Installed a Tremec Magnum XL in my S550

[xr4x4ti]

Can someone confirm that the Magnum XL angles the transmission about 5 deg counter clockwise when looking from the back of the car? Is the shifter base angled toward the driver?

Thanks,
Tim

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[xr4x4ti]

Can someone confirm that the Magnum XL angles the transmission about 5 deg counter clockwise when looking from the back of the car? Is the shifter base angled toward the driver?

Thanks,
Tim

Based on this picture it is.

Tim

 

[aleccolin]

The shifter housing is canted left and the Tremec shifter is offset to the right to put the knob back closer to center. The MGW shifter has more offset and more adjustability to put the shift knob where you want it, centered, or a little bit forward or aft. The shifter will be slightly canted toward the driver's side either way, which isn't a bad thing.

 

[Eric5.0]

Took on a new project and thought I’d share it. Never thought I’d go this route but but just saying that doesn’t really surprise me.

Backstory: The car is a 16 PP so it has the 3:73 rear gears and is pretty heavily modified. Like most of us, I ran the MT82 with an MGW and had no real issue especially after adding that shifter. I didn’t break anything in my stock transmission and it worked the same from the day I bought till the day I took it out. For 28k miles I ran the stock clutch with it and I was fairly quick to add a Whipple and shortly after that E85. I was amazed at how well the stock clutch handled it. I do occasional road course days, and as some forum members can attest to from riding shotgun, I push the car hard and play with the line of limit. The 3:73 differential made 1st and 2nd gear pretty useless at my power level and considered changing diffs but didn’t want to ditch my Torsen. I don’t do 1/4 mile runs and for the most part I daily drive the car which includes commuting to work in traffic. The car is literally 95% street with casual manners and 5% track/canyon carving/hurt the feelings of another car brand/owner that unwisely has challenged.

I bring up this info because it has a factor in making choices in parts and gear selection. Also, my baseline is can my wife take the car out and drive it ‘normally’ without it being annoying/difficult to operate and that applies to me as well.

This is what I ended up buying and most of this comes in a kit which is the route I went:

Tremec Magnum XL transmission (duh)
First gear choice of 2.66 and opted for the 5th and 6th OD gears of the 2.97 trans which gives me in order of 1st to 6th, 2.66/1.78/1.30/1.00/.80/.63

Quick Time steel sfi bell housing

QA1 carbon fiber driveshaft with sfi (upgrade)

Bowler all-in-one harness for electronic connections

Rest of the kit included fluids, transmission mount, cross brace and mounting hardware

Also added the MGW shifter since I really appreciated what it did for the MT82


The clutch was a difficult and time consuming process and there is a endless amount of choices out there. Everyone has their preferred brand or special purpose for what their plans are for their car but this is also the reason I gave the back story above because it applies here. I would love to try all brands and models that I narrowed it down to (probably 5) but I’m not sponsored, a company that works in the industry nor someone with unlimited funds. My personal requirements were something near stock weight for stored energy, sprung hub and organic. I was open to single and dual disc setups knowing the inherent differences. Ultimately I went with the Ram Pro Series twin disc organic with steel flywheel.

Like I said, plenty of great choices to go with and I even tried for a short period, which was completely non cost effective for me, a Mantic 9000 organic series clutch which I will say was awesome with my MT82 the short time I had it. I could have easily just switched to 26 spline clutch discs but the light weight would have been an issue I feared so I did what I did.


Here’s some pics cuz that’s all most care about....

At current writing, I’m around 300 miles on the break in. At first, and at around only 25 miles I thought I made a mistake with clutch choice. First gear start off from a stop had significant chatter but that has quickly become better and better and I’m sure will continue to get better as smooth slipping start off has become an easy thing to do now. Recently took the wife out to mess around with first gear in a parking lot and she did great but could notice the current difference. If you’re already moving, this clutch is just perfect. Clutch pedal effort is less than stock, initial grab and capture is well within the throw of the clutch pedal; not quick off the floor grab or late grab near the top. I’m 90% happier with the clutch than my first quick to judge impression.

I cannot say enough about the transmission. I absolutely LOVE the gears I chose granted I’m in the break in phase and not shifting over 4000 rpm for the most part but again, this is how the car will be driven most of the time. First and second gear are so much more useful and enjoyable to use. Fourth gear (1.30) in the MT82 was one of my most favorite gears to play in and also was a factor in choosing the magnum gear selection I did because third gear in this set is also 1.30 which made it perfect. 4th is now the 1:1 gear which I like and the two OD gears are gapped perfectly unlike our 5th to 6th is in the 15-17 MT82. I will say it is weird downshifting to 1st gear around corners in residential/commercial zones but it’s easy, called for and works like any other gear you’d be used to using normally. Hell, I’m still learning what gear to be in based on muscle memory of where the shifter used to be. I really couldn’t be happier with how this all works together and with the stock 3:73.

