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Tremec Magnum XL swap

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Guys sorry to resurrect an old thread, thought its better than starting a new one.

I was wondering if its possibly to swap 3rd gear from the 2.66 ratio magnum xl into the 2.97 ratio magnum xl i currently have.
 
I have the Magnum XL 297 trans.
Excellent trans though I wish I would have gotten the 266 instead.
Mine is to wide ratio for road courses and even with 4:10 gears, 6th gear is never used.

I just toasted my second MT-82, so I'm done with those. Moving to a Magnum XL and doing the math, seems that the 2.97 XL would be way to go. Although, I do see that it's more of a stretch between 3 and 4th gear than the MT-82. Looking at 4.10 in the rear, or even 4.30. Currently I have 3.55's which is a no go.

I run 20 - 25 track days per year, all road course. It's not a street car. 2012 GT N/A with a tune.

Fabman..... please elaborate on your ...wish you had the 2.66 XL.

Thanks,
TS
 
Last edited:

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
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Arizona, USA
I just toasted my second MT-82, so I'm done with those. Moving to a Magnum XL and doing the math, seems that the 2.97 XL would be way to go. Although, I do see that it's more of a stretch between 3 and 4th gear than the MT-82. Looking at 4.10 in the rear, or even 4.30. Currently I have 3.55's which is a no go.

I run 20 - 25 track days per year, all road course. It's not a street car. 2012 GT N/A with a tune.

Fabman..... please elaborate on your ...wish you had the 2.66 XL.

Thanks,
TS
The 2.66 box is nearly the same gearing as the MT82, minus the MT82’s useless first gear. Also compared to the 2.97 box, the 2.66 offers less RPM drop with each upshift, which is good when you are fighting aero drag at increasing speeds.
Guys sorry to resurrect an old thread, thought its better than starting a new one.

I was wondering if its possibly to swap 3rd gear from the 2.66 ratio magnum xl into the 2.97 ratio magnum xl i currently have.

Didn’t see this post until now but if you are willing to take the trans apart then yes, it is possible. Dederichs Motorsport in Texas or Liberty’s Gear on the East Coast can handle those changes.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
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20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
I just toasted my second MT-82, so I'm done with those. Moving to a Magnum XL and doing the math, seems that the 2.97 XL would be way to go. Although, I do see that it's more of a stretch between 3 and 4th gear than the MT-82. Looking at 4.10 in the rear, or even 4.30. Currently I have 3.55's which is a no go.

I run 20 - 25 track days per year, all road course. It's not a street car. 2012 GT N/A with a tune.

Fabman..... please elaborate on your ...wish you had the 2.66 XL.

Thanks,
TS

Arazonaboss nailed it. The ratios in the 2.66 are way more friendly than the 2.97


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My clutch is a McLeod RST, and it works exactly like they claim: engagement is great, pedal pressure is less than stock, and it never even whimpers. But: It makes a LOT of noise up to 2,000 rpm in 3rd and 4th. Since these clutches are "unsprung", they transmit a LOT of noise in these circumstances. People have told me, "stop lugging your engine", but driving through my small town in a 35 mph zone, I'm in third gear at 3,000 rpm (or slightly higher), because if I shift to 4th it is obnoxious. Not a "cool sound", more like a oil drum half full of rocks rolling down a hill. I've purchased a Exedy 07953FW (stage 4) clutch and will let you know how it goes. Just my 2 cents...
 
173
38
Primary use is track.
I don’t want any heavier pedal effort than stock,less if possible.
Anywhere near here you can get stuck in traffic at any time.
I don’t want something that makes noise either.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
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Arizona, USA
Exedy Hyper Single would be a great fit and seems generally bulletproof, but the pedal effort might be a little more than stock, if you have removed the assist spring in the stock pedal assembly.

If you want lower pedal effort you are typically going to a multi-disc clutch, as the pressure plate clamping load does not need to be as great since there is generally 2x (or more) of the friction material area available to do work, compared to a single-disc clutch.
 
898
544
Exedy Hyper Single. I have three seasons on mine. It is also what was used in most, if not all, of the PWC cars and I believe the Continental cars. Like ArizonaBoss mentioned, it does have a slightly higher effort than a stock clutch or multi-disk unit. The Hyper Single does not make noise, especially compared to the McLeod clutch.

If you want low effort, look at the Exedy Hyper Twin.
 

