I found a white buffalo

PITT40

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I called some specialized AMC junkyards that I Googled and one told me to call a trans shop in Anaheim and they had (1) AMC tail housing from a lot of new T5 parts that they bought years ago. When I asked and started to explain the guy said, "Hold on a second" and I waited about 4 minutes and he got back on the phone and said, "I think I got one here". He read the part # and sure enough. He also had the shift rod and shifter block and included them with it at a pretty decent price.

Now I have to see what I can do to get the shifter to the left and not have to trim the floor. They make those custom side mount ones for the TKO's in Tigers and Corvettes. If I knew exactly how they did it, I could machine the side of the shifter hole and fab a box to mount it right next to it. I have some ideas on how to do it, but I don't want to mess up the AMC tail housing on a failed attempt. Any knowledge is appreciated.
 
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67MKII

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Pitt -
Contact Bill Martin / Rootes Group Depot. He was the brain behind getting the side shifter on the TKO and it is a pretty slick set up.

John
 

venice532

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amc

Nice find, the trick will be getting a speedo cable to work with the stock tiger speedometer.
 

michael-king

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The stock tiger speedo gears haveva level of error due to rolling radius, then again most run larger wheels these days. .

Work out your rolling radius with your wheel tyre combo, establish your final drive , get a speedo shop to make you a conversion box, you'll get an accurate speedo and it can be an adaptor to solve the issue of cable drive ends variation
 

66TigerMK1A

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Nice find, the trick will be getting a speedo cable to work with the stock tiger speedometer.

The speedo cable is the easy part!! ;) You can just take a stock Tiger cable, shorten it and put a 7/8"-18 end on it which is a very common cable end ( Chev, Dodge etc. )
The hardest part is probably relocating a drive gear ( I used a 700R4 gear, the 'Ford' one won't mesh with Dodge ) on the output shaft to line up with the housing which is further forward than on a standard (Ford ) T5. A Dodge speedo housing and 'long' gear fits the AMC tail. Unfortunately, the gear ratio that will mesh is incorrect for the speedo so a ratio adapter will also be needed. I found that a 90° unit fit the best, I think I got one that was about 20%. I shortened the cable nearly 2 ft. and ran it up the side of the tunnel to the speedo
Michael ... I don't believe there is a ratio adapter made that will go from the 7/8" style to 'Ford' output ... there ARE adapters that will do the opposite but not applicable in this case...:(
 

venice532

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speedo

Jim, I think we just have different opinions about what the word 'easy' means.

My understanding is that back in the day (before my time) the experts machined an aluminum cylinder that somehow adapted the stock cable gear to mesh with a drive gear that was relocated on the output shaft.

They also had to do some sort of double o ring sealing thing since they rotated the entire trans to get the shifter close to the same location as the stock toploader.

Maybe Dan or Dale could provide a history lesson.

When I checked none of those parts were around anymore and since I was not as resourceful as Jim I went with a gps speedo.
 

66TigerMK1A

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Jim, I think we just have different opinions about what the word 'easy' means.

My understanding is that back in the day (before my time) the experts machined an aluminum cylinder that somehow adapted the stock cable gear to mesh with a drive gear that was relocated on the output shaft.

They also had to do some sort of double o ring sealing thing since they rotated the entire trans to get the shifter close to the same location as the stock toploader.

Maybe Dan or Dale could provide a history lesson.

When I checked none of those parts were around anymore and since I was not as resourceful as Jim I went with a gps speedo.

Bob... I had heard that early speedo adaptation was both problematic and unobtainable so looked elsewhere... I found a guy ... Kerry @ http://transmissioncenter.net/ that figured it all out for me using 'stock' pieces!
I had considered rotating the trans to fit the hole but decided ( for various reasons ) it wasn't worth the trouble and cut a small ( was more than required in hindsight ) piece :eek::eek: from the tunnel. I like the shifter with only the stock Ford 5° left rotation as it gives me more 'knee' room and now with the short throw shifter I can pull a 1-2 or 3-4 shift just using my fingers and without moving my forearm resting on the console! :cool: I'll show a top view of the shift stick in 1st and also the 'huge' :confused: lol piece I cut out !

Speaking of GPS speedos... a fellow that I had made a 'Jaegerized' 8K Autometer tach for a while back mentioned that he thought a matching GPS speedo would be pretty cool, too. I had a set made for him in the U.K. and he loves it! I wasn't totally happy with the lettering style they used and have since had them alter it to look pretty much like the original
 

PITT40

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I wonder how much the GPS speedo costs? I would be fine with that. Is he US or UK?
 

steven

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I bought a GPS speedo from England. They copied the Tiger face and coloured the needle. Even has the chrome bezel. As I changed the toploader ratio and the diff ratio, the GPS speedo was the way to go. Maybe have to check the revs when travelling in tunnels.
 
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