to drop me off a nice little package from Keisler. I can't tell you how excited I am at the prospect of being able to drive my car reasonably on the highway. I still need to order a clutch disk, since I elected to buy mine seperate from the kit, same brand I have now.

I'll try to keep this updated as the install goes, passing on how everything goes.

Devin

Congratulations, let us know if you need any assistance. :thumbsup:

Must be nice! That damn brown truck wants damn near as much to clear it through customs as Keisler does for the complete package! UPS has their own brokerage and they are nothing short of thieves

For that kind of dough, drive down and pick it up, must be a dealer near the border in the states.

Fedex is not much better.

For that kind of dough, drive down and pick it up, must be a dealer near the border in the states.

Fedex is not much better.

If/when I do put one in that is excatly what I plan to do. I just put a set of 3.31 gears in and with the lower 1st gear and the .82 overdrive I think i would be a very happy man

I like it when the brown truck stops at my house....my wife doesn't.

I just drove my camaro today for the first time with the new TKO600 from Keisler. You are going to love it. I am done with the brown truck for a while, That guy was becoming a member of the family, Lol

I like it when the brown truck stops at my house....my wife doesn't.


Same here

First update....Surprise, surprise, my birthday was yesterday and I was hoping to get some play money to buy a clutch disk with. Checked the mailbox, nothin, no family close by so I figure it's not happening. Today I was working at a friend's house remodel, a box came from Summit for him, I wondered what he ordered since I do all his work for him. Turns out he andhis wife had bought me the disk I needed for me! I couldn't believe it! It wasn't exactly cheap either! Then my wife hands my my birthday card from my folks, she had grabbed it out of the mail box and hid it because she had set the whole thing up.

It's probably going to be a week before I get to start work, I've got some other small projects to take care of first.

Devin

Work has begun! Got to spend some quality time in the garage yesterday. Muncie is now sitting on the floor. Really fought the bellhousing getting it out. I have a Lakewood that has dual Chevy/BOP bolt pattern and the point on the top just about wouldn't clear the trans tunnel. I have solid motor mounts so even with the bolts out it didn't move much to lean toward the rear. Once I did get it out I clearanced the top of it a bit, and with the clutch off, it went in real easy. I checked the runout of the trans opening and it was in spec, so I bolted the TKO in for a test fit. I think I'm going to be ok on clearance, but not sure yet. Still need to bolt up the motor mounts and trans crossmember.

Devin

Latest update- Ahh, frustration, the joyful thing that it is. You'd think that since I'm not working, I'd have all the time in the world to get this thing done. Not quite. Job hunting seems to get in the way.

Anyway, made further progress today. Not much, but it took me all afternoon. Did my final fit check, I'm all good there. No need to cut the floors at all. The shifter is acutally more centered in the opening than it was with the Hurst on the Muncie. Took my measurements for my driveshaft, then took it all back apart. Wife came out to help me pull the trans out, much easier than dropping it on my chest as I did with the Muncie. Pulled the bellhousing out, then started working on the pilot bearing. I had a bearing in there as it was, and checked the input shafts on both trans, they were both the same size so I was considering not changing it, but got to looking at the one in there and it was a little buggered, likely from the last time I put the trans in. I elected to replace it since I had a new one, and knowing the way things go for me, it would come back and bite me if I didn't. I had to make a trip to town to borrow a puller from a buddy, and the wife asked me to stop by the store and get myself some beer. Was I gonna argue?

When i finally got home started in on the pilot bearing. It was a stubborn you-know-what. Took me a good half hour, even with a puller, and I ended up having to use my die grinder with a carbide bit to get through the outer casing that just wouldn't budge. Once that was finally dealt with I started on trying to get the new one in. It fought all the way too. I got the clutch set and installed, then checked the bellhousing for clearance with the clutch in place, not enough room. I'm going to have to clearance it a bit tomorrow once my neighbors all leave for work. It was pushing 6 o'clock by then and I didn't want to make the noise with the grinder.

More to go, but getting there.

Devin

If you havent already done so,it will be a real good idea to properly index your bellhousing.Heres a link to Lakewood's instructions;
http://www.lakewoodindustries.com/pdf/BELLHOUSINGALIGN.pdf
Guy

Bellhousing has been indexed, that's what I meant when I said I measured runout of the trans opening in my previous post.

Devin

Latest update- Ahh, frustration, the joyful thing that it is. You'd think that since I'm not working, I'd have all the time in the world to get this thing done. Not quite. Job hunting seems to get in the way.

