So I am in the middle of doing a motor and trans swap- (305/t-5 to 355/tko-600) I have a tilton 6000 hydraulic throw out bearing from modern drive line, 621 bell and 10 3/4" stock replacement clutch (technically for a corvette but same flywheel). I had done alot of research here and else where and had gotten what I thought were all my ducks in a row and gone ahead with getting things ordered.

During setup they spec the bearing to have a .125" gap to the clutch fingers. Even with the adjustment sleeve all the way in I was sitting at about .180" pre-load. So roughly .300" out of spec..... after calling MDL they pointed me in the direction of a "lower lever height" clutch that has the fingers offset the correct amount for the release bearing. Is anyone familiar with these or know where to maybe get one local instead of having to ship an in house made one from Idaho to Michigan?

I have not seen any mention of the problem or the different height clutch on here. I and wondering if that stems from most people using the old fortes kits that had a spacer/ adaptor and thus created enough clearance. I am not using the kit obviously, but have seen here and other places that with the right parts and possibly some tunnel smashing the tko will go in without too much effort. All the info I read pointed to the fact that either with or without the kit that stock clutches will work?

Enlighten me with what I have missed!!

Thanks.

 

The 1988 Vette 10.75 clutch should work in place of the F-body 10.5 with no issues as you probably know.

If you did run the Fortes adapter and stock style bell / slave / fork / clutch, your problems would seem to be addressed, other than perhaps driveline length and possibly extended pilot bushing. You're not running a 168t flywheel, so it's still an option.

The shallower pressure plate that bolts onto an F-body flywheel like you're discussing isn't uncommon. It's shallower and it's rated less pressure. So you might want to run a more aggressive disc with it if you go that route. If you're trying to go local for clutch parts, check into a brake and clutch rebuilder. Usually, they specialist more in bigger truck work, but stop and talk to one; they should be able to let you know if they can work with your request for a shallower PP / custom disc.

Just to be a hater, you're considering putting effort and money to run a 621 bell, shallower pressure plate, and Tilton TOB instead of stock parts. I can't think of one benefit to those parts except maybe DS exhaust clearance.

I believe strongly in supporting a shop that's specialized in (rebuilding and servicing) manual boxes long-term. "Conversion Specialists" are interested in moving parts they stock more than what would best suit your particular vehicle.

With all that said, there may be a shallower TOB option out there for you. I don't know if there is one that would give you the 0.3" you're seeking, off the top of my head. I did run into basically the same situation a looooong time ago when I wanted to run a "too tall" TOB with a T5 clutch and T56. I did not keep / run the too-tall TOB.

 

JMD- Sounds like you have been down this road before so thanks for the reply. My logic on the parts selection was based on the fact that my understanding is fortes doesn't sell the kit anymore so I would have to try and find them used. Maybe this is wrong but I couldn't t seem to find anything but sporadic used parts. I also wanted to avoid adaptors and spaces for the sake of having less parts in the system in general. I had actually picked the 621 out of the fact that it was available and cheap (without realizing it doesn't have a fork arm mount to keep the stock setup). So the need for the hydraulic bearing was a direct result of that goof.

Obviously at this point the root of the problem is the TO bearing height. If i can find a shorter one and keep everything else I have and keep everything stock replacement i am golden. I had looked at a howe bearing as well but went tilton as it had better reviews and seemed to be of higher quality. looking back at the howe bearing it may work. It is intended for a t-5 and has the shorter compressed height. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Howe-...ing,21395.html Does the t-5 and tko have the same size shaft and thus it would work? Howe also makes a bearing that is meant for saginaw, t-10 and munice trans. Howe is local to Michigan so there is a chance I could go and pick it up.....

 

Thanks; I hadn't kept up to date on the adapter availability. And I usually have that exact mindset; the fewer adapters, the better. If the TKO-600 can go directly on a 621, it should also be able to go directly on a Lakewood 15020, which keeps the stock third gen clutch / fork setup. Yes, it's tough finding the right TOB some days. . .

 

i installed my tko600 behind a 6.0 LS using the lakewood bell housing ls7 clutch and the tilton throw out bearing. i did use the mike forte spacer etc... fun times, i had to add spacers on the input housing to get to that clearance. easier to add then take away.