The driveshaft is awesome and the second QA1 I have owned and also part of the not a wise investment in regards to how long I had it in the car before switching to the Tremec. I’m sure it’s not the last time I’ll do that.

One other thing when I first got it on the road and getting a feel for it. There was a small vibration/drone in the car that came in around 3200 rpm and went out around 3800 rpm. Believe me I thought of every possible scenario and incorporated lots of others thoughts to the mix so before you start throwing out ideas, it was figured out. There is a reverse lockout solenoid that is on the drivers side tail section of the transmission and it was touching the body lightly. The idea of what to do was easy but the process of doing it wasn’t quite so easy especially without removing things. It took a small hydraulic ram to push, which happens to be a much stronger and stiffer section than I expected, the body panel away which now looks like this, totally fixed the issue and might as well be a mile away compared to what was before.

This is the electronic harness that was included with the kit and sold from Bowler. It incorporates all electrical connections and really made everything work easily and its adjustable for things such as tire size, OOS pulse calibration and reverse lockout parameters to make to your liking (speed at which lockout engages or deactivates). Reverse switch is a no brainer. Literally soldering 5 total wires to the original trans harness to make everything connect; the two reverse wires and reverse camera and light work like stock. Positive, ground and oss wire.....done. You download an app to your iPhone or android and and it Bluetooth connects when ever you want for changing parameters. Without going into too much detail, just go with it’s easy and works great. All connectors to the sensors on the trans are OE style and weather sealed.

In regards to the actual install, it’s no more difficult than changing a clutch if you’re comfortable with it. I really liked the separate bell housing.

That’s all I got for now. Still have miles to go before it all gets more aggressive testing but I have no doubts.

Can you help me out? I had the same trans installed by a mechanic in my 2015. I got the same all in one harness. My reverse camera won't come on. Can you tell me or show me if you have pics, which wires are responsible for making the reverse camera work? I have a feeling this wire wasn't connected. I've been searching all over the web and can't find an answer. Thank you!

 

[biminiLX]

Can someone confirm that the Magnum XL angles the transmission about 5 deg counter clockwise when looking from the back of the car? Is the shifter base angled toward the driver?

Thanks,
Tim

Hey Tim just saw this and it was definitely a head scratcher when we installed my Magnum but yes it is designed to have the shifter rotated towards the driver. The Tremec engineer said it mimics the stock rotation to place the shifter closer to the driver.
-J

 

[mcnuggets34]

Hey all just saw this thread and am having problems after the swap. Is it possible that a bowler harness can cause cel codes p0340 344 345 and 349? We did sensor and harness replacements and the car still has those codes. Ive noticed the cel light comes one when i am backing up.

 

[Plimmer]

So I broke my magnum XL a few weeks ago, input shaft gear broke, was only putting out about 650 whp at the time, but was 30 min into a hard road course session.

Apparently under hard acceleration like road course and half mile / mile events the oil sloshes to rear of transmission and the front gears get starved of lubrication and then fail.

Tick Performance have an upgraded front plate with an oil spray bar and pump to pump oil to these front gears. Also comes with cryogenic treated gears and micro polish. Sharing this for the guys who need to take there magnums to the next level.

 

[aleccolin]

That's interesting, I know Tick has a really good reputation. How well indexed was your bellhousing to start with? Tremec specifies a really tight tolerance for parallelism and concentricity for high RPM applications. I'm working from memory, but I believe it's less than 0.0005" (0.001" TIR) in parallelism and less than 0.0025" (0.005" TIR) in concentricity. They really don't tolerate being out of alignment, apparently. I had to add several shims to dial in the parallel dead nuts and it took a set of .007" offset dowels to get the concentricity to about 0.004" TIR. I'm not saying that it caused your failure, but might have contributed, one more variable to eliminate.

 

[WildHorse]

Waaaaaaaa ? A Tremec broke at only 650 wheel ? Say it ain't so ( I kid).

