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The real joy of owning a muscle car is in driving it. Muscle car owners who want to get the most out of their cars often drive to distant car shows or other events, but without an overdrive transmission a long trip on the highway becomes tedious. If the car has a performance rear axle ratio it is even worse. I love the sound of a V8 at speed as much as any guy out there, but a steady 3600 RPM for three hours solid with loud exhaust gets tiring. Most of us have become accustomed to being able to hold a conversation and/or hear the radio on long drives, and we would like to be able to pass by at least a couple of gas stations without stopping to fill up! An overdrive transmission solves those problems, and provides many other benefits as well.

The Tremec TKO is an overdrive manual five speed that is ideal for retrofitting into the classic muscle cars of the sixties and seventies. With your choice of a 0.82:1, 0.68:1, or 0.64:1 overdrive ratio depending on the model, you can really bring those revs down to a manageable number. A lower engine RPM on the highway provides several advantages.

First of all, as already mentioned, is the noise level. If you have a 3.73 axle ratio with a 235/60-15 tire (26.1" tall), 75 MPH equals 3600 RPM with a non-overdrive four speed. The TKO-600 with a 0.64:1 fifth gear (the most popular version) will bring that 3600 RPM down to a leisurely 2300 RPM at the same 75 MPH. The sound level at 2300 RPM is a whole lot easier on the ears after a couple or three hours than 3600 RPM would be!

Another benefit of the lower RPM that I already touched on is increased fuel economy. All other things being equal, the engine will obviously use less fuel at 2300 RPM than it will at 3600 RPM, but with a muscle car engine that has been built for performance there is another factor that comes into play. At 3600 RPM, some 4-barrel carburetors may have the secondaries partially open. If you have a steeper axle ratio, it is even more likely that the secondaries are open at highway speeds. With a 4.10 rear end gear, that 75 MPH number I am using results in almost 4000 RPM with a non-overdrive transmission. At that point, many carburetors are going to have the secondary barrels dumping fuel. Reducing the RPM needed to cruise on the highway will reduce the throttle angle, closing the secondaries and making a huge difference in fuel economy. I have actually seen fuel mileage on the highway be doubled by installing a TKO, due to being able to cruise without having the secondaries open!

Engines wear faster at higher RPM. In simplified terms, every engine has a lifespan that consists of a certain number of revolutions, barring abuse, neglect, or catastrophic failure. If you use fewer of those revolutions every time you drive 200 miles to a car show, your $5,000, $10,000, or even $20,000 engine will last longer. So will everything attached to it that turns with the engine. Your alternator, water pump, mechanical fuel pump, power steering pump, and AC compressor will all be turning fewer RPM on the highway, and their life will be increased.

High performance engines produce more heat than normal passenger car engines do. Many muscle cars have heat problems due to high RPM on the highway. Reducing the RPM with an overdrive can reduce engine temperature and prevent overheating on long trips.

The intangible advantage to all the above is that overdrive will enable you to drive your muscle car more. You will be able and more likely to drive it to further-away car shows, or even on vacation! Overdrive allows you to enjoy your car more by driving it to places that you wouldn't consider going with your 4-speed (or 3-speed automatic) spinning the engine at 3600 RPM.

The TKO is plenty strong for most muscle cars. It is rated for either 500 or 600 lb.-ft. continuous input, and those numbers are very conservative. There are a large number of cars running much more than the rated torque with the TKO, and failures are rare. Although I can't officially condone using the TKO in an application that exceeds the torque capacity rating, I can tell you from experience that many folks have done so and have not had any problems, even under race conditions.

The Tremec TKO will decrease the noise level on the highway, increase your fuel mileage, increase the life of your engine and everything attached to it, could reduce or eliminate temperature issues, and allow you to drive your car to places that you wouldn't with an old four speed. It is stronger than the old Muncies, T-10s, Toploaders, and A-833s. Versions are available that will bolt directly up to a common GM or Ford 4-speed bellhousing, and custom Mopar bellhousings are available to adapt a TKO to a Mopar small block, big block, or late model Hemi. All in all, it is an ideal transmission for a muscle car that gets driven on the highway. For more detailed information on TKO specifications and options, take a look at my other articles in this series.

Keith Farren is an ASE Certified Master Technician with a BS in Business Administration, an Associate degree in Automotive Technology, and over twenty years experience in the automotive industry. He owns and operates two websites dedicated to classic cars, Classic Car Financing and Loans and Classic Car Prices Today. He also works for Keisler Engineering, a Tremec distributor that designs and sells all the custom parts you need to install a TKO into your muscle car or street rod. Give Keisler Engineering a call at (865) 609-8187.

Kustom Syndrome Is Spreading!

