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The ultimate solution to the CTS-V1 shifter and transmission issues - Magnum XL Swap
I've had my car over two years and I have never really been happy with the shifter in it regardless of which bushings, pivots, spacers or shifter I had in it. There had to be another option.......
Well I decided to roll the dice and it paid off. I now have a Tremec Magnum XL transmission with a direct top loading shifter in my 05 CTS-V. It took a little work but nothing the average do it yourselfer couldn't do. So here is the run down.
There is a ton of info in here, part numbers, measurements I took and pictures.
The transmission is a Tremec Magnum XL and comes in a kit that is designed for the 2005+ Ford Mustang, which also has a linkage shifter. The transmission is super strong and can handle 700+ Ft/Lbs of Torque.
The transmission comes in two different gear ratio configurations.
TREMEC
Part Number 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Rev
TUKT12019 Kit
TUET11430 Trans Only 2.66 1.78 1.30 1.00 0.74 0.50 2.90
TUKT12021 Kit
TUET11940 Trans Only 2.97 2.10 1.46 1.00 0.80 0.63 2.90
I went with the TUET11430 trans only as I wanted the 2.66 1st gear and the 0.50 6th.
Once I got the transmission, I put the MagXL and the stock t-56 side by side and started measuring and fitting things.
First off the bell housing bolts right up with the exception of one bolt hole.
With the bell housing on the T-56 I measure from the face of the bell housing to the mounting surface of the slave cly. Then I measure how far the input shaft stuck out past the bell housing. Then I took the same measurements with the stock bell housing on the MagXL and found out that the slave cly mounting surface and the input shaft stuck out 9/16" more than the stock transmission. This was easily resolved with two 1/4" aluminum bell housing to transmission spacers from QuickTime part number RM-199. Due to the spacers I had to run some 3/8 x 1 ¼” Steel dowels since the stock dowels weren't long enough. I also had to get 1/2" transmission to bell housing bolts from the local hardware store.
I installed the stock LS7 Slave onto the transmission with the Tick remote bleeder and a Tick slave cly line but due to the size and the position of the lines I had to clearance the opening for the slave cly line on the front plate of the transmission and make two notches in the 1/4" spacer closest to the transmission. Then install the 2nd 1/4 spacer.
Once that was done I reinstalled the bell housing to the engine and went to bolt the transmission to the bell housing but it wouldn't go flush with the bell housing. Come to find out the input shaft tip is bigger than the stock CTS-V t56 and the tip of the input was too big for the stock LS pilot bearing(GM .595 and MagXL .669) After many hours of searching I found that Lakewood makes adapter pilot bearing for a Chevy engine with a Ford Transmission. Lakewood Pilot Bearings 15975
So once everything was removed, trans, bell housing, clutch and stock pilot bearing. I install the lakewood pilot bearing and everything went together perfectly. The 3/8 Dowels are a little tight going in but fit and do the job correctly.
The reverse lockout solenoid did hit the transmission tunnel at first but with a few wacks of a big ball peen hammer to the transmission tunnel it had plenty of clearance. Don't be afraid to hit it, there is nothing on the other to damage and its all hidden by the carpet and center console.
Now with the transmission bolted to the engine it was time to figure out the shifter and transmission mount.
Before I pulled everything apart I measure the clearance between the oil pan and the front cross member with the stock transmission installed (.700"). That way I had a reference point for when I altered the stock transmission cross member.
For the transmission mount I used a standard ol chevy transmission mount from energy suspension since the stock CTS-V won't bolt the the transmission. Its cheap and it works great. Energy Suspension Transmission Mounts 3-1142R
I bolted the mount to the transmission and modified my stock transmission according to get the same 0.700 of oil pan to front crossmember clearance as I had with the stock transmission. I'm going to work on a custom transmission cross member in the near future. One thing you will notice in the pictures is that the transmission mount is at a angle but the shifter base is perfectly flat. The bellhousing for the Mustang swap is clocked a little clockwise for some reason but isn't a issue.
Now for the shifter, with the transmission installed the shifter sits about 3/4" further forward with the supplied shifter from Tremec. I prefer a spring load shifter with positive shifter stops so I went with the MGW shifter for the MagXL for the Mustang which happens to have a bracket that offsets the shifter handle about 3/4" of a inch. So I rotated the bracket to the rear of the car and Bingo....the shifter is in the perfect spot.
