Keisler 5-speed conversion on Early A-body: Install has begun

fstfish66 said
DODGENUT64 i am doing the research on the tremec tko 5 speed,,i was watching daves valiant,and learned a lot about that swap watching it,, then talking with tremec,keislier,mopar classic 5 speed,,and a feew otheres,,
the bell housing are available from quick time for a direct bolt up, i ordered one it is on the way,,should fit the early A floor with NO PROBLEMS,, then you can buy the tranny form several places, dark horse performance is from what i hear the biggest vender of theses trannys,, also i recently discovered summit sells them the TKO 500 / 600 under the mustang section, you want to use the tremec with the ford bolt pattern for mopar,,just my .02 cents

p.s. tranny thru summit 1900.00 bucks (rumor 1600.00 thur dark horse,) ???

Fred Sanderson at Dark Horse is a good man. He's actually who I purchased my "kit" from and he was very helpful in assembling the raw pieces for the kit. A good number of pieces need to be fabricated as his kits are universal (though he sets you up with the appropriate case for the application and a Lakewood bell housing to boot). He kits the clutch/pressure plate, flywheel, and throwout all from Mcleod (yup, you work with Red directly).The biggest challenges are the fit of the case and the tunnel/crossover/crossmember mods. The hydraulic clutch throwout setup took some minor fabrication as well (support plate to eliminate firewall flex, heim joint to clutch pedal and standoff for heim attachment).

I also chose the TKO-600 for it's closer gear ratio (and higher torque rating). Besides, the 3.27:1 first gear in the TKO-500 would have been silly with 3.91's. The 2.87:1 of the TKO-600 is plenty (and more importantly closer to second). At the time Keilser was getting $5K for these kits, and were still missing some key components (aside from the problem that they hadn't built the early A kits yet). Whereas Dark Horse kits were $3200 knowing you'd be doing some fabricating, but not really much less than the Keilser setup. I'd happily do business again with Dark Horse.

And to answer another question, I'm running 17x8's at all four corners, 245/45 and 255/45 Firestones with no clearance issues. The 5.25" backspacing and 3/4" perch relocation kit make it possible with no rubbing. Of course, 315/45's would really be nice..............