69MyWay said:
Allen,
Thanks for the info. I had no idea that Pertronix made all that stuff.
Your welcome, neither did I. I could have used some of their parts on other cars, would have saved me some fabrication work for certain.
As far as the trans goes, I am dead set on the Richmond six.
I see it as having several advantages.
1. reuse my lakewood housing, and hydraulic clutch release bearing.--including my new on the shelf Quartermaster clutch.
That is a non-trivial advantage. AFAIK, no one makes an SFI rated conversion bell housing for the T56. Ditching my Lakewood is not something I look forward to having to do. The only thing you can do is install a SFI rated kevlar blanket around the bell housing and hope that holds should the flywheel let go.
Do you happen to know the max input torque spec for the ROD? My mouse is making 485 #/Ft in this revision, and is going to top well over 525#/Ft in the next. That's what drove me to retire the M21 and install an M22.
2. Shifter fits through the stock console location.
This one doesn't concern me very much. I very much prefer the T56 shift feel over the Hurst on the M21. I've never driven a ROD equipped car, so I'm clueless on how that tranny setup feels when grabbing gears.
Is the ROD an internal rail or external type linkage?
3. No mods needed to the drive shaft
That's a bit of a $saver there.
4. Better range of gear selection from 1st-6th.
You do get a heck of a range of ratios, a good thing. You'd have to go to a Jerico or Liberty box to get anything resembling that kind of flexibility in available ratios.
I'm running 3.70's in the pumpkin now. It's a compromise between streetability and performance. 3500RPM @ 70MPH in 4th is enough. Sure would be nice to drop that nearer to 2000RPM like in my Camaro, that would really give the car legs.
5. Bragging rights of a full blown ROD six speed gear box.
Ahh, is there magic in the ROD tranny at car shows and the like then? Coming from the burnout perfume lovers crowd, the M22 has always gotten the nod as The One
I have looked at a variety of others on the market, and stock replacements from the F body to the Vette, and in between. There are trade offs with all of them.
However, the ZF is a noisy mother lover, especially with the single mass flywheel conversion. I mean....it is NOISY - like a rod is coming out of the block until I depress the clutch pedal. From time to time, the noise will transmit into the knock sensor and retard my timing on take off....very bad (I am working on that one).
That doesn't (pun!) sound right. Is something wrong? The ZF Vettes I've driven in are not at all noisy. Besides, with your side pipe setup, does a little gear noise really matter? ;-)
One of the goals in building the 69 was not making any compromise in comfort due to the need for speed. So, the power steering was a must, along with the vintage A/C, keyless, power windows, etc. etc. etc.
Yep, your Vette is much plusher than mine, and stuffing a ROD6 under the floorboards is going to take it a giant step forward towards the fastest plush ride around
My goals for my '69 are to keep the classic lines of the car inside and out, while stuffing as much power, tire and handling into it as I can with more than just a wink at on track safety (Lakewood and fuel cell are in the car now, 4 point bar and 5 point harnesses are coming with the next engine).
This car will never see any competition driving (that is what the 90 vette is for), so saving weight, or reducing rotating mass has never been an important goal.
We did scale the car though and found out that it is less than 100 pounds heavier than my 90 Vette!
I might.....do some exibition Auto X with the 69 this spring. I save the total tire and clutch melt down action for the 90.
Never say Never where a Vette is concerned ;-) Making some fun run passes down the strip or blasting around a road course on a SCCA HPDE day just kinda "happens" you know
My car comes in at 3279# with a full cell of gas. Corner weights and front to rear show the car is very well balanced 49%/51% front to rear and 51/49 left to right.
Putting my butt into the seat changes those a little bit to 47/53 F:R and 50/50 L:R. Not too bad at all for a street rod really.
Tnx!
Allen
PS: Can I ping you on pre-post JCL dyno #'s?
