I could use some input from anyone who has recently done the swap.

So far...I have contacted 5speedtransmissions.com and Forte's. The quotes were distant in price

5speed was about $2,840 for their "kit" with adaptors, etc shipped to my house. Forte was about $2,350 shipped to my house. Forte uses an adaptor pilot bearing for the kit and 5speed didn't discuss that at all.

I am looking to place an order in the next week or so...and any input from a TKO 500/600 user would be nice.

Any place else to try for a better price?

Thanks!

 

fortes is the more popular one here, i got mine there. he is a little hard to deal with, never answers e-mail, but is good on the phone. they need an adapter pilot bushing, regardless of who they come from as far as i know.

 

I bought my TKO 600 from Forte's also. I used their pilot bushing when I first installed the tranny. But, when I swapped motors I used the standard GM replacement bushing. I have had no problems with it. Maybe 1500 miles so far. One thing I needed was a speedo cable adaptor. Not sure if this has changed or not. Basicly it adapts the Ford case to the GM sender and cable. Forte's has these for both electric and mechanical speedos. I used the Spohn crossmember with torque arm mount. So I cant give you any feedback on the spacers to mount the stock T-5 crossmember to the tranny. As far as shifter location goes. It fits the console fine. But I finally went with a stick that was about 8 inches tall and curved back about 3 inches. Think thats about it. HTH.

 

you can do that? just use a standard chevy pilot?

 

Well, its working so far.

 

Yeah...I am leaning towards Forte for price and knowledge. I had a longer conversation on the phone with Mike. He seemed like a decent guy.

The question that I have is about the electronic speedo adaptor. I read on Thirdgen that the $89 piece that comes from Forte is actually producing a Ford pulse count that doesn't work with GM.

Is this right? I really don't want to have to buy a conversion box or an aftermarket speedo to get the thing to work right.

Also, did you guys go with the x-member adaptor kits then? I think that the Spohn x-member for the TKO would be a reasonable buy for a bit more money.

Thanks!

 

The Forte's electric speedo adaptor is all you need. Just tell them what gear ratio and tire size and you'll be set. The adaptor mates a Ford speedo gear to a GM sending unit. So its a plug and play for your car. I used the Spohn set up for my swap. I also invested in a Lakewood scatter shield. I want to keep my feet intact if any thing blows.

 

That is good news indeed.

In regards to the torque arm...did you have to modify yours at all?

Also, for the driveshaft...Mike Forte said that some cars didn't need to modify the driveshaft (shorten 2 inches) and others did. Did you?

Did you use the stock shifter that came with the TKO?

Thanks!

 

No mods to the torque arm. But I bought the whole Spohn kit, crossmember and torque arm. But I did need to elongate the tranny mount hole a bit to get everything to line up.
No drive shaft mods. But I used the Ford C-6 yoke and adaptor U-joint that came with the kit. No shortening needed in my case.
I used the stock shifter at first. But, I didn't like the location of the ball. So I got a taller stick that bends to the rear a bit more. I also changed over to the the PRO-50 shifter not long ago. The only reason I did this was for the adjustable stops that are built in the the shifter base. I also re-drilled the bolt holes on the PRO base to the Hurst size so I could interchange sticks. Some one on this board had a different shifter base with a built in off set. If you have this shifter you should only need to adjust for height on the handle.

 

thats me! i always get the oddball stuff maybe it will work out better, who knows

 

I thought oddball stuff and modding "bolt-in" stuff was my arena

Is the C-6 yoke/adaptor u-joint the same one that everyone wants me to buy for the swap?

I am thinking I should just suck it up and buy the PRO 5.0 shifter up front...


Hey 86TA...did you have similar swap experiences as tom? You run into any problems?

 

As far as I know all TKO's have the Ford output shaft. So yes it's probably the same one that everyone is selling. One might be a name brand as opposed to a generic version. But other than that you need the Ford yoke and conversion U-joint. honestly, I really couldnt tell any difference in shift quality between the stock Hurst base and the PRO shifter. I just wanted the built in stops. You have more stick choices with the Hurst base. 86TA, I almost bought the same shifter you have. But I wanted the built in stops. I was paranoid from hearing T-5 horror stories about the weak shift forks.

 

the shifter i have came with the trans when i got it from fortes, i may go the to 5.0, i do not have the trans in yet, the motor is not here yet so the car is in pieces, im sure i will have some wonderful stories to tell once i start getting things back together.

as far as the yoke, you can get that from forte's as well, if you get it yourself do not get the ones from inland empire, the splines are wrong.

 

Thanks for the help guys...great info here.

I will be ordering everything for the swap from Forte in a few weeks...except for the Spohn x-member...

Thanks!