle. If there is a correct term for it, let me know.
The upper clutch pedal lever bump stop was removed.
Rich then clocked that turnbuckle a bit.

This of course brought the clutch pedal up higher than the brake pedal.
I measured the range of the throw out bearing. Now it was 7/16” maybe. Is that enough?
We thought of putting the Charger on Jack stands to measure the range mine has. I never checked it. I installed and bled it and it worked.
Easier idea…..
Start the Coronet and see if it grinds.

 

[HawkRod]

With the system seemingly bled of all air, Rich figured the pedal travel needed to increase. These setups have this connector:

View attachment 1561198

View attachment 1561199
I don’t know what that hex shaped linkage piece is called, I call it a turnbuckle. If there is a correct term for it, let me know.
The upper clutch pedal lever bump stop was removed.
Rich then clocked that turnbuckle a bit.

View attachment 1561201

This of course brought the clutch pedal up higher than the brake pedal.
I measured the range of the throw out bearing. Now it was 7/16” maybe. Is that enough?
We thought of putting the Charger on Jack stands to measure the range mine has. I never checked it. I installed and bled it and it worked.
Easier idea…..
Start the Coronet and see if it grinds.

That's pretty much what my pedals looked like before I modified my brake pedal to raise it up (I linked a thread I had on that modification earlier).

Regardless, I agree - try it out and see what happens! Main thing is to be sure you can fully disengage the transmission from the driveline. Best to do that with the rear wheels off the ground!

 

[Kern Dog]

The clutch pedal rested higher in my car and it annoyed me.

I decided to raise the brake pedal a bit by making the "dogbone" pushrod a bit longer.

I'd figured to cut mine in the groove and weld an extension between the two ends.
A forum member here stepped up and did this:

Boom.

Maybe for Rich, I'll do what I'd planned on doing to mine and weld an extension in between the two sides.

 

[HawkRod]

The clutch pedal rested higher in my car and it annoyed me.


View attachment 1561284

View attachment 1561285

I decided to raise the brake pedal a bit by making the "dogbone" pushrod a bit longer.

View attachment 1561286

I'd figured to cut mine in the groove and weld an extension between the two ends.
A forum member here stepped up and did this:

View attachment 1561287

View attachment 1561288

Boom.

View attachment 1561289

Maybe for Rich, I'll do what I'd planned on doing to mine and weld an extension in between the two sides.

View attachment 1561290

Yeah, that's exactly what I did to mine. Been in service now for 9 years and still work great!

Before:

Added piece:

After Welding:

After installation:

 

[Kern Dog]

Man, I need new floor mats. Mine look like they are from a 10 year old used car.

 

[CoronetDarter]

View attachment 1561198

View attachment 1561199
I don’t know what that hex shaped linkage piece is called, I call it a turnbuckle. If there is a correct term for it, let me know.
The upper clutch pedal lever bump stop was removed.
Rich then clocked that turnbuckle a bit.

View attachment 1561201

This of course brought the clutch pedal up higher than the brake pedal.
I measured the range of the throw out bearing. Now it was 7/16” maybe. Is that enough?
We thought of putting the Charger on Jack stands to measure the range mine has. I never checked it. I installed and bled it and it worked.
Easier idea…..
Start the Coronet and see if it grinds.

Another case of 'no good deed goes unpunished'. Going back to posts 248 and 281, I had the great idea of shortening the m/c pushrod in order to lower the clutch pedal height. Fast forward to today. As Greg said, it became apparent that I had removed too much pedal travel and the CSC wasn't fully extending. Greg's measurements were 7/16", vs SST's spec of .910" or ~14/16", double the travel of our measurement. I'll call SST tomorrow to find out if there's an acceptable range.
In the meantime, with the car elevated on the lift so the wheels weren't touching the ground, I started the engine and began rowing through the gears. The shifter easily slid into each gear and the rear wheels were spinning, so a positive sign.
That could have been a sign that it was about time to take the car out for a shakedown run, but instead all signs pointed to STOP. To begin, while the tranny was in neutral, the engine wouldn't idle down. The accelerator pedal felt loose on the way down and lazy coming back up to rest. The linkage is a Lokar setup, required when I had first installed the Fitech EFI (another good deed that punished me unmercifully). The only change was the removal of the Lokar kickdown cable, but I think the kickdown was providing resistance for the go pedal. The cable seemed a little loose so I'll have to try to tighten it up. But first...
I have to solve a cylinder head freeze plug leak. Out of nowhere, the front plug on the passenger side Stealth head started emitting a tiny stream of coolant piss onto the back of the alternator.
After prying it out of the head and cleaning it up on a wire wheel, you can see the extensive pitting. The plug rusted from the inside out. This in an eight year old engine with about 8,000 miles, always running antifreeze/coolant. I bought the heads used so I have no idea how they were treated before I owned them.

