May '14 - Wiring, Dash, and Transmission Surgery

Instead of using the standard dash layout, I like the 'competition' gauge layout that puts the critical gauges directly in front of the driver...tachometer, oil pressure, and water temperature. Silly thing like speedometers and fuel guages go off center. I had a set of the Autometer Ultralites with a silver face, but their lighting at night is hard to read at best. Instead I had Speedhut out of Orem, Utah make me up a set of their electronic gauges, with 3 3/8" face on the large ones. They do have a 'correct' reverse-reading speedometer on their 4" Cobra guages, but I didn't think that was worth the extra $200 or so. I think these will do nicely.

Got the ignition switch, horn, and other switches and gizmos all laid out, cut the holes using a hole saw and/or drill, and put everything in. so see if the layout worked. Not very far off my previous builds.

Rather than dinking around with push button or toggles for turn signals that always get left on, I went for a Russ Thompson self-cancelling turn signal. He's been helping the FFR crowd with some nifty upgrade parts almost as long as FFR has been around.

He machines the FFR-provided steering-wheel hub to work with a Volkswagen turn/cancelling unit, and machines a custom signal arm with a momentary pushbutton on the end that can be used for horn, flash-to-pass, or anything else you want.

Also got the trunk upper floor and all the amp and stereo system wiring in place. They're usually not a whole lot of use at highway speeds in these cars, but I like to wait in the car and rock out to some tunes while the wifey is in shopping or running other errands. Now that CD players are rapidly dying off, much shorter DIN-sized units can be tucked neatly up under the dash almost out of view to those walking by the car.

With the trunk upper floor in it was OK to attach rear cockpit wall. Had to oval a few of the rivet holes that didn't quite line up on the new panel. Used an air nibbler to cut out the 4x6 speaker holes.

And pull all the rivets, and the cockpit aluminum is finished, other than the tranny tunnel cover - have to wait on that until I figure out exactly where the relocated shifter handle is going to sit.

Decided to go with a tan interior this time around rather than gray. Found some suitable vinyl and carpet at PerfectFit that seems promising. Their dash material isn't padded like FFR's, so I ordered some separately and used 3M 77 Adhesive to stick it all in place and fold the extra around the sides and through the gauge holes. I ordered a glovebox kit from a Hot Rod outfit on Ebay with a wooden door just the right shape, and a fiberglass box that you trim to the desired depth. I made it about 2" deep, leaving enough room to mount one of the front stereo speakers behind it and still have room for heater/defrost ducting. Also need a spot for the EFI computer.

Once all the vinyl was in, I could remount the gauges, hopefully for the last time. Always liked tan interiors with red cars, which is where I'm still leaning. There are a few other colors that would look good with tan - some blues, greens, maroons, etc. We shall see - but red gelcoat will do for a while yet.

Also got my power steering lines made up and ready to attach. Horns are ready to honk.

Still no motor yet, but no matter - the midshift conversion still needed to be done on the TKO-600. It's a heavier, beefier tranny than the good ol' T-5, as I found out the hard way lifting it onto a work table for surgery. Pulled a back muscle with threatened to derail training for my marathon attempt in a couple of weeks. (Got some help with that so I"m still on track, although that goal is going to delay getting the car on the road by 3-4 weeks I"m sure).

Anyway, it turns out the conversion job is actually easier on the TKO than the T-5, and there are fewer parts to swap out. Tremec designed them to have many different shifter locations to suit several different muscle cars, trucks, etc. Here it is with the Pro-5.0 shifter, top plates, and hardware provided in the kit.

First step was to remove the stock shifter and mid-plate cover. The stock rear-most shifter location is best for most late model mustangs, and can be used in the Cobras, though they require the use of a shifter handle that's canted forward. Midshift allows the use of a vertical shifter like most cars. In the stock location, the shifter manipulates a single shaft that in turn manipulates the three actual shifter fork shafts from underneath.

Converting to mid-shift is simply a matter of removing the single shaft, and flipping the ends of the shifter fork shafts over. A shot looking straight down into the tranny.

It just take using a hammer and the right size punches to remove the three shifter fork shaft ends so you can get at the rear shift shaft.

Pop the end piece off of the rear shaft (that roll pin is the trickiest with the limited space).

Here are the ends of the three shifter shafts on the left, and the rear shift shaft end on the right (which is no longer used). Picture the three as a unit, and just flipping them over all at once, so the one that was on the right is on left shaft and vice versa, and they're all oriented 180 degrees around on their respective shafts, so that the midshifter lever can manipulate them directly from above.

Then a cap gets pulled out from the back, and the last drift pin on the rear shift receiver gets pushed out. The trick on that one is it can only be pushed out with the shaft at a certain angle, and in doing so the roll pin drops down into the transmission tailhousing. You either have to separate the tailhousing or fish it out with a magnet. The magnet was simple enough, but I'll probably still drain and refill the transmission just in case any little bits of debris dropped in while all this was going on.

With the rear shaft out of the way, it was just a matter of putting the shift shaft ends back on in the correct locations - the center one is back on in this shot, inverted from its previous configuration.

With the other shaft ends in place, I applied sealer and put the new covers on. There is a catch to going with midshift on the TKOs, though - you lose the neutral safety switch functionality. The switch can either be left in place or you can cap that hole. I'm going to come up with some other method to ensure I never forget to have it out of gear or have the clutch in for it to start to avoid any garage mishaps.

Then it was just a matter of bolting in the shifter, setting the travel stops, and voila. I will have to get out the skilsaw and remove the GM torque-arm mount location under the tailshaft - it's an interference point in the FFR's. A fluid swap and it'll be ready to go.

The wifey helped me bleed the brake system, so it was time to try out the tires. 315-series Nitto road crayons will help create some fascinating abstract art on the local roadways. Not a huge selection of 315/35-17 tires out there, these are one of the best bangs for the buck. Decent autocrossing tires in this size aren't cheap, so if I do any of that it'll probably be on some of the less beefier wheels I have lying around the garage.

And the chassis with all its new shoes on, anxious to go terrorizing the streets.

The Lakewood bellhousing needed some love...got it cleaned up and a new coat of red on it. Subtle.

And stopping by the builder - it's just about ready to rock, just waiting for its turn on the dyno (if I can wait that long). Just waiting for the right length pushrods. It turns out the EFI Cobra valve covers I wanted to use won't clear the rocker arms (I should have remembered that) so I've got some tall ones on the way. Getting closer!