Richmond 6 speed in a '67

[TWINRAY]

Is this a possible swap? I have a 4.11 in my '67 and I need a couple of overdrive gears to get on the highway. I'm tired of driving 55!

 

[67HEAVEN]

Is this a possible swap? I have a 4.11 in my '67 and I need a couple of overdrive gears to get on the highway. I'm tired of driving 55!

My solution was to go with the Richmond 5-speed and a 3.08:1 rear.

Why?

1. Far easier to fit under there than the 6-speed.

2. Combining the 3.08:1 rear with 1st gear in the 5-speed is better than running 4.56:1 with the old M-21 Muncie. :eek

 

[allcoupedup]

A 4.11:1 with the richmond will feel like a 4wd trick in LOW gear. You'll never hook up! You'd be better off starting out in 2nd gear (unless you were towing something )


brian

 

[Mac]

The final drive of the Richmond 5 spd is still 1:1, same as the M20, M21 & M22, right? That's why the rear diff change is necessary to get the advantages of the 5 speed.

-Mac

 

[67HEAVEN]

The final drive of the Richmond 5 spd is still 1:1, same as the M20, M21 & M22, right? That's why the rear diff change is necessary to get the advantages of the 5 speed.

-Mac

Check. And with those tall 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears..........look out mama!

 

[Tyler Townsley]

The Richmond six speed does not have 2 ODs. 5th is 1:1 6th is a overdrive. There is a GM 6spd used in the Camaro that has the six speed with 2 ods and I know of one that is behind a 427 in a 66 with a 4:11 It was a nice driver. Has really short throws.

Tyler

 

[66 Red Rocket]

Is this a possible swap? I have a 4.11 in my '67 and I need a couple of overdrive gears to get on the highway. I'm tired of driving 55!

its all a numbers game, you need aprox. 9.5-10 to 1 in 1st gear ratio on a small block and aprox. 9 to 1 on a big block. This is found by multiplying 1st gear raiti by rear end raito. ie:3.08(rear end raito) x 3.01(1st gear raito in my richmond 5 speed)=9.27. This makes for strong acceleration and A 3.08 in high gear. I purchased a Richmond 6 speed with special raitos for my 66 coupe and to make it fit you will have to cut the transmission tunnel out and re-make it plus cut the transmission crossmember out of the frame and either modify is or make another crossmember. needless to say I took a beating and sold the Richmond 6- speed and went with a Richmond 5 speed. There are 2.73 gears avaliable for mid year rear end now.

 

[TWINRAY]

its all a numbers game, you need aprox. 9.5-10 to 1 in 1st gear ratio on a small block and aprox. 9 to 1 on a big block. This is found by multiplying 1st gear raiti by rear end raito. ie:3.08(rear end raito) x 3.01(1st gear raito in my richmond 5 speed)=9.27. This makes for strong acceleration and A 3.08 in high gear. I purchased a Richmond 6 speed with special raitos for my 66 coupe and to make it fit you will have to cut the transmission tunnel out and re-make it plus cut the transmission crossmember out of the frame and either modify is or make another crossmember. needless to say I took a beating and sold the Richmond 6- speed and went with a Richmond 5 speed. There are 2.73 gears avaliable for mid year rear end now.

Well, based on all said, the 6 speed is not a consideration (thought in the Jegs catalog it has 2 OD's). I personally cannot do a gear change so I guess this brainstorm is on hold. Thanks all for your knowledge of this subject. I'm totally impressed!

 

[67HEAVEN]

66 Red Rocket,

Welcome to the C1/C2 Section of

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Classicvette63]

Are '63 and '66 that much different? Didn't really have any problems getting the Richmond 6 spd in mine. The tunnel had to be "notched" slightly although the original console fits and the mod is not noticable. I have a 4.11 rear and a 3.27 1st gear. It definetly stand up when you get on it. Classic

 

[66 Red Rocket]

Did Your's Come With An A/t From The Factory?, I Understand That The A/t Cars Had A Removable Crossmember. On 66-67 M/t(the Ones I Have Experence With), There Is About 6"-7" Interference Problem With The Crossmember And The Lower Part Of The Richmond 6 Speed. On A Stock M/t Frame The Tranmission Slides 2"-3"' Into The Frame/crossmember.

 

[JohnZ]

All midyears had welded trans crossmembers; the removable one on automatics didn't start until the C3 years.

 

[VAroute66]

Since the topic came up, I have a DNE 5 speed transmission that I plan to install in my '66, but I saw on some other web sites that shifting can be less than smooth "notchy". I also heard that there are modfications that can be made for improvement such as to the detente mechanism. I am also surprised that Richmond does not make a transmission mount for this application. 67Heaven has a solution on his website. The Kiesler mount would probably work or be a good start for the Richmond install, but they do not sell it separately. For those of you who have run Richmond 5 or 6 speeds, what is your experience with shift quality? Thanks.

Dan

 

[Hib Halverson]

Is this a possible swap? I have a 4.11 in my '67 and I need a couple of overdrive gears to get on the highway. I'm tired of driving 55!

I've got a ROD in my 71 and it works very well. My car and yours share the same chassis so it should work pretty good for you too except for one thing...Richmonds are really transmissions intended for use with tall not short axle ratios becuase they have low first gears. The six-speed has limited optional gear sets and, if you're going to keep the 4.11s you're best to use the highest of the ratios available in the lower four gears.

I use a Richmond with 2.77/1.88/1.46/1.18/1.00/0.62 ratios and a 3.08 axle.

For more info on Richmond 6-spds into C2/C3 chassis see:
http://www.idavette.net/hib/bbfh16.htm

 

[66 Red Rocket]

The trick is to use a Long Mfg. shifter, it is far superior to the Hurst shifter for the Richmond 5 speed. Richmonh uses Long for ther 6 speeds. The Long is the smothest shifter I have ever used.

 

[Hib Halverson]

The trick is to use a Long Mfg. shifter, it is far superior to the Hurst shifter for the Richmond 5 speed. Richmonh uses Long for ther 6 speeds. The Long is the smothest shifter I have ever used.

The only shifter available for the Richmond six-speed is the Long. The key to making the Long work weil is proper adjustment. It seems to be quite sensitive to that. I set the shifter adjustment up on the trans while it's still out of the car, then I duplicate those adjustments once the shifter's in place.

 

[Ken]

I don't mean to hijack this thread - just a quick question about the shifter...

I agree, the Long shifter isn't bad, but is there a way to make the gate a little more definitive? I'm getting more used to it all the time, but I still cringe when I think of how I missed several gear changes while I was getting used to it. The worst was the powershift from third to second at 6000 rpm! I'm lucky the engine survived that one, not to mention the car. I did however, damage the second gear synchronizer. Now I'm really hesitant to 1-2 powershift again, but I'll need to with my setup: a 3.28 low with 3.73s in the rear. First gear doesn't last long, but boy does it launch!

So, does anyone know if there is a method to tighten or increase the effort slightly to give a better feel for the gate?

 

[Classicvette63]

Hurst supposedly has shifters for the 6 spd. They were listed on their website. The Long shifter is much better than the original shifter that came with these cars, but for me, the jury is still out as to whether the Long is as good as Hurst. The broken-in Hurst I had previously was head and shoulders above the brand new Long. Hopefully, the Long breaks in as nice. We shall see. Classic