Installing Classic Motorsports Group’s
Elite TKO Overdrive Transmission Kit Into a 1970 Camaro
By
Jeff Mortenson
Classic Motorsports Group

Overview
The following is a description of the installation of a Tremec TKO-600, 5-speed overdrive transmission into my 1970 Camaro. To provide a little background, my car has a 475 HP, 383 small block motor. The car was originally equipped from the factory with an automatic transmission. The previous owner of my car had converted it from an automatic to a manual (4-speed Muncie). So I had all the proper linkage, pedals, etc.

In total, from the removal of the Muncie 4-speed to having the TKO installed, it took about 10 hours to complete the job with the help of a friend. If you have a reasonable level of skill, a friend to help you, and the proper tools, you should be able to successfully complete this swap without too much difficulty.

The Installation
First, I removed my passenger side seat, sill plate, and console so I would be able to access anything I needed in the interior of the car. I then jacked up the car onto jack stands as high as possible in order to be able to slide the TKO under the car while it is on the transmission jack. I positioned the jack stands underneath the rear axle, not at the rear frame rails. Next, I disconnected my exhaust at the collectors to create a bit more room to work. I then removed my driveshaft, crossmember, old transmission, scattershield, clutch & pressure plate. Next, I installed my new scattershield, clutch Disc, pressure plate, TO bearing, ball stud and clutch fork. After everything was in place, I set the TKO on a transmission jack and lifted it into the tunnel.

When using the Tremec shifter it is necessary to cut a small "quarter moon" notch out of the right edge of shifter opening. Although the Tremec shifter positions the shift handle slightly to the right of center (1" +/-) in your console opening, it will work just fine. To acheive perfect shift stick positioning and to avoid having to cut the "quarter moon" notch out of the tunnel, you can use our, low-profile offset shifter. Using this shifter is a no-modification installation.

Crossmember
The Classic Motorsports Group kits include a custom crossmember for 1970-74 Camaros. It is a direct bolt in replacement for the stock crossmember requiring no modifications to the car or transmission.

Custom Crossmember



Crossmember and transmission installed

Driveshaft
The Classic Motorsports Group kit comes with a custom made driveshaft complete with ujoints and C6 slip yoke.

Final under car work
After installing my new driveshaft I then focused on the electrical connections. For the reverse light switch, I simply hooked up my cars reverse light wires from the wiring harness (pink and green wire) to the reverse light switch located on the driver’s side of the transmission case. I used a custom made pigtail connector that easily snaps on to the reverse light switch on the transmission. This part is included with the kit

Next, I attached my electric speedometer wires to a convenient pig tail plug-in connector that was designed to plug directly into the electric speedometer sensor pick-up located on the passenger side of the transmission. Since I was not using the mechanical speedometer pick up, it was necessary to properly plug off the hole where the mechanical speedometer adapter would have gone. I did this by using Classic Motorsports Group's electric speedometer sensor connector & plug kit.

Mechanical speedometer adapter plug

Select Your Conversion Kit HERE

Before leaving the underside of the car, I filled the transmission with 3 quarts of GM Syncromesh transmission fluid. I chose to fill it through the filler plug as opposed to pouring it through one of the covers on the top of the case.

Interior & Console
With the shifter sticking through the now unnecessarily large hole in the tunnel, I decided to fabricate a sheet metal cover plate to reduce road noise and create a clean finish. I cut my piece of Home Depot sheet metal to size and used a 4” hole saw to create a opening for shifter to fit through. Next, I screwed the cover plate into place and using a spray-on adhesive, I attached some sound deadening material and a piece of black carpet to the cover plate to finish it off.

The stock Tremec shifter is a quality unit and it works just fine for this application. The only modification to the console was to trim a bit off the bottom edge on the plastic shift tunnel piece so that it would clear the shifter turret. Other than that, the stock console fit perfectly into its original location. I then bolted my shift bar in place, screwed on my 5-speed shift ball, reinstalled the carpet and trim pieces, and the interior was done!

As an alternative, you can use our low-profile offset shifter. Using this shifter eliminates the need to trim the plastic shift tunnel piece as well as eliminates the need to trim the tunnel and perfectly positions the stick in the center of the console.

Perfect shift stick positioning with the McLeod offset shifter

Break In & Test Drive
It is necessary to properly break-in the transmission. To do this, I put the car on jack stands, started the car, and ran through the gears for 10-15 minutes.

All that was remaining was the test drive. The shifting is noticeably smoother and tighter than the Muncie. The first gear of the Tremec worked well with my 4.10 rear gears, although I think that 3.73's would be ideal for the 2.87 first gear of the TKO-600. The throw between gears is nice and short. But the best thing, by far, is the overdrive! I am now able to cruise on the highway at 70 MPH at 2400 RPM's. With my old Muncie, I was at 3700 RPM's at 70 MPH - what a difference! The Tremec TKO-600 is everything I had hoped for and my car is now much more enjoyable to drive.

To complete this installation I used the Classic Motorsports Group Elite kit for 1970-81 Camaros.