Anyone running one of these? Any comments good or bad. Thanks.

 

There are folks on the board running them!!

I have a brand new one setting in my garage waiting for the weather to warm up above freezing to install...

The choice of Gear ratios is much better in the Richmond. IMHO

I gave up nothing... I still have the muncie ratios as with a street friendly 10.98 overall low and a 2.688 final in OD (3.36 rear X .80)

 

I think on C3's a special offset stick is needed in order to use your factory console as well as some mods to the crossmember

 

 

I had two in my 69, both bolted right in. They are a very nice tranny as long as you do not over power them. I broke both of mine with a 454 on nitrous (approx 800 hp). If you keep the power below 500 hp I do not think you will ever have a problem. They shift nice and have a great selection of gears. Do not be afraid to run a pretty deep gear, that over drive solves everything. I ran a 3.70 rear with a 620 hp 454 with the 2.77 first gear and .62? over drive. It was perfect.

 

I like mine!! I have the 3.27 1st, 0.76 OD and 2.87 rear. It shifts smooth and has a good ratio spread. I'm running uncapped baffles in my sidepipes and 6th gear really keeps them quiet at highway speeds. I assume you have a C2 so I don't know about the difficulty installing in your car. In my 81 I had to mod my crossmember and trim the tunnel some for the shifter. No transmission mods or offset shifters required. It fit like GM put it there originally, exits the console perfect. It's a top notch transmission and the Long shifter is great. See here.....http://www.g-forcetransmissions.com/...r_6_hr6000.asp

 

I agree with 69 N.O.X. RATT. The Richmond 6 SOD is a nice transmission that shifts very nice and has a very good gear ratio spread. The only issue with the Richmond 6 SOD is that it wont take much horsepower. I have one sitting in my garage that I have broke twice. Richmond fixed it under waranty the first time but it repeated the failure so I decided to give the TKO 600 a try. The TKO shifts ok and has held up fine so far but the Richmond has a better gear spread. As 69 N.O.X. RATT said the only mod required is a removable cross member. The Long shifter is a quality piece and fits the console perfectly. You will be very happy with the Richmond as long as you don't over power it.

 

The Richamond 6 speed will be my choice too. As soon as I get reemployed it will probably be purchased/installed. The richmond seems to have the best gearing. I am planning on running a 3.54 rear gear with it. The biggest mod needed is the crossmember.

 

Here is my setup currently waiting to be installed in my car which should provide for a nice streetable setup. If it ever gets installed by the shop then I can post my results on how I like or dislike my setup but from everything I have researched it should be all good giving me the perofrmance that I need for my L46.

3.70 rear-end With 255/60/15 Tires or 26.7~27"

Gear..Ratio..RPM....MPH..Total Ratio
1st....3.01..6,000...43....11.14
2nd...1.88..6,000...69......6.96
3rd....1.46..6,000...89......5.40
4th....1.18..6,000..111....4.37
5th....1.00..2,780...60....3.70 ***Cruise RPM IN 5th (lower if put into 6th gear like 1,900rpms)
6th....0.62..2,300...80.....2.90 ***Cruise RPM IN 6th

 

Hey thanks everyone. Good info. It's going to go behind a 435HP 427 that will probably make 500 HP in the end. So it's seems from the comments that they should be reliable at that HP and torque level. Good to know that they shift decently. Thanks again.

 

How much are the richmonds, ballpark, and how do they compare to the keisler 6 speed. Keisler has a conversion kit from auto to Manual 6 with all the parts, I was just wondering which one you guys would prefer, ease of install,performance, changing clutch, etc.
Thanks

 

Well....that is kind of a tuff question for me to answer on how much it costs. I think tranny itself goes for around $3,000 and then you need a few other items. I know the shop charged my credit card last month about $3,700 which included a few other related items necessary to do the swap and I was quoted right around $5,000 at the most expensive to do everything including adjusting the tranny tunnel, etc. My car was a 4-speed already. The $5,000 ain't so bad, what is killing me is the damn time it is taken them to at least order the tranny and now who knows when it will be finally installed. I want to drive my car really bad.

 

The Keisler PerfectFit kits are the only ones out there that really include everything you'll need to convert from auto. When you consider that you'll get a new bellhousing, driveshaft, clutch kit, linkage, shifter handle and boots, pedal assembly, speedo cable, tranny etc... with the conversion kit; the price is not too bad. Most of the auto to 5 speeds kits end up in the $4,500 range.

