Keisler/TKO500 Shifting Question/Issue
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,164
Likes: 7
From: Beringen
As others have said, the key to shifting 2nd to 3rd quickly is not to hunt for 3rd gear. If you "hunt" for 3rd, you will miss it everytime. The gates on the TKO are so close together that hunting for the gate will result in a missed shift.
As spedaleden said, try my advice and when in 2nd, simply push the handle straight forward out of 2nd gear and it will find 3rd all on it's own. Try this on the street under normal driving conditions before taking it to the track and trying it. You need to get used to it before attempting for real under "race" conditions.
As mentioned, the TKO's have a limit of around 6100rpm for a smooth, quality shift. Anything above say 6300rpm or so, and the shift quality will go down hill.
I regularly shift mine 6100rpm, using the technique I gave spedaleden and have never missed the shift because of the tranny. I have still missed it when my hand is faster than my foot. :o
What you are experiencing is your hitting the gate in between 3rd and 5th. This has nothing to do with shift lugs as someone else mentioned here. It is simply a learning curve as GKULL pointed out.
The other issue with vettes is firewall flex. Next time your under the hood, have someone press the lcutch pedal down hard a few times while you're watching the firewall and see if it is flexing. If it is, you'll need to brace it up and support it to stop this. The vette was famous for this.
If you are wanting to shift a TKO at a higher rpm than 6100, you need to have it modified. Companies like G-Force or Liberty or Pro-Motion can pro-shift the TKO and enable it to shift at rpm's upwards of 7500rpm.
Richard
Tech Support
As spedaleden said, try my advice and when in 2nd, simply push the handle straight forward out of 2nd gear and it will find 3rd all on it's own. Try this on the street under normal driving conditions before taking it to the track and trying it. You need to get used to it before attempting for real under "race" conditions.
As mentioned, the TKO's have a limit of around 6100rpm for a smooth, quality shift. Anything above say 6300rpm or so, and the shift quality will go down hill.
I regularly shift mine 6100rpm, using the technique I gave spedaleden and have never missed the shift because of the tranny. I have still missed it when my hand is faster than my foot. :o
What you are experiencing is your hitting the gate in between 3rd and 5th. This has nothing to do with shift lugs as someone else mentioned here. It is simply a learning curve as GKULL pointed out.
The other issue with vettes is firewall flex. Next time your under the hood, have someone press the lcutch pedal down hard a few times while you're watching the firewall and see if it is flexing. If it is, you'll need to brace it up and support it to stop this. The vette was famous for this.
If you are wanting to shift a TKO at a higher rpm than 6100, you need to have it modified. Companies like G-Force or Liberty or Pro-Motion can pro-shift the TKO and enable it to shift at rpm's upwards of 7500rpm.
Richard
Tech Support
I'm interested in knowing what exactly that they modify when shifting above 6100 ? What is the cost ?
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,826
Likes: 3
From: Tennessee
By doing the syncros like that, it allows them to mesh at a higher rpm. On the down side, it makes it almost impossible to downshift and also makes it noisier. They don't make it a complete crash box(no syncros) so it's not too bad but it does take away from the "streetablility" of it.
I don't know exactly how much they get to do this modification but I heard that Pro-Motion charges around $1000.
Richard
Tech Support
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,826
Likes: 3
From: Tennessee
the last half of this movie I do a U-turn in second gear and get going straight before i floor it. the shifts from 2-3-4 all over 7000 rpm. So I go from 20 mph to about 130 mph in a very short period of time.
Tko 600 with a mid 600 hp 434 Solid roller small block
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p...t=87427a8c.flv
Tko 600 with a mid 600 hp 434 Solid roller small block
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p...t=87427a8c.flv
The car sounded awesome.
Richard
Crackin' on...
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 9,440
Likes: 124
From: Somewhere in Tucson AZ
St. Jude Donor '09
Racer
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 428
Likes: 2
From: Everfrost Second Life
Understanding the design will help...
The TKO uses a 3 rail shifting system and uses 1 shift rail to engage the three rails.
A Muncie for example used no rails and the design of the H pattern shifter allowed for cleaner gate changes, plus 3-4 was at the end so pushing your shifter into 3rd from 2nd was a direct placement. Think of a Muncie as a 2 rail system if you need to get a better picture.
The problem with a 3 rail system is that 3rd is on the middle rail. Therefore when you go from 2nd to 3rd you can catch both the 3-4 rail and the 5th - rev rail if you push the shifter on a diagonal. The rails have interlocks and obviously one or the other is going to move or they both are going to hang.
You have to condition yourself to place the shift lug in the middle rail and NEVER try and slide on a diagonal. It takes a discipline since this was never a concern with the older Muncie and T10's
A Muncie for example used no rails and the design of the H pattern shifter allowed for cleaner gate changes, plus 3-4 was at the end so pushing your shifter into 3rd from 2nd was a direct placement. Think of a Muncie as a 2 rail system if you need to get a better picture.
The problem with a 3 rail system is that 3rd is on the middle rail. Therefore when you go from 2nd to 3rd you can catch both the 3-4 rail and the 5th - rev rail if you push the shifter on a diagonal. The rails have interlocks and obviously one or the other is going to move or they both are going to hang.
You have to condition yourself to place the shift lug in the middle rail and NEVER try and slide on a diagonal. It takes a discipline since this was never a concern with the older Muncie and T10's
