70barracuda

Well I took it out for the real maiden voyage. Highway and all. Shifts like butter all the way to fifth. Maybe some slight notchiness but they said that'll go away after break in. Either way its miles better than the ax15. Clutch feels great and pedal isnt super heavy. I actually stalled it twice today because of how vastly different it is lol. Rpms at 65 are 1800, so that means I can definitely run 3.90 rear gears...

Lol yes I did. Checked that 3 times as well

Well she's running and driving! I've never been so nervous to drive it before lol Ive tripled checked everything but still that feeling I forgot something is there. Oh well. Time to break it all in for 500 miles. Original Speedo line fit right in with an adapter and was the perfect length as well. I also flipped the trans crossmember so I was able to get rid of all the spacers on the actual mount. Engine and trans sit around 3 degrees tilt back so that's good. Driveline seems like it should be fine after all angles were measured. And I finally got my reverse lights working. Also had to get a larger boot for the offset shifter adapter. Pedal feel and shifting is WAY different than before so I have the feeling ill be learning this truck all over again.

Thanks!

Anyone have a schematic for the reverse light wiring? Or atleast knows how they run? It's an 1988. The new tremec I have has the same 2 wire switch but I've removed so much wiring I can't remember if I cut it or tucked the harness somewhere. Body harness and fuse box is stock. All engine management wiring is gone. Thanks.

I feel much better about this crossmember over my hack job of one. Only thing left is to get a block spacer instead of those puck style ones. They'd probably be okay but I'd feel better with a solid block

Progress has been pretty slow. I tried to gather everything I needed before hand but as it usually goes I'm waiting on parts. So I got the trans in and mounted. Took about 4 hours. The plastic clutch line up tool had alot of slop and I think they attributed to the hard install. I redid the clutch twice. Eventually got it in and spent an entire day making the new trans mount to ultimately decide I don't trust my welding and purchase a $350 adjustable crossmember and $100 mount. So that should be here hopefully this week. In the meantime I tried to get the hydraulics bled and clutch working. Well I hooked it up to the factory master which should have been good but alas would not disengage the clutch. So I purchased a new wildwood master and spent a couple hours getting that installed. Ended up taking the clutch pedal connector off with heat and threading it onto the master as the factory pushrod wouldn't work. Then had to drive all over town for a stupid little adapter from 7/16 to 3/8. And finally after all that and getting it bled the clutch still wouldn't disengage. While I was under looking in the bell housing making sure the hydraulic throw out bearing was working, I had my grandpa push the clutch pedal and felt a couple drops on my neck. Bleeder leaking. Called up tilton and apparently they had a bad run of the remote bleeder adapter and screw and its a known issue they leak. Wonderful. So now they are sending me a new one. I am pretty defeated with this damn trans. The whole engine swap was not this hard lol. (Yes my welding sucks)

Just like the title says, does anyone know the stock stroke for the clutch master? I know the bores are .688 to .699 but I cannot find anywhere the stroke length.

So this is what I came up with. It's not pretty but it didn't bend or move at all with the transmission loaded on it. Eventually id love to do a bent tube up to the trans kinda like what frankthedog said. But this will do for now.

Here's a better picture.

Need ideas for a transmission mount for my LS swap and new tremec trans. I'd like to keep the stock cross member if possible. In my head I'm just gonna stack square tube and weld it up. I'm worried itll be too high of a tower if that matters. Ideas???

Ultimately I want to make more power and really romp on it. The ax15 is limited at 300 and that's being generous. The new TKX is rated at 600ftlbs so plenty for what I plan to make. And yeah both of those 2 things as well. Tkx can shift up to 7500rpm and also has a lower overdrive

getting closer. It's actually scary how similar the transmissions are. The TKX weighs 95lbs dry. Measured for the the throw out bearing and got it all mocked up. Probably gonna recheck everything as this was a $400 throw out bearing and I ain't messing around. Following instructions to the letter.

Just about ready for the new trans to go in. Then it's all the fun of setting up the hydraulics. Tremec has you make sure the bell housing runout is within their spec so the geometry of the input shaft and all is good. Kinda a pain in the @$$ but is needed for warranty. Luckily mine was good and I didn't have to mess with offset dowel pins. Rest of the clutch went on easy and now I can bolt it all up with the bell housing and then trans to bell so install is soooo much easier.

Man this job suckedddddd. Hopefully it'll be worth it. The floors got pretty warm and also not having a/c I'm hoping this will keep the cab just a tad bit cooler.

So I never had more than 1 set of keys for the manche. Decided it'd be a good idea for a spare. Went to home depot and they didn't even carry the blanks. So I bought a NOS set. Brought it in and they wouldn't cut it. Can't cut outside keys. Okay whatever, forgot about it. Well fast forward a month and I just locked my only set in the truck. Eventually got in with an airbag tool and cranked down the window. So today I try a different home depot. Nope. Then an ace hardware. Nope. So then I try some old school lock smith places. 3 of them said nope, they either don't have someone or a machine that'll do anything older than 1990. Like how hard is it to cut a set of GM keys. Anyways, I call my local jeep dealer out of desperation and they tell me no, as their machine only goes off vins. But they did refer me to their sister Mazda dealer who had the copier type machine. Brought the blanks in and the dude cut them for free. Said he hasn't done a set like that since probably 1988 lol. Anyway, that's my rant for getting a damn key cut

Not the before. I didn't have the temp sensor. And dealing with a leak right now so I haven't driven it more than a block.

Installed an oil cooler and some gauges. Did I need one? Probably not. Is it cool? Oh yeah.

Picked up a reloading bench from a family member. The extra weight really makes the truck smooth over bumps.

Finally got around to changing out the radiator hoses. The ones I had didn't exactly fit great. My radiator is SBC style so the connections are difference sizes. Just made some out of summit silicone and adapters. Fit way better and no leaks.

New center console matches almost perfectly. Now I can finally say the interior is done....

It's within a 1/4 length and case size looks almost identical. That's why I went with it. Should fit almost perfect. The only issue I have is that they advertise a center shifter that's actually directly in the ax15 shifter spot but literally no one has one done yet. Even tremec. So I talked to the guys at american power train and they said the rear shifter can be flipped and they sent that offset stub so it should be within half an inch of the center plate.

Yup. Brand new TKX

Now the fun begins

I got a cheap ebay header for a 2.5 wrangler YJ and it worked great. Then just got a block off plate for the egr on the manifold and a plug for the bottom hole. Worked great. I no longer have a 2.5 but for the year I ran it, I had no issues. Also deleted the charcoal canister and ran a vented gas cap. You have to vent the tank or it will crumple/over expand