I Live Here
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 18,160
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I hate to Monday morning QB this but it's pretty easy to tell that the mount supplied by Kiesler changes the driveline angle. I don't think you have to raise the whole tunnel , you should be able to get most of the upward travel you need from cutting the crossmember out and adding in a rolled piece of flat stock in it's place? Dayclona can answer that better.
Well it is pretty hard to tell when you don't have an original tranny, engine, or crossmember to know. Car was a shell when I got it. Anyways the cross member it not the issue, I can shim the tranny up about 3/8" then the top of the tranny hits the tunnel, that is the problem.
In my opinion they should state very clearly that the output shaft is being dropped X inches with this crossmember. They should also offer a cross member that keeps it at the right height and leave the problem of fitting the floor to the customer. Oh well, guess I can't say much yet until I check the drive line angle and get a dimension on where it should be, maybe it is not that far off.....
Again this did not come from KIESLER, I have never delt with them. Could be the same mount I have no idea.
Regardless of who's kit you have, I don't care if you name the vendor, they have all copied the original Keisler design, and whether they have altered it or not, all the kits out there have compromised driveline angle to appease the purist (esp the Mopar crowd) who don't want to modify the floor board/hump, that being reiterated...
I measured my 71 Challenger, factory 4spd set up, all factory parts,...measuring from the output shaft centerline at the tailshaft to the top of the tranny sheetmetal hump (the hump center in the car is the same, 4spd or auto, as this is part of the original floor that is not cut for a 4 spd hump, factory or not) is approx 3 1/2"...now sheetmetal can vary between vehicles, so I also measured from the inboard transmission crossmember bolt, up to the tailshaft/output centerline, this is approx 3", now the TKO is slightly longer, your wheelbase is 2" shorter than a Challenger so keep this in mind when setting your driveline angle,...forget about the Shaker gap, don't use that as the criteria for setting the engine, if you know the rear pinion is set at factory angle, use that as your guidline in establishing the proper angle for the engine/tranny, you have to do this with the car sitting at ride height/suspension loaded, a 4 post drive on lift helps....your rear piniom should be between 3-5 degrees, do purchase an inclination meter, otherwise your just guessing...The engine/transmission need to be on parallel planes with one another, you want no more than a 2 degree deflection angle on the driveshaft based on whatever your pinion angle measures out at, otherwise driveline vibration will be your next problem, along with accelerated U joint failure...
be prepared to pull the transmission, and don't be afraid of cutting off bosses/flanges etc off the tranny to accommodate clearance needed, you may find that between massaging the tunnel/hump with a BFH and trimming the transmission down of excess casting that you can tuck it up higher...the early TKO kits (regardless of vendor) left the tranny untouched, with the exception of where the shifter was to be relocated, the TKO is a very tall case, the main areas of interferance in the E body tunnel are the passenger side along the top of the case to floor, lots of trimming can be done to remove unneeded tabs/flanges/casting on the tranny, the next problem area is the transmission crossmember brace that follows the floor/hump, I find that if you trim off the casting fin along the top of the tailshaft, you can gain considerable upward movement of the tailshaft, the relocated shift tower, make sure that is coming thru the factory 4 spd shifter opening with out hitting any of the surrounding sheetmetal in the opening....and being a BBlk (HEMI) application be sure to check the bellhousing to firewall/floor flange, you may need to bend some of the lip forward towards the front of car, as you relocate the transmission tailshaft higher into the car, I'll assume your using Schummacher swap mounts?...they can sometimes sit the engine higher, further complicating the matter, you may find yourself shimming the K frame lower, and raising the tailshaft to find that "happy place" for all the components involved...I've done quite a few TKO swaps, A.B.E smblk/BBlk/HEMI, Schummacher mounts, etc....or factory stuff, floor mods and tranny trimming are a must to tuck the tranny up there, but I've never had to hack a transmiision floor crossmember up,...you will need to fab a spacer between the transmission and the supplied transmission mout when you have achieved the desired/proper driveline angle.
Mike
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