There is a disease with no cure that is spreading. It's hard to tell who around you may have this Syndrome and it is contagious, so you never know when you might catch it. You may be out in public one day and you sit down next to some guy who looks normal through you feel there is something different about him and you have a small conversation and when you get home later you find out you caught it!

            It is mostly caught at Car Shows, Bike Shows and Drag Races. You attend one of these shows for your first time as a spectator, you see the rows of nice Hot Rods and Muscle cars with their custom metal flake and candy paint jobs, pro street tires and narrow rear ends, and pinstripping. Maybe even a few of the cars are doing burnouts and your see the big V8s lined up side by side, getting ready to race down the ¼th mile! You spend all day hearing loud engines reving with their rumbling sound and seeing rows of custom Bobbers, Choppers and Hot Rods that  when you get home at the end of the day you realize you've caught the syndrome!

            If you are younger you may start to realize it when you are in your room and you see your Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars in your room. After a while of playing with them,  you start to think that they aren't good enough anymore.  You think these cars need a custom paint job, and blower, drag tires, etc.

Maybe if you are older you are in the car driving home and you pass the Harley dealership on the way home that you pass everyday. You look at the stock Harley's that you have seen many times before and this time while looking you think about Chopping the rear fender and putting on a smaller Gas Tank, different front end, maybe some new Handle Bars and white wall tires just a different bike and you start day dreaming the build for the next 15 mins long after the light had already turned green.

Maybe you went a Drag Race when you were younger and while you were coming home from the Drags riding in the back of your parents SUV you stop at the light. While you are stopped you look out your window seeing the annoying ricer next you reving his fart sounding engine and you  wish you had a Big Block Chevy, or Hemi Mopar or Ford so you could leave that ricer far behind you. If you had that car you would race it every week to become king of the strip.

                        So now you have this Syndrome and you find yourself everyday thinking of what you what do to that car you see on Speed Channel, or that stock EVO powered Harley your neighbor has down the street or if you see a car in google you think about how you would Chop it and put a bigger motor in it.  Everytime you see a car now you think like this and you will think like this forever unless your girlfriend happens to find the Cure for it but until then you do find yourself doing this everyday and it never goes away.

About the Author

Kustoms and Choppers Magazine

I have a number of questions about muscle cars?

I am 15 and still learning about cars. I will be ready to buy an A body (most likely a duster or dart 70-74) Mopar in about a year probably with a 318 that I want to make a respectable small block out of with bigger heads, a mild cam, and probably a 650 edelbrock carb etc. There are a number of things that are confusing me. Please answer as many of these questions as you can.

1. With a 727 Automatic can you use the manual first gear for acceleration? Ive heard it is only for engine braking and it is bad for the bands to use it for acceleration.

2. How does the tachometer work?

3. How does the fuel gauge work?

4. What are vaccum secondaries? I hear the term in almost every article I read but still have no idea what they are or what they do.

5. How does the power steering work in an a body duster or dart work?

.............. Dude you are on the road to a nice little hot rod, I built a 72 duster and sold it. My daughter was 3 when I sold it and about sh--t a brick and at 12 she still has the original pink and she found the car in a couple of towns over and wants me to buy it back.

In answer to your question
1) who ever told you this is a idiot. The 727 is a good HD trans and no first is not for what you are talking about. Its just first gear like any automatic transmission that has a first. In the hot rod world people are going for a built baby 904. Lighter and just as tough, for less and a good light weight trans. with the right mods

2) The tack reads the RPM's of your engine ( rotation per minute ) great for keeping tabs on your idle, stall, and any kind of over reving

3) Fuel gauge just like any other how much fuel is left in your tank
now if you are talking about a pressure guage, then is helps you again keep tabs on the pressure. so it shows you that it is staying steady enough to keep the right pressure at your carb so you dont lean out the car or loose pressure so that you car straves for fuel on a hard pull on the engine ( drag racing)

4 vacuum secondaires, Is for 4 barrel carbs that opens the secondaries to allow more fuel in your engine when it needs it by vacuum pressure drop. Then you have double pumpers the shove extra fuel in the engine depending on where the throttle is and because your cam has so much lope to it there is a very low vacuum signal.

5 Again power steering is like any car your friends, dad or mom have driven it just makes it easier to steer. Some people want a manual steering system with a close ratio gear box so they can steer with a little easier effort (but not as easy as power steering assist) but will provide more HP when yoou need to split hairs (power steering causes a power lose in the engine do to drag, and can make you loose a tenth of a second in a drag race)

I suggest you buy 2 books, one "how to hot rod a mopar LA or 318 small block" you want the book that talks about the LA engine not the magnum, unless you got a lot of money and a mechanical experience of 10 years, at least ( which you do not ) And the factory "Mopar Performence" book that should still be sold by your Local Chrysler Dealer if it is still being published. I think 5th to 7th edition. I have the 9th and it only touches on the LA and is for manliy magnum engines

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