Fox Dreams Ditches Its AOD In Favor of A TKX Five-Speed From SST

When you’ve been dreaming of a do-over for decades, you want to get it right. So, when Melissa Lawrence picked up the Fox Mustang of her dreams, there was one thing that wasn’t part of the fantasy — an automatic transmission. So, we turned to Silver Sport Transmission for a complete swap kit to turn this 5.0-liter Mustang into a five-speed manual machine.

Silver Sport Transmissions’ in-house engineering team spends weeks and sometimes months developing our kits so installation is quick and easy for our customers… — Jeff Kauffman, Silver Sport Transmissions

This is the launch of our Fox Dreams project. It has its roots in a familiar tale — the car that got away. At 17, her first car was a 1993 Limited Edition Mustang convertible, and it was the love of her life. After a crash cut that story short, the desire to own one never left her heart. On her 45th birthday, she finally got her second chance, a clean, Canary Yellow 1993 Mustang LX Feature Car convertible ready for a rebirth.

Now we’re building it her way. This isn’t just a nostalgia restoration, it’s a full-on Fox build that can drop the kids off one minute and lay down rubber with more than 600 horsepower the next. The endgame is a Vortech-blown, 347 stroker-powered street machine, but before the boost hits, we needed to replace the weakest link, the factory automatic transmission.

Step one was ditching the AOD and making the jump to a robust five-speed manual. That’s where Silver Sport Transmissions’ Automatic-to-Manual TKX Five-Speed Conversion Kit came in. With everything designed to work together, this swap turned out to be as smooth as the shifts we were about to enjoy.

Complete System

“We get our hands dirty in our shop. By doing this work ourselves, we can simplify the installation process, and every job is an opportunity to improve and find new efficiencies,” Jeff Kauffman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Silver Sport Transmissions, said. “When we discover improvements, we revise past kits and update our installation manuals accordingly. We also incorporate customer feedback to refine the wording and photos in our manuals. Our goal is to make the entire experience so straightforward that you’ll enthusiastically recommend our kits and our tech experts to your friends.”

Instead of scouring the internet and swap meets for factory manual-trans parts, we went with the Silver Sport package. It came packed with the TREMEC TKX transmission, bellhousing, McLeod billet steel flywheel, McLeod clutch, pilot bearing, pedal assembly, and all the right hardware to bolt it up. We also opted for a hydraulic clutch conversion. There is no guesswork and no mystery, just one complete solution made specifically for the Fox Mustang. The TKX is perfect for this project, as it’s ready to handle 600 lb-ft of torque while delivering smooth, modern shifting.

“There is a risk when sourcing from multiple vendors that not all the components will work together, and some parts may not be available at all. Even if you’re capable of fabricating parts, this will add time and frustration to your installation. Silver Sport Transmissions’ in-house engineering team spends weeks and sometimes months developing our kits so installation is quick and easy for our customers; many can complete the job in a single weekend thanks to our meticulous research, design, and illustrated instructions,” Kauffman explained. “The Silver Sport Transmissions Fox Body kit was designed after bringing in a Ford Mustang and extensively researching the variations between other Fox-body models and trim levels. We installed the kit in our facility and documented the installation well with photographs for our instruction manual. Some components needed to be designed and fabricated and are now proprietary parts available from Silver Sport Transmissions and our distributors.”

While the kit includes all the necessary driveline hardware, Fox Dreams’ factory transmission tunnel still needed some massaging. To that end, we utilized a CJ Pony Parts Manual Transmission Tunnel Hump Kit (P/N MTTHK1) that is part of the SST kit. This stamped steel panel mimics the tunnel design of the factory manual-transmission cars, which delivered the clearance we needed while maintaining a factory-like appearance. Once it was installed, the shifter landed right where it should, and the TKX fit like it belonged there all along.

Rugged & Smooth

If you’re planning serious upgrades, including a Vortech-supercharged 347 stroker, in a Fox Mustang like we are, your drivetrain needs to be just as tough as your engine. That’s where the TREMEC TKX five-speed manual transmission comes in, well, clutch. Designed with street and strip performance in mind, the TKX is built to handle up to 600 lb-ft of torque and 7,500 rpm shift points, offering plenty of overhead for a high-winding small-block with boost. Whether you’re ripping through the gears at a roll race or just cruising to a Cars & Coffee, the TKX offers the kind of confidence you need behind the shifter.

The TKX doesn’t just bring strength to the table; it delivers modern drivability, too. Triple-cone synchronizers on its first three gears ensure smooth, fast shifts at high RPM, while the improved shift-fork geometry and internal rail design give the gearbox a refined, mechanical feel. That matters in a car like our Fox Dreams project, where we’re aiming for big horsepower but still want streetable driveability. We chose the close-ratio unit with .68:1 overdrive fifth gear, which also helps tame highway RPM, so we’re not buzzing down the 405 at more than 3,000 rpm after we upgrade the rearend.

Fitment is another area where the TKX shines on projects like this one. Compared with the prior TKO models, the TKX features a sleeker case design and multiple shifter positions, making it much easier to install in a wide range of vehicles. For a car like ours, where the goal is performance without compromise, the TKX delivers the right balance of strength, refinement, and bolt-in simplicity.

Built For Power

“The TKX is built for power. It can handle a continuous 600 lb-ft of torque and 7,500 rpm shifts, so you know it’s tough,” Kauffman said. “Plus, with both wide and close ratio gearing options, you can fine-tune your performance. If you’re heading to Mustang Week and plan on hitting the drag strip with your street-performance Fox Body, the TKX is more than ready for the challenge!”

To secure the transmission under the car, we deployed a Stifflers Transmission Crossmember (P/N TCB-M06), built specifically for Fox Mustangs swapping to a TKX. Its slotted mounting points made dialing in the driveline angle easy, and it bolted up clean. We paired it with the Stifflers TKX Install Kit (P/N TCB-TKO), which includes a poly mount and all the right hardware to keep the trans securely in place.

With the pedals swapped, the clutch cable routed, and the shifter bolted down, it was time for the moment of truth. We fired it up, dropped it into first, and let the clutch out—and just like that, our Fox was reborn. The shift action was tight, crisp, and confident. No more lazy gear changes or vague throttle feel, just raw connection that brought those waves of nostalgia rushing back.

The car shifts the way we wanted it to now, and it’s ready for the next chapter. With a solid drivetrain in place, we can focus on enhancing the powerplant, but even as it sits, Fox Dreams is way more fun to drive than it was with the clunky factory AOD in the tunnel. There is no better way to live your Fox dreams than stabbing the throttle and grabbing gears. However, we are just getting started on this project, so stay tuned.

Trimming The Tunnel

Bolt-In Installation