Now you can do the same thing with the supplied tremec shifter but you have to press the isolator off of the shifter assy rotate it 90 degrees and press it back on if you don't want to go the MGW route.
As for the shifter handle you have a few options that are quite cheap if you have access to a welder with the MGW shifter as the hole in the bracket is 3/4".
I first started off with the handle from my Creative Steel shifter. I took a piece of 5/8-18 threaded rod and some 3/4" thin walled pipe I picked up from lowes and welded the 5/8 into the 3/4 pipe, then threaded the CS shifter handle onto it but it was too tall for my liking(close to stock if not a hair taller). You can also cut the top part of the stock shift handle and weld it into a piece of 3/4" pipe if you want to use the stock shift ****.
I ended up using the 3/8-16 threaded handle that came on the stock tremec shifter and welded it into some 3/4" pipe and used the supplied shifter **** that came with the tremec. Its a real solid feel and some people may not like it.....I F'n love it.
As you can see in the pictures I did open the shifter opening in the tunnel just a little bit but only so I can remove the shifter assy from inside the car. Makes filling the transmission with fluid and installing the removing the transmission much easier.
Now the stock shifter boot/plate won't fit without some modification. I opened up the stock shifter plate enough so it would bolt down and clear the shifter but before I bolted it in place I took a few pieces of a old tire inner tube, cut a hole i the middle a little smaller than the base of the shifter. Slid them over the shifter and bolted to the plate in place, pinching them between the shifter plate and the transmission tunnel. Installed some of the foam sound deadening and the stock shifter boot with the modified tremec handle and ****. The tremec **** comes with a little aluminum spacer that fits nice in tight in the plastic clip that holds the stock **** to the shifter boot.
Now the transmission is bolted up, the shifter is installed and it now feels like your gears are being shifted be angels. Yes, it is that great.
Then you have the wiring, which is super simple. Reuse the stock temp sensor from your old transmission. The reverse lights, reverse lock out solenoid and transmission oil temp sensor connectors plug right up and don't have to be extended. You will need to get a Ford Speed Sensor connector as the MagXL uses a Ford Speed Sensor. Dorman part # 645-213 Cutting the stock VSS connector off and connect the new connector. Doesn't matter which wire. Now your speedo will be off and need to be corrected with HP Tuners see the pics for the settings I used (26" tall tire).
Then the last piece of the puzzle...the driveshaft. This will all depend on which rearend you have in your car, I have a Ford 8.8 kit in mine. I used a 31 tremec slip yoke with 1350 series u-joints and Large Ford pinion flange. Then had a local driveline shop make me a 1 piece 3" steel driveshaft 50.5" center to center. It is a little tight going in and should have gone 50.25-50.0" but it works just fine.
Spicer 31 spline slip yoke 3-3-5961X
Ford Large Pinion Flange DL3Z-4782-A
Spicer 1350 U-joints 5-1350X
The Measurements
Throw Out Bearing Mounting Surface
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL Difference With .5 Spacer
6.625 6.0625 0.5625 0.0625
Input shaft protrusion from bellhousing
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL Difference With .5 Spacer
0.1875 0.750 0.5625 0.0625
Shifter Measurements
Bellhousing to shifter
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL W/ .5 Spacer Difference
35.500 34.750 0.750
Transmission Case to Shifter
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL W/ .5 Spacer Difference
29.750 29.000 0.750
Transmission Mount (these are rough numbers but ended up make the mount on the car)
Bellhousing to center of mount
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL W/ .5 Spacer Difference
26.375 27.875 1.5
Output center to mount surface of Transmission mounts installed
CTS-V T56 Magnum XL W/ .5 Spacer Difference
4.250 4.500 0.250
Magnum XL with Ford 8.8 rear end - Driveshaft 50.25” center to center on the u-joint
Magnum XL with stock rear end - Driveshaft 48.75 Center to center on the u-joint
Parts
Transmission
TUKT12019 Kit
TUET11430 Trans Only 2.66 1st gear
TUKT12021 Kit
TUET11940 Trans Only 2.97 1st gear
QTI-RM-199 x2
Transmission Bellhousing Spacer, 0.250 in. Bellhousing to Transmission, 6061-T6 Aluminum, Natural, T56 Magnum Bellhousing Spacer
Energy Suspension Transmission Mounts 3-1142R
2x 3/8 x 1 ¼” Steel dowels
Lakewood Pilot Bearings 15975
Spicer 31 spline slip yoke 3-3-5961X for the Magnum XL
Spicer 1350 U-joints 5-1350X
8.8 rear
Ford Large Pinion Flange DL3Z-4782-A for Ford 8.8 rearend
Finally got a chance to really go out and drive the car and take it out on the interstate. The transmission shifts great, still getting use to the harshness/mechanical feel of the shifter. The feel of the shifter is not bad its just different compared to the stock style linkage shifter.
