XJS TH400 to TKO500 conversion from your friendly Ohio redneck.
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Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Columbus, OH
XJS TH400 to TKO500 conversion, or how The Driven Man made it extra hard.
I decided to start my own thread, because I think my personal effort deserves it.
So I will start from the beginning.
I went with pre-made TKO 500 kit from the thedrivenman.com at $4995+S/H. One might ask why not cook one of them setups myself and I will answer that:
1. my machining experience is very limited
2. my time is fairly valuable
3. this would violate one of the cornerstones of modern Capitalistic society, where we all specialize in something that we do best and making 5-speed kits is not something I do very well.
After about 10 weeks of waiting on the kit I decided not to wait on them to get more of pedal assemblies in and asked them to ship it without the pedal unit.
Kit came in looking fabulous, as pictured below. However, I think green clutch plate and disk might rob me of some horsepower, while red cover on Tremec gearbox should compensate for the loss
Gearbox came in as TR3550-8, which is supposedly a GM flavor of classic TKO500, rated for 425hp/500ft.lb..
As step one I removed my pedal assembly (took me about 35 minutes) to be sent to thedrivenman.com for adding clutch pedal and master cylinder.
Funny factoid, my '82 XJS is an early HE and still equipped with cable driven speedo, therefore I am mailing back electric pickup, to be exchanged with mechanic one.
This is it for now, tomorrow I will snap some pics of transmission removal prep.
So I will start from the beginning.
I went with pre-made TKO 500 kit from the thedrivenman.com at $4995+S/H. One might ask why not cook one of them setups myself and I will answer that:
1. my machining experience is very limited
2. my time is fairly valuable
3. this would violate one of the cornerstones of modern Capitalistic society, where we all specialize in something that we do best and making 5-speed kits is not something I do very well.
After about 10 weeks of waiting on the kit I decided not to wait on them to get more of pedal assemblies in and asked them to ship it without the pedal unit.
Kit came in looking fabulous, as pictured below. However, I think green clutch plate and disk might rob me of some horsepower, while red cover on Tremec gearbox should compensate for the loss
Gearbox came in as TR3550-8, which is supposedly a GM flavor of classic TKO500, rated for 425hp/500ft.lb..
As step one I removed my pedal assembly (took me about 35 minutes) to be sent to thedrivenman.com for adding clutch pedal and master cylinder.
Funny factoid, my '82 XJS is an early HE and still equipped with cable driven speedo, therefore I am mailing back electric pickup, to be exchanged with mechanic one.
This is it for now, tomorrow I will snap some pics of transmission removal prep.
Last edited by Mish_Mish; Jun 20, 2014 at 07:26 AM.
Fantastic!! I love the idea of putting a manual on a jag.
I'm eagerly awaiting your results. Looks like that kit is very complete.
Is it all bolt-on? Or is there some modifying and machining involved?
I'm eagerly awaiting your results. Looks like that kit is very complete.
Is it all bolt-on? Or is there some modifying and machining involved?
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From: Pacific Northwest USA
Ah, so he did. I was so enthralled by the pics that I went thru the text too quickly!
Cheers
DD
Cheers
DD
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From: France
Great looking kit, I am full of admiration and dying to hear all about the installation.
What are the ratios please on the gearbox and are you keeping the 2.88 differential?
I have heard that with a manual the standard V12 HE over-run cutoff on the fuel injectors can cause funny problems and driveline shunting on a trailing throttle. No idea if it is true or not. But the great Roger Bywater of AJ6 Engineering does acknowledge this possibility, and offers a fix he can do to the ECU if it turns out to be a real problem. Not expensive, just a matter of unsoldering something on the circuit board apparently.
Anyway, time to start saving/buying lottery tickets more frquently...
Good luck with the whole thing
Greg
What are the ratios please on the gearbox and are you keeping the 2.88 differential?
I have heard that with a manual the standard V12 HE over-run cutoff on the fuel injectors can cause funny problems and driveline shunting on a trailing throttle. No idea if it is true or not. But the great Roger Bywater of AJ6 Engineering does acknowledge this possibility, and offers a fix he can do to the ECU if it turns out to be a real problem. Not expensive, just a matter of unsoldering something on the circuit board apparently.
Anyway, time to start saving/buying lottery tickets more frquently...
Good luck with the whole thing
Greg
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Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 883
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From: Columbus, OH
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: orlando, FL
I wish I had a can of orange paint. As it is, I can only afford these:
http://i1.cpcache.com/product/172359...=460&width=460
http://i1.cpcache.com/product/172359...=460&width=460
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 183
Likes: 41
From: orlando, FL
and a couple of these so I don't have to explain the rest.....
http://drekgraphics.com/storefront/i...ar-500x500.jpg
http://drekgraphics.com/storefront/i...ar-500x500.jpg
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Posts: 6,278
Likes: 690
From: Limousin, France
Well, hopefully quite a few of the Europe section are hitting the Ring in Spring- see you there ??
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From: WV
one of the first things i gutted XD
