Galaxie/TKO

[65er]

OK, it's on now, I just placed the order for the last of the parts I'll need to replace my super tired cruise-o-matic tranny with a brand spankin' new TKO 600.

The plan is to get every last piece in hand and check it all to make sure everything fits together properly and that nothing is missing.  Since this is my daily driver (and only) car I'll be doing the job over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  That will give me four days to knock it out and get back on the road. Hopefully I'll have it done in 2-3 days but I'm not counting on that.

I got the clutch pedal assembly and linkage parts a couple months ago and at this point about all I have left to round up is a driveshaft, shifter lever, boot and knob. I'll have to work out the details on the driveshaft after the tranny arrives and I'll try to get one done locally.  Or if any of you guys know of a good online source for a driveshaft that won't break my already seriously wounded checkbook, I'd like to check them out too.


Here's the kickoff pics.. clutch linkage parts and pedal assemblies all cleaned up, painted, new rubber pads etc. 
 

[My427stang]

You are going to dig it.....

[fetorino]

Hey I missed it but which TKO did you get the .64 or .82 5th gear?

[65er]

It's a .64 overdrive. 

I'm also working on putting together a second pumpkin to have on hand in case I have some time left to fool with the rear after the tranny is in.  I've got a set of 3.82 and a set of 4.30 gears hanging around and I'd like to try out both on the street for a while.  With that experience I'll pick a ratio and put together a 31 spline true track unit and upgrade those 28 spline axles.  I typically cruise 65 mph on the highway which calculates to 1975 rpm with 3.82 the gear or 2223 with the 4.30.  Both sound ok to me but I want to feel it on the highway, around town, parking the car etc as well as seeing how my fuel consumption changes.  After I build a stout stroker and put it in place of the current 390 I'll probably want to change to a taller ratio, but then that's kind of the nature of hot rodding ain't it? 

[My427stang]

Gears are fun in the stroker too!

I run 4.11s with a 489 and wouldn't trade it for the world.  It'll run triple digits and probably still pull anything my Powerstroke can

[BruceS]

This is great info for any of us who will tackle this job on a Galaxie in the future.  I'll be following closely!  I think the stock clutch linkage setup is better than trying to rigup a cable or hydraulic activated clutch.  How did u locate the bits and pieces for the pedals and clutch linkage?

[65er]

I ended up getting the pedals, Z-bar and most of the linkage from a want ad on the FE Engine forum.  Took a few weeks but finally did find a seller who actually wanted to sell.  Had one contact me but oddly enough didn't seem too interested in selling.   I'll do a bit of machine work and install the sperical bearings in place of the stock plastic pieces.  I just don't like the way those plastic parts feel.  Probably chinese crap made from the wrong type of plastic.  I got the Z-bar to clutch fork pushrod from Mike's Classic Cars.  Misc pedal rubber, trim, bumpers, bushing etc from Dennis Carpenter and Ebay mostly.

[65er]

Who needs TV?  Not when I've got this kind of entertainment!



The tranny arrived today and I've been checking it all out and making measurements on it vs the Cruise-o-matic that's in the car.  Looks like I may have some problems with the crossmember, mostly due to the parking brake cable system that uses it, and I'll have some work to do the make the clutch linkage function while clearing the headers.  Also I'll need to turn the shifter around to use the forward side of the rear mounting position.  I might be able to use it as it is but I'll only have about 5" between the shifter and the front of the bench seat.  If I flip it around the shifter moves forward about 2-3/4" which would make me a little more comfortable.  Not having made any holes in the floor yet, I haven't made the most accurate measurements and could be off by up to an inch or so.  Would sure rather end up with a little extra room there instead of being up against the seat.

It looks like at 61-1/2" I was a little long on my first estimate for the driveshaft length.   Actually the info I found was pretty darn good, the only real difference I found was that the yoke seal sticks out about 5/8" beyond the end of the tailshaft housing.   If Tremec's spec sheet had listed the length including the seal instead of just between the casting faces, I'd have been right there.   Armed with actual first hand measurements instead of relying on the internet info, I'm ready to take the tranny yoke up to the local driveshaft place and have them put on a 61" driveshaft.  I was surprised but the guy on the phone said they need my yoke because they have to balance the shaft assembled to it, and changing the u-joints changes the balance.  Makes good sense but I didn't know they were that critical.  Should have the new shaft by the end of the week.  It'll be a 3-1/2" mild steel shaft assembled with all 1330 U-joints and of course precision balanced.
 
Also this week I've installed the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, bellhousing clutch fork and throwout bearing onto the 352 shortblock I have on a pallet.  All fits as intended which is no great surprise, but now I can be sure there won't be any surprises once I get up under the car installing all the goodies.  Since the tranny arrived I'll go ahead and stab it in too.  I'm leaving nothing to chance here, she's gotta be ready to go to work on Monday.  Running a regular frikken reality show deadline for myself, sheeze...

[falcon428]

Best of luck, I'm planning to do the same to my '65 Comet this winter, biggest advantage I have is time, it's not my daily driver.  Which is good because I will have to cut most of the tranny tunnel out and rework. 

[65er]

Thanks Falcon428, hopefully I won't have to do any major surgery to get this thing to fit.  From all I've read it seems like I should be able to get it to go with some hammer work.  Going to find out first hand in about a week!  Good luck with your Comet, sounds like a great project.

I got another step done today.  Mounted the clutch, bell housing and tranny to my old short block.  Found out I didn't have the right pressure plate bolts so I'll have to round those up this week.  I used some socket head cap screws for the mockup.  With everything together I was also able to see where the Z-bar will need to mount and I marked the center location with a piece of aluminum tape on the bell housing.   