One could look at this as bad luck on the last day of a two month project. Greg's positive spin is that it happened in his garage and not on the road.
It does present an opportunity. With the alternator out of the way, I can easily access and remove the appendix-mimicking fuel pump and pushrod, as I have an electric fuel pump in the tank. Been meaning to do that for years.

Turns out that 440 Source has a Stealth head core plug replacement kit in brass.

and a billet fuel pump block off plate.

Maria and I will be out of town for Thanksgiving weekend so the project is stalled until the first weekend in December.

 

[Kern Dog]

No problem. There is zero chance of me calling a tow truck to drag the car out into the street.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

No problem. There is zero chance of me calling a tow truck to drag the car out into the street.

View attachment 1561403

Why would you? You've got a Ram Truck....

 

[Kern Dog]

....AND a trailer!

 

[HawkRod]

Another case of 'no good deed goes unpunished'. Going back to posts 248 and 281, I had the great idea of shortening the m/c pushrod in order to lower the clutch pedal height. Fast forward to today. As Greg said, it became apparent that I had removed too much pedal travel and the CSC wasn't fully extending. Greg's measurements were 7/16", vs SST's spec of .910" or ~14/16", double the travel of our measurement. I'll call SST tomorrow to find out if there's an acceptable range.
In the meantime, with the car elevated on the lift so the wheels weren't touching the ground, I started the engine and began rowing through the gears. The shifter easily slid into each gear and the rear wheels were spinning, so a positive sign.
That could have been a sign that it was about time to take the car out for a shakedown run, but instead all signs pointed to STOP. To begin, while the tranny was in neutral, the engine wouldn't idle down. The accelerator pedal felt loose on the way down and lazy coming back up to rest. The linkage is a Lokar setup, required when I had first installed the Fitech EFI (another good deed that punished me unmercifully). The only change was the removal of the Lokar kickdown cable, but I think the kickdown was providing resistance for the go pedal. The cable seemed a little loose so I'll have to try to tighten it up. But first...
I have to solve a cylinder head freeze plug leak. Out of nowhere, the front plug on the passenger side Stealth head started emitting a tiny stream of coolant piss onto the back of the alternator.
After prying it out of the head and cleaning it up on a wire wheel, you can see the extensive pitting. The plug rusted from the inside out. This in an eight year old engine with about 8,000 miles, always running antifreeze/coolant. I bought the heads used so I have no idea how they were treated before I owned them.
View attachment 1561394
One could look at this as bad luck on the last day of a two month project. Greg's positive spin is that it happened in his garage and not on the road.
It does present an opportunity. With the alternator out of the way, I can easily access and remove the appendix-mimicking fuel pump and pushrod, as I have an electric fuel pump in the tank. Been meaning to do that for years.
View attachment 1561395
Turns out that 440 Source has a Stealth head core plug replacement kit in brass.
View attachment 1561396 and a billet fuel pump block off plate. View attachment 1561397
Maria and I will be out of town for Thanksgiving weekend so the project is stalled until the first weekend in December.

We had a similar thing happen to my buddy's 64 Impala. It was in my garage and we swapped out the Powerglide for a 200R4 overdrive. While we did that, we pulled the engine to paint it and clean up the engine compartment. Sure enough, on a test drive, we start pissing out coolant. In this case it was from an engine freeze plug, but we ended up pulling the engine again so we could get to all the freeze plugs easily.

Do you plan to pull the heads to get to the rear freeze plugs or will you only replace the one that blew?

No problem. There is zero chance of me calling a tow truck to drag the car out into the street.

View attachment 1561403

As a matter of fact, Rich had to put up with my car in his garage for awhile a few years ago, now you have to put up with his. Maybe you need to park yours in my garage to close the loop?

 

[CoronetDarter]

We had a similar thing happen to my buddy's 64 Impala. It was in my garage and we swapped out the Powerglide for a 200R4 overdrive. While we did that, we pulled the engine to paint it and clean up the engine compartment. Sure enough, on a test drive, we start pissing out coolant. In this case it was from an engine freeze plug, but we ended up pulling the engine again so we could get to all the freeze plugs easily.

Do you plan to pull the heads to get to the rear freeze plugs or will you only replace the one that blew?

The kit comes with all eight but I'm just doing the one for now.

As a matter of fact, Rich had to put up with my car in his garage for awhile a few years ago, now you have to put up with his. Maybe you need to park yours in my garage to close the loop?

Yeah, but that was only for a week and your car ran so I was able to take it out and tear up the neighborhood.

 

[Ray70Chrg]

Man, I need new floor mats. Mine look like they are from a 10 year old used car.

Actually, they are from a 53 year old used car.