FE427 - Richmond Transmission?

[Ant]

I am interested to know what bellhousing(s) and setup you guys use with the FE 427 to Richmond Five speed?

[CJ428CJ]

Nothing fancy (assuming your engine is a 64 or later block). Just the standard Lakewood scattershield for the Ford FE. The only trick as I recall is that you'll need to buy your clutch disc seperate from the pressure plate. That's because you need the pressure plate to bolt up to the ford flywheel but the splines on the Richmond 5spd are 26 spline. Ford never offered a 26 spline clutch disc so you'll end up using a clutch disc from a Chevy.

Chris

[Ant]

Chris,

I assume with using the Richmond trans the bellhousing bolt pattern is either the same as a Toploader, or it can be drilled?

[RICK LAKE]

Ant I use a GM 5speed input on my cay with the lakewood bell housing. It bolts right on. I use Allen head bolts for the little extra room they give you. I have a ford flywheel that is drilled for both Ford and GM 11" clutch assemblys. I am running a Ford diapham pressure plate 3200lbs and a GM disc from centerforce gold kit. Make sure you have the right pilot bushing in the crank. Make sure the bell housing is centered on the motor. Mine was .028 off when started, got down to .005. Alot of grinding. Good luck Rick Lake

[Ant]

I see there is a Mcleod modular bellhousing with parts that you weld to locate once you have dial gauged the concentricity of the transmission to the crankshaft!
With the Lakewood scattershield which needs grinding etc, where is the material taken from, is it where the cap screw heads are?

[CJ428CJ]

Ant,

Either the Richmond is the same bolt pattern as the toploader or the Lakewood scatter shield is drilled for both. I'm not sure which.

Chris

[ERA 626]

Lakewood worked good for me.

[The Dreamer]

Ant,

The modular bellhousing doesn't have the same shape as the Lakewood, so you need to make sure you have clearance for it. I know it doesn't work with a Kirkham. I think the grinding Rick is talking about is widening the alignment holes as well of the bolt holes to allow enough movement to align the bellhousing. Lakewood has the alignment procedures on it website.

[Ant]

Lakewood sounds good to me fellows!

I suppose most of you will be running an internal hydraulic clutch bearing, like the Tilton etc, so there is no need for throw out forks slave cylinders?
I see there has been posts on normal system versus an internal throw hydraulic.

I dare say the Lakewood got provision for a normal throw out pivot fork?

While I am at it what are you guys running for material on your clutch disc(s)
I assume for road/track either a dual lining or paddle type would be okay? I have tried kevlar style that was rivetted on with the marcel under the lining, five minutes later I had a heap of linings coming out of the bellhousing. I dont know why clutch companies advertise these plates for severe use, they are crap!

[The Dreamer]

Ant,

I'm using an external slave and clutch fork. I got the fork and pivot from David Kee. I got the slave from Finishline, but there are several places to get those (Southern Auto, ERA, Forte's, Cobra Restorers). The nice thing about the Finishline one is it comes with the brackets. Some of the other do too, but I don't know which ones. I'm using a McCleod dual friction clutch disk. Like someone said earlier, the pressure plate is a FE one (12in), but the disk is a GM disk (12in) with the 26 splines.

[mpotito]

Hi Ant:

I have # 695 at ERA about ready to go out the door. I have a 427 Shelby block with a Richmond 5 speed. I have some great photos as I made it to ERA the day they did the engine/tranny install. Send me your e-mail and I send you back some pictures of the rear of the engine with dual friction clutch, pressure plate and tranny that you may find of some help.

Mike