Also I received the 3rd member I ordered from John's Industries off of their Ebay ad  http://www.ebay.com/itm/150920611673?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649  Pretty smoking deal I think since I had a couple junk and trashy units I was messing with.  I was looking at nearly $200 for the right yoke, bearings and seals etc, plus having to rip it all apart and clean everything etc.  I got one like in the link except with 3.25 gears instead of 2.75's.  $250.00 including the shipping and they shipped it the day I ordered.  Has all new bearings, new u-bolts and is all clean and primered like the one in the picture.  They even stuck a spare crush sleeve in the box, I guess because I told them I was going to change out the gears.  Can't hardly beat that and the darn thing looks good!  Now I can swap my 3.82 gears in and I won't even hardly have to get dirty doing it.  The intent is to install the 3.82 gear along with the tranny swap and drive it a while to see how I like it.  Then I'll put the 4.30 gears in my original 3rd member and try that a while.  After I experience those ratios for a while and recover from my current spending spree I'll decide what ratio to go with and get a pair of new 31 spline axles,  true-track differential and new gears to do the complete rearend upgrade.

[65er]

I got most of my clutch linkage worked out today.  Since the original Galaxie clutch linkage pivots on a ball that screws into the bell housing and I'm using a Quicktime scattershield/bell whatever you want to call it, I had to find a way to mount my Z-bar.   Happy CNC time again!  After I got the tranny and engine mocked up with the pressure plate and clutch fork I was able to see where the Z-bar needed to mount and then I started designing.  I didn't like the plastic ball stuff I had and man I thought the whole setup looked kind of wimpy.  Here's my frame side Z-bar mount with the crooked ball. 


I thought it must be made that way on purpose until I peeled off the old washer.  NOPE that wimpy thing was coming apart. I put it in a vise to see if I could press it apart and it let loose as soon as I thought about putting some pressure on it.  At least that made it easy to work on...


I opened up the hole in the bracket to 5/8" and made a press fit pivot pin with a big nut on the back.  The engine side has about .001" clearance for the spherical bearing shown in the picture from my first post on this thread.  I put a socket head cap screw in the end with a washer so the bearing can't fall off but I left plenty of room for the bearing to move around as much as it might need to while the car is in motion.   When I install it on the car I'll have a thick rubber washer between the bracket and end of the Z-bar, and I'll pack the bearing to washer area full of grease.


Then engine side of the mount was a little more involved but probably simpler than it looks.   It uses a similar pivot pin held in place with a cap on top of a riser block.  The riser is held in place with two of the engine/transmission bolts.  There will also be a rubber washer at the engine end of the Zbar and that end will be packed with grease too.  Both of the spherical bearings rotate freely on the pins and the spherical feature is only to allow for misalignment or flex while driving. Here you can see everything plugged together and allowed to hang.  I have probably 15 degrees of droop at each joint in this picture but I expect everything to line up fairly straight when installed in the car.


Here you can see the ends that go inside the Z-bar.  It's kind hard to see because everything is black that's the frame mount laying on top of the clutch fork.  We had a whole box full of screws at the shop that we used one time for masking off the thread holes of some parts we had to primer so I've got an excellent and free supply of screws with green primer on the heads, lol.


Feels like everything wants to rotate nice an free and is plenty strong.  Should last a good long time.

Also I read an interesting thing in the instructions that came with my transmission.  They said to toss the original linkage helper spring if you're using a diaphragm pressure plate, which I am.  I don't have much experience with clutches but is there that much of a pressure difference between a diaphragm style and a Long style? Or do they have different travel requirements or why would it matter?  Seems like what would be good for one would be good for both...

[jayb]

Nice work on that bellhousing bracket!  That's going to be a solid setup ...

[amdscooter]

^^^ Hell ya that's a solid bracket. Surprising there is enough clearance for that big hunk of aluminum. Nice work!

[drdano]

Also I read an interesting thing in the instructions that came with my transmission.  They said to toss the original linkage helper spring if you're using a diaphragm pressure plate, which I am.  I don't have much experience with clutches but is there that much of a pressure difference between a diaphragm style and a Long style? Or do they have different travel requirements or why would it matter?  Seems like what would be good for one would be good for both...

Not sure what you mean by tossing the original linkage helper spring?  Do they mean the assist spring under the dash or the return spring from the fork to the front cross member?  I run both and recommend both on my TKO600.  The assist spring has barely any tension on mine since the diaphram clutch is so easy to push.

On my McLeod organic clutch with diaphram disc they recommend a .050" air gap when the clutch is fully pushed in.  I'll tell you from experience that less than that the trans will act very "ratchety" between gears, mine seems to like around .050-.060".  You obviously can't mock that up very well out of the car.  You can however take the time now to mark and cut an access window in the bellhousing that is big enough to easily get feeler gauges in for checking the air gap.  If not, you've got to go in through the starter hole, which is doable, but kinda hard to do...and you have to pull the starter..  I did two on mine, the first was a fark up at 10'o clock that I can't hardly get to because of the brake master cylinder in the way.  The second was a good one at 6 o'clock on the very bottom and works awesome.  If you have a remote starter cable you can easily rotate the motor over until you get to the just right spot to put the feelers in.  Then mark the balancer for future reference.  :-) 

[e philpott]

the assist spring works to push down and pull up depending upon position of pedal , diaghram clutches are much lighter and the assist spring can possible cause the clutch pedal too stick down and not re-engage as easily as it would with it out .... diaghram clutches also have a lever ratio of 10 to 1 , and Borg and Beck has 6 to 1 ratio while the Long style has 4.8 to 1 lever ratio wich is why a diaghram clutch feels so much easier to push than a Long style clutch