I took it out on the interstate and I do feel some light vibration coming from the driveshaft starting around 60+mph. I knew the angle gauge i was using was ok at best. So I when to Lowes and picked up a digital magnetic protractor gauge yesterday and stared measuring driveline angles.
Transmission 3.7 degrees with a 1.4 Operating angle
driveshaft 2.3 degrees
pinion 2.3 degrees with a 0.0 Operating angle
.....Houston we have a problem.
Transmission and pinion angles are supposed to be parallel to each other with deviation of up to 1 degree is acceptable. Operating angles need to be at least 0.5 degree and with in 1.0 degree of each other.
Here is a link with tons of info on driveline angles.
So I shimmed the transmission up a 1/2" and the driveline angles are much better
Transmission 3.0 with a 0.4 Operating angle
Driveshaft 2.6
Pinion 2.3 with a 0.3 Operating angle
The operating angles are not at 0.5 degrees recommend minimum but they are much better than before and should take care of the driveline vibration I was having.
.......Well the driveline angles still required some more tweaking. Even thou the operating angles are better they were not ideal. So I trimmed the top urethane bushings on the rear end to bring the nose of the rear end up and now things are much happier.
Fantastic! Thanks for the writeup. How long have you been working on this? Can't wait to hear your impressions on the road. You're going to love first gear now... no more useless go-sideways mode.
Do you have an DXL360S or equivalent to measure driveline misalignment angles? I'm thinking that the transmission mount height and side-to-side is going to take some time to perfect. I also suspect that your driveshaft might cause some vibration being a bit too long, but testing will tell.
Last edited by FuzzyLog1c; 08-07-2017 at 07:00 PM.
I used a older needle style angle gauge and as of right now I have 4' down on the trans, 3' down on the driveshaft and 3' down on the rear end. Going to drive it for a little bit then do some adjusting if needed.
I used a older needle style angle gauge and as of right now I have 4' down on the trans, 3' down on the driveshaft and 3' down on the rear end. Going to drive it for a little bit then do some adjusting if needed.
If you want, you can get a shotgun boresight laser for $10-25 and attach it to the end of the transmission to help you line up the differential.
Fantastic! Thanks for the writeup. How long have you been working on this? .
Been running the rough numbers from searching online to see if it was possible for about a 2-3 months but really didn't know for sure until I had one in front of me to take measurements off of.
I finally felt good enough about my research to pull the trigger and order the transmission on July 20th, it was on my door step July 24th and driving down the road Aug 3rd.
....Then the last piece of the puzzle...the driveshaft. This will all depend on which rearend you have in your car, I have a Ford 8.8 kit in mine. I used a 31 tremec slip yoke with 1350 series u-joints and Large Ford pinion flange. Then had a local driveline shop make me a 1 piece 3" steel driveshaft 50.5" center to center. It is a little tight going in and should have gone 50.25-50.0" but it works just fine.....
Driveshaft length alone would make a big difference...nice work!
But the only thing steering me away from this train of thought is the cost...how much you got in this?
Driveshaft length alone would make a big difference...nice work!
But the only thing steering me away from this train of thought is the cost...how much you got in this?
I got about $4k in the swap, but I've sold my Stock T-56, complete shifter assy with every upgrade possible, stock driveshaft with voodoo chicken carrier and CS Trans mount for a total of $2500 after shipping cost and paypal fess. So net cost is about $1500 give or take a $100-200
Now I did luck out and found a good deal on the transmission $3050 shipped. Then to make things even better they sent me the whole MagXL kit with the quick time bell housing for the ford that I can sell and the transmission crossmember and trans mount which is pretty much useless.
If you are running stock size tires and 3.73 gears your settings will need to be Hardware 12, gear ratio & tire size 2823.61 and sensor calibration 33883.32
08-07-2017, 06:21 PM
The ultimate solution to the CTS-V1 shifter and transmission issues - Magnum XL Swap 
