TKO 600 Problem

[RICK LAKE]

Cobra 29 First Name would be nice. Lets talk trannies and what you are going to do with the car,
If this is a street car and NO abuse is going to happen, The HP and torque are under 450/450 you have 2 options. We don't know what the torque is of the motor or rearend ratio?
Richmond 5 speed with a 1-1 5th gear if running a 2.88 or 3.07 rearend gearing. This is not an overdrive trans. With the lower rearend gearing you can live without it if you do no long cruising. Trans bolts right into your car and ERA has the correct looking shifter.
Richmond 6 speed overdrive. Get this with the 2.88 first gear or the 2.66, DON'T get the 3.25 setup. I have this and NEVER used 1st gear. 15 feet and you have to shift. Trans has a 450/450 rating. The overdrive is nice with a 2.87. Unless you have a big torque motor down in the low rpms of 1,300-1,500 the lower 6 gear will not work and lug the drivetrain unless you are driving at 80 mph. to get into the power band of the motor.
Bolt patterns are both the same for bellhousing. Only different is the rear mount needs to be moved 1" back on the frame. The other way around this is the plate it using the stock location mount. As long as it's aligned and has a good solid mount there is no problem.I raced this for 4 years, trans is going in a TA for the rest of it's life.
Here's the 1 I reccommend, Super Street 5 speed. POwer rating 600/600. This will cover most motors with no problems. Again depending on rearend ratio, either the 2.87 or 2.6something first and the overdrive is in the .87 range. The .66 may be too low for a mild motor. Bolts right into a ERA. Get the custom shifter for the orginial look. Install and forget. All these trans have heli gears and not straight cut for keeping the noise down. There are shift limiters on the shifter assembly so you can bang the shift and not over thrown it like our TKO 500, TKO 600, and TKO T 56 that has not been upgraded with better main shafts, synros and cones. If you bought a new T 600 and had it blue printed you are at the same price a a Richmond 5 speed.
I roadrace, autocross and have to drag race the car once in a while. The abuse to car and trans is big. I always over build my cars because of the abuse. I buy the best products I have seen tested and abused. I got a T56 trans from a GTO and called G-Force who was doing upgrades to this trans in the beginning when this trans went into the Viper and they where breaking them and shifter problems also. Cost was back then about $2,000.00 with all the race parts installed. MY problem is too many moving parts, too many shafts and internal shift shafts with out limiters. They may have fixed this problem over the years. Anyway I talked to G-Force and ended up with there race trans. Clog and dog gearing. Trans good for 1000 hp and 800 ft of torque. Bullet proof. The case also strengths the 2 main shafts and prevents splitting under abuse. It's simple and strong. Cost is big. Almost double of a Richmond. Everything is built in house with G-Force and repairs are the same inhouse. You don't need this for street driving and a little play. 95% is on track only.

I am guessing that your trans has a GM input shaft or SB ford one. I don't know about QM bellhousings but Lakewoods need to be centered on the block. Mine was .038" off center and took 3 hours to get centered. If you don't have this done, perwear will happen of the trans input shaft and bearing, Clutch disc, hard shifting, clutch engagement not smooth and a list of other problems. If you run a Lakewood bell with an GM input trans, you need to remove .280" of the input shaft tip. IF you don't you will perwearout the thrust bearing in the motor and major damage will happen. Quicktimes are centered to blocks but would still check the out of round.

Jerico and T-Rex trannies are for racing and bullet proof. Most are 4 spds. These are dog snyros and shifting is notchy. Cost about the same as a Richmond without the overdrive.

If you could give us info on the motor, HP/ Torque. the rearend gear ratio and the rough info on compression, camshaft, we could get you in the right trans for you and the car. I don't want to guess. I do know that buying the cheaper trans doesn't work out in the long run. TKO started with the T-5, T3550, T- 400 ( I think ) T-500, T-600 and are still having problems with designing them. Putting larger and bigger parts in a case without still fixing the orginial problems is not the answer. IMO too many options for these trannies. I do like the location of the shifter with all the adjustments.
Simple, basic and strong are the answers.
Give us some info on the motor and rearend and we will get you with a good trans. Rick L. Ps I learned this through hard knocks and racing. 1 side note, racing the heat going down the tunnel gets really hot and the inboard brakes don't help. I have found that after 20 minutes of racing the trans gets notchy. The fix was to install a 4" bildge fan that takes air from the right side compartment and run the tube down to the trans tunnel. $100.00 and problem is fixed. Nascar uses a bunch of blower on their cars for cooling.
I am building 1 more motor a 498 to replace the 484 one. I am going with the Superstreet trans and the 2.66 first gear for my last.
You didn't say which clutch was in the car??? This makes a differents also.
Waiting for a return e-mail Rick L. Ps I don't sell car parts for anyone here. I work for GM and have 30+ years there and 40+ 1/4 racing back to the 70's. Sorry for the long winded thread, my fault.