Rock crusher trans?

[RallySnake]

Mike,

I used to have one. It was real nice on twisty mountain roads. The close-ratio 4 speed allows you to keep it in the power band at medium speeds.

It was a little noisy, with straight cut gears. It had a tall first gear, so it was hard to get away from a stop smoothly, without bogging the engine. Creeping in traffic was TERRIBLE. My leg ached from slipping the clutch. The clutch didn't like it much either. The worst problem was the lack of overdrive. I could never get better than 15 miles per gallon and the engine had to rev high constantly. My rear end is 3.31, so you can figure its worse with lower rear gears.

I replaced that trans with a Tremec 5-speed. It is so much better in all respects, except the first one. The Tremec gears are much wider spaced, so if you're running a cam with a narrow power band, it's hard to stay at a comfortable RPM. I installed a hydraulic cam and Rhodes lifters to solve this problem. Now, I have the best street setup. On the track or the twisties, I miss the close ratio box. The next step would be a six speed, So I could have BOTH!

Adapting any trans to any engine is possible, but rarely worth the time or effort. It took hours in the machine shop to make the Mustang trans fit my SBC engine. I had to find a pilot bearing that fit the crankshaft and mill out the hole to fit the transmission input shaft. I bought a transmission adapter through PAW and had to mill it to fit the Tremec properly and bolt up to the Lakewood scattershield. The Ford 11" clutch plate fit the Chevy pressure plate just fine, but the throwout bearing had to be adjusted precisely. I'd never spend weeks doing that again.

Paul