dbmac

I agree with Vic on the TKO600 fitment. Some folks have had success but not all. Here’s my experience with a TKO500 which is smaller. Still needed to cut the tunnel. if you have not received the TKO6 yet, I’d seriously consider the TKX. Similar horsepower rating, in a slimmer case designed for retrofits. It’s pretty much the same size as a Toploader. Let us know how it goes!

I went with 18x8.5 front with 245/45, and 18x10 rear with 275x40. The diameter is the same on both so the sidewall heights are equal. It is dead flat. I think it comes down to whether you like historic/stock or updated/modern. Both are fine, just pick what you like. Lots of the TV customizations go with bigger wheels and really thin tires, I always thought the thinner stuff like 35xs didn't look right on classic muscle. Plus they ride like skateboard wheels, hard as a rock. The 18's clear the upper and lower ball joint in the front so you can run a little more back spacing. I rolled the fenders all the way around to avoid shredding tires. They don't rub on most stuff in and out of driveways, etc. Post a pic of what you end up with ! Oh yeah its dropped 2" in back and 1.5 in front. I don't like "air" between the fender and tires. ;-)

And YES, I see that the rotor is on the wrong side. I flipped it after the pic. Doh!

New Wilwood rear discs, and changed the rear gears from 3.0 to 3.55 posi. Now I just gotta bleed the dang things... god I hate brake fluid...

Yeah @Caseyrhe, that price is a bit much, must be "list" since I now see it for about half that elsewhere. @RPM, that is more of the look I was going for - clean and neat. Very nice. Why wouldn't you do it again?

What have you all done for trunk carpet? Has anyone tried a carpet kit like the ones from ACC: https://www.accmats.com/commerce/1969/Ford/Mustang/Trunk Mat/17245/ They mention "boards" but not exactly sure where that is - over the tank or over the side drop offs. Debating whether to do this or do my own with MDF. I want to be fully carpeted, clean and neat. These kits look a little piecemeal. Thanks, Dave

A bit late to the convo, but I have the same seats as rr03cobra. They are comfortable and better lateral support. They do feel taller to me - my head now touches the headliner. I shaved the seat stops to lean back a bit more. @rr03cobra, Nice job on yours btw - wrinkle free! I could not get all of the wrinkles out of mine. @copb8, TMI also has some "in the middle" - still looking like stock Mach sets but with about half as much extra bolstering. I think they are called Sport? As opposed to the Sport-R above. CJ and others carry them.

I did mine - it was a bear. I'm pretty sure it came out the top - you can see the "hot dog" sticking out, so I figured that was less travel for it than out the bottom. The rubber binds up around the bend and hardens.

Hi @Gray69, Glad you tagged me, I have been meaning to share the outcome... I purchased that tunnel kit thru Summit. Not impressed. The pieces don't line up with each other and it would take a bunch of fab to complete. It is way longer than it needs to be. I cut my tunnel a bit at a time and kept moving the trans up until I got the pinion angle back to normal - about 2deg down. The carb is now dead flat (intake manifold has a couple degrees in it). First I tried keeping the shifter boot ring, but that still wasn't enough for the TKO, pinion was still 4-5 deg: I ended up opening it from the kick up at the firewall to the back just past the shifter ring, before the tunnel turns down a bit: With that cutout it is almost a straight line from the back to the firewall. had a piece of sheetmetal cut at SendCutSend (online laser cutting folks, awesome) and folded it on a bench over a pipe to radius the sides. They are slightly splayed towards the front. Then trimmed to fit the cutout with about an inch of overlap: The straight line worked but was a bit high under the dash, so I slit the sides and angled it down at about the back end of the second top cover plate. Its about parallel to the two front covers. I also slit the folds near the back ends to taper that in a bit more. A bunch of tack welds later and it was in: Best part - did NOT set the house and garage on fire! Not beautiful but hey, its under the rug... Some grinding, primer, seam sealer, paint and POR Undercoating on the bottom and it looked pretty neat (meaning not messy): Before everyone starts criticizing, no did not stiffen the brace. Yes I know it does not have a solid frame, but I do not think the car will "wad up like a pretzel". If it does, I'll post pics. The trans is now dead center at the tailshaft, which puts the shifter slightly offset. With the offset shifter base it comes out ok. The mount needed a 1.5" spacer ( I used thick aluminum square tubing). I kinda wanted to modify the mount, but its already above the bellhousing so not too low. All buttoned up and you'd never know what happened! I used a Lokar machined ring and a Scott Drake boot. Drake boot has a different hole pattern but I was able to drill it to match the ring. It is a nice leather piece. The Lokar boot was just vinyl, looked a little cheap. I also lowered it 2" in the back and about 1.5" in the front. Dead flat now and much better stance. I rolled the front fenders a while ago, no rubbing except full lock turns over bumps: To celebrate, I took her to our first show! Just a local meetup with all sorts of cars, a lot of late model stuff and some classics. How do we look with all the fancy stuff? Overall I am very happy with the TKO. A bit of a pain to get in, but works well. NO vibration or noise from the driveline. Still need to put the Posi gears in the rear but it has a lower first and better freeway cruising speed in 5th. But it definitely does NOT fit without modifications, especially if you keep the Z-bar for the clutch. Any angle change on the engine and it will not fit - that's how I knew my mounts were not the problem - my zbar was aligned perfectly. If you go with a hydraulic clutch setup you could drop the engine or live with a steeper angle and cut less. If I were to do another, I would definitely start with the TKX. The real interference with the TKO is the wide top plates; the TKX has no plates, is rounded and a bit shorter. Might even fit without modification. Hope that helps. Let us know how yours goes. Dave

