Tremec TKO600 and the Lima

[enemy]

I recently grenaded the old T5 and am leaning toward the Tremec TKO600RR (.82 version) My setup consists of a smallblock bell adapter and 10.5 clutch on a Spec aluminum flywheel, and I have sourced a Tremec bolt pattern bell. Also going to update to the carbon fiber synchros for my 7000rpm shifts. I talked to Paul at Modern Driveline last eve and asked if they could turn down the pilot to .59 so this would be a drop-in (except for the 26 spline clutch and changing out my driveshaft yolk to the c6 31spline). He highly discouraged doing so because of the hardening on the input shaft would be lost and a needle style pilot could not be used.
Would like to hear some thoughts on this, I noticed nothing unusual on my T5 turning down it's pilot for the last 5000 miles?
He suggested installing a custom brass pilot bushing in the FLYWHEEL and removing the one in the crank, using shorter chevy input shaft, spacing the trans rearward, flipping the shifter to get it back to my current location, shorting my driveshaft... modifying the cross-member... I stopped taking down his notes in the middle of all that lol..
I haven't done the teardown to see if the Spec flywheel can even accept a pilot bushing?
I really don't want to go through all of that just because of the smaller pilot!

Any thoughts/advice on this swap would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Stinger]

Certainly losing the hardening is not ideal. With that said, you've already done it before and saw no ill-effects at 5000 miles. Does this mean it will last 200k miles? Probably not? Will you run it for 200k miles? Probably not. Simply removing the trans periodically and cleaning out the pilot and putting fresh grease in there, and even running a little emery cloth on the input if it's starting to show a little wear would go a long ways towards keeping it alive forever.

A new or modified and re-cut) input shaft is cheaper and easier than all of the crap you have to do to set it up his way with the Chevy input and such.

We can get you a 26 spline clutch (or just disc) so that's no issue.

[enemy]

Jul 8, 2017 11:48:15 GMT -5 Stinger said:

We can get you a 26 spline clutch (or just disc) so that's no issue.

Thanks for the input sir! Put my mind at ease.. Input shaft will be turned down.

I am running the King Cobra "style" clutch that is fairly new, so just a disk will be needed. I couldn't find that option on your parts page, so when ya have a moment just let me know how you would need me to "shopping cart" one up?

[Stinger]

We don't sell King Cobra stuff so we can't help with that.

[enemy]

Nothing really special about it, just a Veleo without the Ford emblem stamped in it. I got it through CJ a few years back, finally put it to use in this build. Not sure how to find the same/similar fiber with 26 spline? The ones I see listed around the web are only in kit form..
This is what I have => CJ King Cobra Clutch

[Stinger]

Veleo provides pressure plate covers for a LOT of clutch companies. It doesn't mean those clutches are all the same or oven similar, it just means they are using the same supplier to get one of the components used to build the pressure plate assembly.

Either way, we are a SPEC dealer so all we can get is discs for SPEC clutches which aren't interchangeable with King Cobra discs.

[enemy]

Roger that.
Just had another conversation with Promotion Powertrain (they are building the transmission) and they are confident they have the 26 spline version of the clutch I run.

[irsmart21]

Hate to be the late guy to the game (by about 8 months) but I stumbled on this thread and figured I would share something productive.

I had the input shaft turned down on my 92 LX 5.0 T5 back in 2010. I hated the idea of a pilot bushing and the idea of having to replace the input shaft down the road with the that wearing out, so I decided that I needed a solution that would allow me to keep the pilot bearing. I shared my concern with the machine shop that did the turning and they came up with a solution. They wound up re-case-hardening the shaft after the machining using Kasenit (which is no longer available, but Cherry Red is an alternative) Let me say, I just rebuilt my bottom end last month and from what I could tell, everything is holding up well. I did replace my pilot bearing while I had everything apart, which the old one still looked good, but figured it couldn't hurt.

Again, sorry for being so late to chime in, but hopefully this can be useful for someone else who happens upon this topic.

[deaner]

I've worked with Paul(Modern DriveLine) for some time now. Guy is insanely smart and designed 95% of our kits, BUT he's an engineer first lol. If you're still on here OP, what solution did you end up going with?