Convince me to put a TKX in my Dart

Arthur Sperotto said
Good points! We shall see :)

By the way, I can drop the transmission independently of the bell housing as I have it, with the current amount of cutting. I agree, it's so much easier. Not sure what is different about our cars that made you unable to without doing extra work/cutting/fab. Might be related to the size and shape of the T-56. I've pulled it out and reinstalled so many times, I decided to time myself. It's about 3 minutes to pull or reinstall, or 5 minutes if you include removing/reinstalling the bell afterwards. One of the reasons I like the TKX is because it weighs 90lbs, so I can manipulate it very easily with one hand while using the other to operate a jack, and get the splines to line up quickly.

Oh it's definitely related to the size and shape of the T56. You can see that the T56 is quite a bit longer and the shift tower is further behind the crossmember, so it hits the area where the stock tunnel has already tapered down into the driveshaft tunnel when you slide it straight back. That's why the opening behind the shift tower had to be so long, as it tapers down too so the shift tower sticks out as the transmission slides back. If I'd made the tunnel boxier back there with a straight down drop off it could have been a little shorter.

I think the spec I saw for the TKX was 96 lbs dry, the T56 Magnum is 135. Although the A833 was like 120 lbs dry.

DionR said
The thing he has going for him is the crossmember he bought is a 1/2" flat bar rather than a 1.25" or taller I-Beam section. That height will help some. The Holley instructions show it barely sticking above the stock sheetmetal.

View attachment 1716000814

I do have one concern with it working though. That crossmember was designed around their G3 motor mounts which move the motor forward about 1.75". This means the TKX in this case will be back further than they expect it will, which could result in the case crashing with the crossmember, depending on how close they set that bar up to the TKX case. Looks like the case is a little wider further towards the front and I could see it clipping that. Hopefully not, just something to watch for.

That's a good point, I hadn't seen that upper hoop. The end plates on the T56 crossmember definitely make it taller. But I like that profile for torsional rigidity too. Everything's a trade off.

The TKX wasn't out when I bought my T56, but honestly I'm super happy with the 6 speed, and filling a 3" gap or a 1/4" gap is pretty much the same process, once it goes beyond a single pass it ends up being the same amount of work.