tremec swap (kinda)

[dusterbd13]

OK, so I'm finally able to start collecting my parts for my 5 speed upgrade.
car in question is a small block 70 duster, factory 4 speed. Lakewood bell housing.
after reading a BUNCH of articles, posts, threads, etc over the years, i know what I'm going to do. just not exactly sure of some of the details.
reference this thread here:
http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/clutch/25.html
hes running a re drilled Lakewood bell housing, with a turned down bearing retainer and a hybrid pilot bearing. no problem there.
where i get a little confused is that he stated a GM 26 spline clutch. the TKO is available in either a ford or Chevy application, correct? he then stated that he used a ford drive shaft yoke. also stated that it was the ford trans bolt pattern. so was it a ford or Chevy style TKO?
the tremec is a good trans. Ive used it for T5 changeovers in fox body mustangs, and they go in perfect. I'm hoping that the answer is the ford style, as I'm planning on doing a T5 swap in my duster so i don't have to cut as much of the floor pan and t-bar cross member. every other trans option requires MAJOR hacking, and the T5 installs Ive seen require no to very little cutting other than shifter location. hopefully Ill be able to get my driveline angles without any cutting.
again, I'm wondering primarily about the input shaft that was used. not whether or not a T5 will live in my car, or if their crap, or anything like that.
my plan is to tale one of the T5's out of the shop, re-drill my Lakewood, get a ford splined clutch disk in mopar diameter from spec, and commence to getting it in there. ill wind up fabbing a tranny cross member, and probably a drive shaft (ill go aluminum at that point, just because). planning to retain the factory clutch linkage.
so, anyway, whats the deal? ford 5.0 style input shaft, or the Chevy version? if the Chevy, what needs to be done to make the ford work? Ive seen some references to making spacers, etc, but never anything firm.
Michael

 

[Abodyman]

I've recently completed a TKO-600 in my Dakota to go behind my 390 stroker, and I can tell you from personal experience, that the TKO is based off of the ford T5 design. There is nothing GM about it. The reason the article mentions the gm style clutch is because Mopars and GM share the same clutch diameters at 10.5. (You can also get the 11" big block clutch but I'm sure we aren't talking about that). The great thing about the TKO is that it has the ability to have 6 different mounting locations, and most of the trans come with the ability to mount two of them from the factory. The other's you will need the adapter plates. Keisler makes the hybrid barring, but you can source it together at a local parts store. All you need to do is get a 318 pilot and a ford pilot and combine the two. It's really easy and cheap to do. I went with the Keisler version cuz I didn't know this until late in my build. Hope this helps. Oh and it is definitely best to fab up your own trans mounts. It makes the install much less complicated.