Swapping Over to a Tremec T56 Magnum And Driveline Upgrades

Sadly right after we did this burnout our gears ripped apart and the factory driveshaft busted at the split and twisted itself all up on the differential end. After sitting through a few moments of horrendous sounds that felt like hours the car rolled to a stop and was stuck in the middle of our hoonage marks. After several hours a tow truck came back and rescued the Mustang RTR project and it went back into the shop. We used this opportunity to do some major reconstructive surgery to the driveline components of our brand new Mustang.

We added the Tremec T56 Magnum XL swap kit with a Abbott Enterprises speedo conversion box, ACT Clutch disc #3000905, Dynotech Driveshaft, and some Ford Racing 3.77 Gears. Check out what our damaged stock driveshaft looked like below

Tremec understands that no true driving enthusiasts wants to deal with the remote shifter on a stock MT-82 transmission. The Magnum XL swap kit is made perfect for a S197 swap with a redesigned tail shaft specifically for the S197 chassis Mustang. Included with the kit is a transmission mount that holds and bolts your T56 Magnum into place. The icing on the cake for this swap is a SFI bellhousing made to bolt right up to your Mustang engine.

The three other items you will need to purchase allowing you to complete this swap will be a new driveshaft (slip-yoke style), a new clutch disc, and a speedometer signal converter box to change your transmission from a three to a two wire speed sensor.

The Dynotech driveshaft weighted in at just 16 pounds! The product is crafted from 6061 T-6 aluminum tubing and can withstand some serious horsepower. This driveshaft is shorter than your factory Mustang piece due to the extended length of the Tremec T56 Mangum XL tail shaft. For a weight comparison we were not able to pull an accurate measurement from our stock shaft since we busted it into pieces but various media outlets and sources report a stock one to weight in at over 37 pounds. So the Dynotech Engineering driveshaft eliminates the two pieces design, is short, and is quite lighter than your stock alternative.

Once you have collected all these parts this Tremec T56 swap really isn’t much more advanced than a standard clutch service on a S197. We already installed an ACT Clutch (FM13-HDSS) this fall into our MT-82 transmission so we just kindly requested a 26 spline disc so it can be installed with our T56 Magnum. The disc ACT sent us is part number #3000905 for those who are interested.

Mounting up the new Magnum XL kit is just like replacing a stock transmission after a clutch swap. Our new 26-spline ACT disc popped right on and with the help of a transmission jack we worked to place the new bellhousing in line with our coyote engine.

Once all the new items are secured you can see the provided transmission mount bolts right into the factory location and requires no cutting of any kind. The blue tape towards the front right side of the transmission is where our Abbott Enterprises speedo converter box was wired in. We secured the box next to the transmission up in the corner to avoid any damage or pulled wires in the future.

 Photo Credit: Stangtv.com Feature by Mark Gearhart The direct shift feel of the Magnum transmission is such a great feeling flying through the gears compared to the slop of a MT-82. One big change you will have to adjust when doing this swap is the Reverse gear will move to the right of the 5th gear lever and up as opposed to the factory left of 1st gear and up. Tremec provides a shift knob with the swap kit you can run that will accurately represent the change.

Photo Credit: Stangtv.com Feature by Mark Gearhart
After putting 1,500 miles on the new transmission I truly believe this is something any long term owner of a S197 should invest in. Regardless if they are a daily driving street cruiser or track rat this swap can really change the way you feel connected to your Mustang. The swap isn’t super advanced if you can handle a clutch swap along with some basic wiring off of a diagram.
The direct shift will increase the DB inside your Mustang cabin but it is really hard to notice. The gears and driveshaft tend to make some excess noise compared to stock when going at very slow speeds or on deceleration in some gears. This is taking the bad with the good but any performance oriented owner I think can easily tolerate and overlook the extra ambient noise in the cabin.  The transmission does come with a 2.66 or 2.97 gear ratio option with the swap kit and both are rated to hold 700 lb-ft. of torque.