Anyway, made further progress today. Not much, but it took me all afternoon. Did my final fit check, I'm all good there. No need to cut the floors at all. The shifter is acutally more centered in the opening than it was with the Hurst on the Muncie. Took my measurements for my driveshaft, then took it all back apart. Wife came out to help me pull the trans out, much easier than dropping it on my chest as I did with the Muncie. Pulled the bellhousing out, then started working on the pilot bearing. I had a bearing in there as it was, and checked the input shafts on both trans, they were both the same size so I was considering not changing it, but got to looking at the one in there and it was a little buggered, likely from the last time I put the trans in. I elected to replace it since I had a new one, and knowing the way things go for me, it would come back and bite me if I didn't. I had to make a trip to town to borrow a puller from a buddy, and the wife asked me to stop by the store and get myself some beer. Was I gonna argue?

When i finally got home started in on the pilot bearing. It was a stubborn you-know-what. Took me a good half hour, even with a puller, and I ended up having to use my die grinder with a carbide bit to get through the outer casing that just wouldn't budge. Once that was finally dealt with I started on trying to get the new one in. It fought all the way too. I got the clutch set and installed, then checked the bellhousing for clearance with the clutch in place, not enough room. I'm going to have to clearance it a bit tomorrow once my neighbors all leave for work. It was pushing 6 o'clock by then and I didn't want to make the noise with the grinder.

More to go, but getting there.

Devin


Devin, Glad to here the fitment is as advertised.:hurray: Good luck on the rest of the project Post some pics when you can.

Gene

More work today, didn't get much done, but it took a long time. Got the bellhousing clearanced and ready to go, then decided to give it a decent paint job. That added about 4 hours. Ended up getting it bolted in then stopped for the day. I'm ready to slide the trans in for the final time next time, I'm hoping I'll be able to get there soon.

Devin

Got as far yesterday as actually installing the transmission. I removed the shifter to do so, the managed to put it back on backwards 30 minutes later. Once that was straightened out I found that the speedo cable output is directly above the crossmember, so rather than fight it in later I was going to install it immediately. Couldn't remember how to route the cable, haven't had one in about 12 years, and had filled all the holes in the firewall. I think I have that figured out now thanks to the help from a few in another post.

Devin

My kit arrives Wed. for my 66. I'm anxiously following your progress.

Well marc, just for you, I'll give my latest update. Transmission is in, kinda tight on the floor. It touches in 1 spot, just behind the shifter. I have solid motor mounts, so I'm going to leave it be for now, unless it moves somehow and bothers me. I haven't driven it yet, I'm waiting on my driveshaft, since they want a measurement. I'm looking forward to taking it out for a test drive.

Devin

Waiting for the shaft measurement is the right thing for these vendors to do. My CC5S was off half an inch. They quickly remedied it, though.

My driveshaft arrived on Monday, today was my day off so I finally got to install it and go for my first drive. Man, what a difference! I can actually use my power band in each gear! I always knew the Muncie was too close for my motor. I would be stoked with this transmission if I just had the first 4 gears. 5th is icing on the cake. I can cruise 70 at 2300 rpm. I let it drop down a bit to 2000 or so and it started telling me it wasn't happy. I'm glad I went with the .82 overdrive.

I still have some issues to work out, the speedo needle jumps within about a 20 mph range. I was provided cable lube in the kit, but nowhere in the instructions does it say when, where or how to use it. It's still in its little tube.

I also have a driveline vibration above 80 mph. I'm going to double check that the rear u-joint is centered and go from there. I did take it to about 90 mph, boy was that nice, considering I was still only about 3000 rpm.

Devin

What is your engine combo and what gears are you running?

Took care of some details once I got home from work tonight. Set timing, lubed speedo cable, adjusted clutch up a little, and re-routed plug wires over the top of the throttle linkage. Planning to drive it to work tomorrow, first time I've driven it like that in about 15 years.

Ron, combo is 427, .030 over, 4" stroker crank, 990 heads mild touch at the manifold, opened up to 2.25/1.90 valves, Comp 292/298? adv solid roller cam, 569 LS6 mainfold, demon 1000 cfm dragrace carb, 9.5:1 compression. Rear gears are now 3.55.

Peak numbers are not so impressive, but it has an impressive torque band, over 400 ft/lb at the rear wheels from 3500 to 5500.

Devin