Hi, I am considering moving to a Wilwood master cylinder for brakes. I have Wilwood front discs, and planning to convert the rears to WW discs as well. I don't really want a vacuum booster, I like the clean simple look of just a master. What did you do for plumbing and prop valve? Use the WW valve on the side wall, or the one mounted to the master? Do I still need the stock oem distribution block? Did you plumb the WW over to the stock lines or go all new from the master to the brakes? Trying to determine how big this project is going to be... Looking for any ideas and experiences... Thanks, Dave

Thanks guys. John - yes 5 deg sounds like a lot and probably causing that vibration. I saw the lower top covers but from MDL's feedback I shouldn't have needed them. Guess there is a lot of variation in body dimensions. MDL said to "go ahead" with my 5-1/2 deg but I don't really want to. Looks... wrong. Jpfll - I had the stock mounts correct, and with the Ron Morris mounts they have plenty of play so OK now. Definitely made it easier to align side to side. I have the 1/2" lower RM mount plates too, so will try those this weekend and see how much difference that makes. That will eliminate the use of the zbar as the engine will be too low. Not necessarily a bad thing, just more work and money for cable or hydraulic. Plus I *really* hate brake fluid... Or, I can cut and lift the tunnel. Doable just more PITA work. Funny, was just watching Bitchin' Rides "Fireproof" episode where they fix a '68 with TKO and bad vibration. They cut the tunnel to get the pinion down to 2deg. The real problem is that the tailshaft on the TKO sits almost 2" lower that the T10, from the mounting holes for the cross member. If you ignore the car and just measure Mount hole - cross member surface - mount thickness (same for both) - mount surface on trans - CL of driveshaft. I think I was about two months too early - the TKX looks like a much better way to go. Can be ordered with a 6.5 input shaft, so no spacer. Same length as a Toploader so no new driveshaft. It should be literally plug-n-play with a new crossmember. You can see the size difference - all the blue areas are gone:

Thanks John. Yep heard the same about not needing much clearance. I am about 1/8-1/4 from touching. Side - to - side is fine now, the tko sits a bit to one side. Plus the shifter is not directly over the driveline. All good there. Now the issue is vertical angle. I estimate the TKO is about TWO INCHES lower at the tail than the original T10! I am getting 6deg down. Seems like way too much - looking under the hood you can see the engine is tilted a hell of a lot backwards. Looks goofy. I was just reading your post from '17 on your install. Did you sort out the driveline vibration? Did you get the rearend up to 6? Did it cure the vibration? Even MDL's site says 6 degrees is max 3000 rpm. Thanks... Dave.

Picked up some Ron Morris mounts, really nice. Easy to move the motor around. Now the trans tail is centered better, trans mounts line up. But... the tail seems really low. The tail shaft is about at the bottom of the tunnel, not IN the tunnel. Pinion angle from the trans to the driveshaft is about 5.5 deg, and I still need to lower the rear which will make it worse. The z-bar is tilted down on the engine side, and hitting the exhaust. @rwcstang, where is yours sitting and do you know what the pinion angle came out to? Anyone else do a TKO? MDL thinks 6 or 7 deg is ok, but everything I have been reading says it's way too much. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Cross member won't flip, its offset so the other way round it will be under the case instead of the mount holes. MDL suggested loosening the mounts. Did that, pulled three of the four engine bolts thinking I could pivot it a bit around the remaining one. Sucker will not budge! Thought it was hitting the zbar so unbolted that but still won't move. (Seriously regretting unbolting the zbar, that is going to be impossible to get back in.) Maybe just too much weight still on the mounts to move? Need to drag out the joist and pull the engine off the mounts to see if they free up. Hell I ought to be able to hang the thing in the air and line it up, right? What did you use for clutch operation in yours - keep the zbar or cable or hydraulic? My zbar was working fine on the T10 so I figured I'd just keep it for now.