Norm Peterson

Corner Barstool Sitter
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a few miles east of Philly
... compared to the 2.97 box, the 2.66 offers less RPM drop with each upshift, which is good when you are fighting aero drag at increasing speeds.
Exactly why I'm considering the 2.66 low with the 0.80 / 0.63 overdrives, with a probable axle ratio change from 3.55's. I can't go too deep with the axle gears, because I only have about 6000 rpm to play with and if I choose carefully I think I can make both 2nd and 5th more usable on the track (2nd a bit taller overall, 5th a bit shorter than what I have now with the 3650 and 3.55's).

Drag racing and hard street launches are not considerations.

Silver Sport Transmission (https://shiftsst.com/articles/cat/ford/post/mustang-2005-2014/) claims to have what I'm looking at. Does anybody know anything about that outfit? Or other places where I can get the 2.66 to 0.63 gearset?

A 2.7 T2R is probably going to be involved.


Norm
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
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Arizona, USA
I would be willing to bet that the ".80/.63" on the 2.66 box are misprints, AFAIK that is not offered off the shelf anywhere.
Dederichs Motorsports or Liberty's Gear would be able to handle the spec/sales/upgrade.

I got my entire package (minus clutch, had already obtained) at Dederichs and they really know what they are doing. http://www.dederichsmotorsports.com
 
Ditto.... to Dederichs Motorsports. Joe Dederichs is the man. He'll put together the whole package for you, including harnesses, driveshaft and trans fluid, and his prices are good. He'll work with you directly and you can get him on the phone. He has lots of experience with Mustangs, and good access to Tremec. I just bought, and had installed, the XL Magnum 2.66 box with the .80 and .63 OD's, and he was saying that this box/gear combo is going to be readily available soon. My car is a road course track car and sees no street time. I went with 4.10 rear gears and a T-2R diff. Have only run about one event so far, and the gearing is good. The splits are excellent between gears. Taking some getting used to from my OE MT-82 with 3.55 rear, but I can safely tell you that the gearing will be better overall for road course. I run Sonoma, Laguna and Thunderhill. Fair warning: the 2.66 is pretty tall for initial starts - need to slip the clutch and rev a bit - but it's a good gear for rolling in the paddock, once you're rolling.
The feel of the shifter is night and day to the MT-82. Very crisp, very positive. Hard if not impossible to blow it, and really impossible to grab reverse. I had the MGW short throw installed also. This package is by far the best mod to date. After blowing two Mt-82's, this was a no brainer. Expensive, yes. But the aggravation of numb shifting, missed shifts, 4-3 instead of 4-5 mis-shifts, etc., will be gone....finally.
There are still a few minor issues to resolve, but it's a clean retrofit package. And this - one bonus I noticed - my car is running 10-20 degrees cooler. I suspect this is primarily due to less running near the rev limiter (due to the ratios) and maybe secondarily due to the trans runs cooler. I also had a trans cooler installed (protecting my investment).
Talk to Joe and good luck.
 

Fabman

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Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
At which track have you run this trans?
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
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20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
Thunderhill 3 mile
I have the 297 trans and find 3rd too low and 4th too high for several corners on both thunderhill and laguna. I also have 410 gears. Been planning on making the switch so I was interested in hearing your experience, especially for laguna when you go.
 
I have the 297 trans and find 3rd too low and 4th too high for several corners on both thunderhill and laguna. I also have 410 gears. Been planning on making the switch so I was interested in hearing your experience, especially for laguna when you go.
My third gear is 1.3 and yours looks to be 1.46. Third is a tad too high between T14-T15 at Thunderhill, but not horrible, and over the top of T5, but I can still pull ok thru those. What's nice is that I can exit T15 into the straight alot deeper than before prior to 3-4 upshift, and don't need 5th before T1 ..... at least not yet.... . I'll post my thoughts as I get more experiences with the new setup. For now, I think I made the right choices. I'll be at Laguna in September.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
My third gear is 1.3 and yours looks to be 1.46. Third is a tad too high between T14-T15 at Thunderhill, but not horrible, and over the top of T5, but I can still pull ok thru those. What's nice is that I can exit T15 into the straight alot deeper than before prior to 3-4 upshift, and don't need 5th before T1 ..... at least not yet.... . I'll post my thoughts as I get more experiences with the new setup. For now, I think I made the right choices. I'll be at Laguna in September.
Keep me in the loop please.
 

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