Remember that going from a 3 or 4 speed to a Keisler Engineering Tremec TKO 5 speed with overdrive offers HUGE improvements in driveability and performance at any rpm, whereas a 6 speed offers very little advantage over a TKO 5 speed. The 5 speed is also MUCH stronger.

Please let know if you would like more information on the 5 or 6 speeds for your Vette.

 

with 4.1x rearend it ends up about 2.54:1.

Mine make noise at idle in neutral. I tore it apart and installed a new front bearing but it wasn't that. I'm going to have to tear it apart again. Quite annoying actually since I've never abused it.

Nevertheless, the car is much more pleasant to drive than it was with the Muncie M21 with those rear gears.

 

Here's a link to a good description about how to install the Richmond 6 speed.

http://home.att.net/~ncarboni/TrannySwap.html

Lot of nice pictures and text.

 

I'm in the same boat for my T-56 Viper swap. Shop left a voicemail yesterday though and the Th350 is out .....the shop has all the parts and should be done in a week (?). Seems like it has been 3-4 months and I am itching to drive. As it warms up the itch gets worse...maybe I should see a doctor. Driveritis?

 

Love my Richmond even though its only the 5 spd non-overdrive version. I'm running with 3.08 gears, which is plenty for getting off the line with the steep first gear these tranny's have. I pull 1.9 sec 60' times on street tires with this tranny.

 

I have a richmond six speed in my 1964 which was installed by a friend of mine who was the prior owner. He did do some modification to the trans tunnal to make it fit and slight modifications to the pot metal center console, which is noticable only by other midyear guys who really look hard. otherwise, I believe that is all he did. I installed a 3.08 diff which is what they recommened. My experiience with the tranny has been all positive. Great gear choices for all situations as it is a close ratio five speed with an overdrive 6th. 6th is the hwy mileage cruiser, and runs about 1,600 rpm at hwy speeds. Additionally 1,600 rpms is nice and quite. The Long shifter, which is the brand name having nothing to do with the length, is a first class shifter with rod ends on all shift rods and is smooth and positive. Expensive at $3,000 from summit, but worth it if you need a tranny and plan on keeping the car. It sure makes it much more enjoyable to drive in all situations, It would be hard to go back to a four speed car.

 

I've had a Richmond 6-speed (2:77 1st- .62 o/d) in my ZZ/502-powered '79 for over 5 years without incident. I liked it so much that I put one in my '67 roadster 3 years ago.
Same length as a Muncie, same bellhousing, same clutch..........

A friend installed a Tremec 5 speed kit in his '69 427 roadster last year.
It sounded like a bunch of marbles and he had to yank it out & send it back.
They kept it for 2 months without any response. He finally called, and they didn't even know they had it!
He lost the rest of our short cruising season- plus they initally didn't want to do anything to make it right.
He had to holler pretty loud to get a properly working transmission back from them. Plus he had to do all the labor twice. Not impressed.
My 2c.

 

I went with the ROD6 in 2003 with the 2.77 first and .62 final with 3.55 gears. It was a direct fit with the exception of cutting the X member. That turned out to be a snap. I used a saws-all and cut it a couple of inches out on each side from the frame rail. I then used a pair of 1/4" thick plates on each side of the x member with the mate to that on the frame. I scribed and cut 1/2" off the x member on each side. I bolted the two 1/4" plates together and slid them up in the car between the frame rail and x-member. Once in place I tack welded the plates, then pulled it all down and ran a nice solid bead.

I sloted the trans mount area back a couple of inches and moved the parking brake cable routing over a tad and tacked it back down. Once that was complete the entire unit slid in place exactly like the muncie using the same clutch, pressure plate, bellhousing, etc. The shifter fits perfect through the stock hole. The stock driveshaft is used with ZERO modifications.

Speedo hooked right up (although I used an eletric pulse sender for my Autometer gauges), and all other items fell right in place.

It is the single best mod on the whole car. Cruising at 70 is a snap as the engine just barely labors and a nice quiet pace.

My total expense was the cost of the trans and some scrap metal and welding supplies to make the X member removable. Had the car been an automatic from the factory, I would have only made minor changes to the trans mounting pad and parking brake cable since auto cars come with a removable X member.