 

[Angrey]

That's interesting, I know Tick has a really good reputation. How well indexed was your bellhousing to start with? Tremec specifies a really tight tolerance for parallelism and concentricity for high RPM applications. I'm working from memory, but I believe it's less than 0.0005" (0.001" TIR) in parallelism and less than 0.0025" (0.005" TIR) in concentricity. They really don't tolerate being out of alignment, apparently. I had to add several shims to dial in the parallel dead nuts and it took a set of .007" offset dowels to get the concentricity to about 0.004" TIR. I'm not saying that it caused your failure, but might have contributed, one more variable to eliminate.

All agreed, except that usually doesn't cause failure, it causes shifting problems, especially at high RPM (when it's out of center or not parallel).

He already stated it was at the road course and once the trans is heat soaked, if you mash hard for long rips the front gears are whirring with no lube for long periods and they nuke. Well known problem which is why companies like Tick developed the sprayer.

 

[gimmie11s]

So I broke my magnum XL a few weeks ago, input shaft gear broke, was only putting out about 650 whp at the time, but was 30 min into a hard road course session.

Apparently under hard acceleration like road course and half mile / mile events the oil sloshes to rear of transmission and the front gears get starved of lubrication and then fail.

Tick Performance have an upgraded front plate with an oil spray bar and pump to pump oil to these front gears. Also comes with cryogenic treated gears and micro polish. Sharing this for the guys who need to take there magnums to the next level.

How loud is that pump? Any idea of the gears are helical cut or straight?

How about duty cycle? I didn't see any of this on the website so figured I'd ask...

 

[aleccolin]

Just out of curiosity, what fluid/lube were you running before, and what will you be using going forward? Amsoil ATF?

 

[Plimmer]

That's interesting, I know Tick has a really good reputation. How well indexed was your bellhousing to start with? Tremec specifies a really tight tolerance for parallelism and concentricity for high RPM applications. I'm working from memory, but I believe it's less than 0.0005" (0.001" TIR) in parallelism and less than 0.0025" (0.005" TIR) in concentricity. They really don't tolerate being out of alignment, apparently. I had to add several shims to dial in the parallel dead nuts and it took a set of .007" offset dowels to get the concentricity to about 0.004" TIR. I'm not saying that it caused your failure, but might have contributed, one more variable to eliminate.

Haven’t checked it as carefully as that, just assembled it with the bell housing as it came. Hopefully not causing an issue for me.

How loud is that pump? Any idea of the gears are helical cut or straight?

How about duty cycle? I didn't see any of this on the website so figured I'd ask...

Haven’t run the pump yet, still trying to figure out where I want to mount it. Gear look straight. For duty cycle they want you to only run the pump under boost, so I’m using the same relay circuit that turns on my 2nd fuel pump when boost comes in.

Just out of curiosity, what fluid/lube were you running before, and what will you be using going forward? Amsoil ATF?

Was using Amsoil ATF when it broke, and going to try Redline high temp ATF next. I don’t think the oil was an issue, I sent it in to blackstone and they said it was perfect, no red flags.

 

[Ruiner46]

@Ruiner46 Great news your car is back on the road! It sounds like your setup is just fine with the clutch engagement.

I was able to find one guy on SVTPerformance forum that put a Magnum in his GT500 car with a McLeod RST and needed a shim of just over half an inch. But it does seem most just install and go without any issues.

My Magnum is the wide ratio 2.97 first gear setup. Maybe there is a different with the close vs wide ratio? I’d be curious to know the measurement of the slave mounting point to the face of the bell housing on a 2.66 trans. I did measure from the tip of the input shaft to the face of the bell housing on my Magnum and broken MT82. That measurement was the same, so I’m confident the bell housing is correct.

My shim arrived from McLeod yesterday along with my clutch that was cleaned up and balanced. My plan is to install the flywheel, clutch and bell housing on the car and take my ‘A’ measurement again. Then take the ‘B’ measurement on the trans with the shim installed. Just wanting to validate my numbers one more time and report back to McLeod to get the green light before I wrestle the trans back into the car. It’s freezing cold here in Chicagoland, so I need some decent weather too!

Revisiting this question about shimming the slave. I used a endoscope/borescope and took this video of my slave. Any idea how this looks compared to yours with the shim? I'm curious if I have enough travel.

 

[aleccolin]

I'd bet you have more throw than you need, looks like 3/8"-1/2" of travel. Dual disc clutches tend to require less travel than stock, so with the OE release bearing and OE clutch MC you should have plenty.

I don't recall exactly what the OE throw distance is, but I went with a Tilton HRB because after taking a bunch of measurements I determined the OE unit would make the clutch fingers come REALLY close to touching the outer disc hub. It only takes around 1/4" of throw to disengage my clutch.

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