So after I toasted the T10, I bit the bullet and ordered a TKO500 5sp from Modern Driveline. Gorgeous piece of machinery! I got it "in" this weekend... sort of. Checked the bellhousing runout and flatness, all within spec. TKO went in fine and up snug against the housing without forcing. But its not in the center of the tunnel: notice the shifter in the cutout: ...which is causing it to hit the tunnel on one side before getting fully up into position. This has to be a problem with the motor mounts/frame, right? There is nothing else I can think of to adjust. I loosened up the mounts (stock) but they won't let the powertrain rotate. The T10 didn't have any problems, but it is quite a bit smaller than the TKO so I may just not have noticed. I am suspecting it is something to do with the shock towers; can't remember if the body shop replaced one of them or not. I would bet a small error there will move the tail end of the trans quite a bit. Solutions? Only thing I can think of is some adjustable motor mounts like Ron Morris: http://www.ronmorrisperformance.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=rmp&Product_Code=6110 to allow the engine to move forward/back on each side and rotate a bit. I also have a slight (1deg) tilt from side to side. Might be able to solve that with some shimming. Anyone ever change a motor mount WITHOUT removing the engine? I am almost done with this build and it seems like I am removing more stuff than I am installing... And what pinion angle from level are you seeing at the back of the trans? Even when I get this in the center, I am not sure it will go all the way up to the stock height at the trans mount. Thanks.

Nice! What company did you go with and how was the work to fit it up to the steering column?

I did the same, I always thought the 69 looked like they forgot that back piece!

I rolled a fender! Shocked that it actually worked. Kept it warm at about 100-120 and it actually came around to almost a closed hem. On to the other side, and then I'm dropping the front. ;-)

You might try dropping the belt and spinning the alternator by hand. It should be completely smooth, no gritty/grindy feeling. And freewheel a bit when you spin it. If its rough, then it's the bearing. If that's good then it may be the belt. A single v should be fine; I have a 100a Tuff Stuff on a single vbelt with no problems. See pic here: http://1969stang.com/forum/index.php?/topic/81155-i-need-to-finish-serpentine-belt-help/&tab=comments#comment-250121 . Starting cheapest first, I'd try: 1. Tighten belt. 2. Belt dressing / grip spray. 3. New belt. 4. New alternator. New belt and pulley system will be way more than an alternator. If you do upgrade the belts, CVF Racing makes a serpentine style system with an 8 groove belt but no idler pulley. Or you could go up to a Gilmer style with toothed belt. I bout one but decided not to use it. Plus they whine. For sale cheap if anyone's interested.

Rwcstang, sounds like you are in Redwood City. Any Cars n coffee between you and me?

Hi Mark, I'm looking at the t5 also because my t-10 is about shot. Got a full quote from Modern Driveline, about $3100 by reusing my belhousing and clutch. It wont help with freeway rpm but if you just want a softer pedal, a newer clutch will definitely help. I put in a McLeod Super Street Pro with the stock zbar and is very gentle, smooth engagement. Let me know if you do unload the Toploader and RPM doesn't want it. BTW I am in Mountain View so not far from you, there is a meetup every Thurs at Mojo Burgers on Foxworthy in SJ that might be interesting. Any thoughts from the rest of the crew on dealing with a dying t10? It needs double clutching to get into third and fourth now, been steadily getting worse. Some options: Rebuild the T10 - might be fun, and an excuse to buy more tools Have somebody rebuild it - any recommendations? Buy a Rebuilt T10 - about $12-1500 on fleabay. Anybody ever work with Garage Motorsports out of WA? Buy a rebuilt Toploader - about $2400 from someone reputable like David Kee Convert to the T5 - about $3100. I like J's comment: "shifts like butter" ;-) BTW, Modern confirmed there is NO tunnel mods needed if you use their tail housing and shifter. Other options? Thanks, Dave

Not sure what engine you have but for a windsor, I picked up a different thermostat housing with a bung in it. Try this from Summit RNB-902-1001 - Dorman Thermostat Housings or Oreilly Murray Climate Control Water Outlet. $11.

Flannel sheets? You could probably get some with horsies - I mean MUSTANGS - on 'em!

I have a 100 amp Tuff Stuff alternator with the CVF pulleys and it's been fine. Squealed a bit until I tightened it up. So it's more about if you want to look old skool or new skool. CVF makes good stuff. Just pick the look you like.

In!