Kirkham Motorsports Assembly Manual

[David Kirkham]

Sorry guys--it's Discovery Channel's Shark Week and I stay up till midnight EVERY DANG NIGHT. I don't think it is fair to have sharks on all week. I am a zombie. Don't they know some of us have to get up in the morning and go to work and post on assembly manuals?

You think YOU got cajones??? Take a look at this guy. They needed "something" to give "perspective" so people knew how big the shark was in the photo. So this guy volunteers to go out in a flimsy kayak that is "YUM-YUM-YELLOW!"

The only thing bigger than that shark is that dude's huevos. I don't know how the kayak doesn't sink. Then again, they are so big they must be hanging out the bottom of the kayak. They must be made out of solid brass so I doubt he cares if Senor JAWS gives them a friendly "exploratory bite!"

[David Kirkham]

Now, on to the shifter.

Sorry this is all out of order, but one of these days I will edit the front page and do a table of contents. This thing is getting way bigger than I imagined it would at first. I have people EVERY DAY telling me they are so happy. Dumb me, I should have done it years ago!

David

[David Kirkham]

Here is a picture of the shifter that comes on the Tremec TKO 600 transmission. Notice the big ugly shifter lever that sticks out of the transmission with the two holes in it. The problem here is this makes your shifter handle stick WAY out into the cockpit of the car. BUMMER!

So, we do what every one who wants a cool car does...we yank it out, throw it away, (or put it on eBay if we think some one may want it) and replace it with BILLET!

[David Kirkham]

Notice the position of the shifter box has the shift handle towards the rear of the car. On the Tremec, there are 4 different positions you can place the shifter in. On our cars, we only concern ourselves with the rear most two positions.

The rear position, (the position the shifter currently is in in the above photo), is very close to the position of the shifter in an original 427 Cobra. The front position is very close to the position of the shifter in an original 289 Cobra. On our past 427 KMS/SC cars we have always used the rear most position. Now we are rethinking that--for a number of reasons.

The shifter in an original Cobra has a reverse lock out mechanism that prevented you (hopefully) from putting the car into reverse if you didn't want to put the car in reverse. Today, with almost everyone using the Tremec TKO 600 5 speed transmission, there is no need for a reverse lock out as reverse is on the far side of the shift pattern.

The reverse lock out on the original car is quite awkward to use. It is not what we would today call "ergonomically correct."

The little fangs you pull on to activate the reverse lock out mechanism stick right into your hand if you accidentally grab the handle wrong--much like sticking your hand into the Senor Jaws' mouth in the above picture. There is a very good reason why the shift handle was discontinued in the very next model year--1967--it has teeth and it bites!

As the engine in an original 427 Cobra is pushed very far back, they had to take a shift lever and literally turn it around and bend it down and forward to work in an original Cobra. This makes very quick shifting quite difficult as you actually have to lift up and down on the shift lever to shift gears instead of the normal front to back motion that we are all so familiar with.

The reverse lock out has another problem: in an accident, you can catch your fingers in the lock out fangs and hurt them which is VERY, VERY, BAD if you ever intend to finish Chopin's 1st Ballade in G minor--which may take me another year if they keep this stupid Shark Week stuff up.

So I threw the original shifter out the window today and asked Sandwich (can you BELIEVE he actually came back to work today--after a LONGGGGGGGG lunch) to rescue me. He whipped a new baby out on the CNC lathe for me 5 minutes ago! Time for an install of new, cool, billet parts! Pictures soon!

[David Kirkham]

The first thing to do is take the little metal straps that hold the shifter unit in place. You will need a #27 torx to pull the bolts out. Notice the springs that pop up when you take off the plates. BE CAREFUL so you don't have an unexpected game of hide-and-seek with the springs as they shoot out! There are two springs in there! 1 INSIDE of the other. BE CAREFUL!!!

[David Kirkham]

NOW BE CAREFUL AGAIN!!!

Sandwich has just pulled the shifter up SLIGHTLY, pulling the springs out, and allowing you to see the wear buttons that the springs ride on. Notice the little raised bosses on the wear buttons. They center the springs. They are round and very small. Tremec made them small and round so when they fall out they will roll a LONG way! If they get away, you will probably find them in your neighbor's garage.

Take them out CAREFULLY and put them with the springs, torx bolts, and plates.

[David Kirkham]

This is what we are trying to pull out.

We will save the pivot cup and the pin. We will rejoice as we throw away the lever arm--we are going to exchange it for billet stainless!

[David Kirkham]

Time to whip out the silicon. If you notice, we use the same silicon everywhere in the car. It just makes it easier to do things.

[David Kirkham]

Just a SMALL bead of silicon! Don't make a mess and make your car look like a Z06 Corvette! Have you ever seen the underside of a VETTE?!?!? WHAT A MESS! They could save 50 pounds on the vehicle if they would just be more careful with the goo. It looks like Carlsbad caverns when you look under there...stalagtites everywhere.

[David Kirkham]

OK, OK,

I figured some of you Corvette lovers out there might not believe me...so I had to post a pic of the undercarriage of my car...wait a minute...did I just come out of the closet?

See, just like Carlsbad Caverns. No wonder GM is going bankrupt. Toyota would NEVER let this happen.

[David Kirkham]

Now put the shift box back on...only this time, make sure the lever is in the FORWARD position!!! Or, you will wonder why the hole in your tunnel doesn't line up.