Flareside

G-Force Transmissions http://www.g-forcetransmissions.com has a customer in South Africa (a bunch of rich diamond miners with their own track!) that traded in 25 almost brand new Richmond 5-speed road race transmissions for new G-Force non-syncro transmissions. All the transmissions have been completely inspected and rebuilt. Mike Long at G-Force (nice guy, and the maker of Long shifters) is selling them, so you get a nice new Long shifter with your choice of handle with the trans. The price for the package to fit a C3 is $1450. This shifter alone sells for $413 at Summit, so you're basically getting a Richmond 5-speed for $1000. The less expensive street version of this transmission sells for over $1900 at Summit! The race version is supposed to have stronger bearing carriers and syncros.

Gear ratios are 3.04, 2.13, 1.57, 1.24, and 1.00. Check out the pictures of the internal components in Richmond's online catalog. They are much beefier than Muncie stuff.

I just ordered one. (and no, I don't work for G-Force. I had never even talked to Mike before today. I found out about this on the http://www.chevelles.com board. It's just such a good deal that I wanted everyone here to know before it's too late!)

-Joe


[Modified by Flareside, 9:59 AM 11/14/2001]

Tom73

The way I drive I have to have syncros. :D :D

tom...

Flareside

Tom, these are full syncro transmissions.

groovyjay

HEY JOE! That sounds like the thing I need. I got couple more questions. Do I need to buy that long shifter set up as well? How will it fit to C3? Can I just buy the basic tranny w/o shifter? What kinda set up did you get? Is it basicly the same 5speed tranny that you can get from Richmonds? Do you have any number or email so I could contact Mike Long?
Regards, Jay

Flareside

Jay, I guess you could get the trans without the shifter, but then how would you shift? At that price, you'd be crazy not to get the shifter. I don't believe a Muncie shifter will work. Go to the web site in the original post above for contact information. For info. on installing it in a C3, check my other post in the C3 forum. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=182595


[Modified by Flareside, 11:57 AM 11/14/2001]

groovyjay

Joe I just emailed'em, hopefully they check their mails on regular basis. I really would like to buy one and I tried to call them, but I couldn't get through(must be cause I'm living too far!!!). If you're still in contact with Mike could you please ask if he still has these trannys available. If they have I will buy one! You can contact me via email: groovyjay@hotmail.com

gkull

Would it be a bit much to get going in first when combined with 2.73 rearend?

I've heard that 9 -10 is just about right 3.04X2.73 = 8.3

I just did a calc. and I would be doing 66 mph at 7000.


[Modified by gkull, 11:55 AM 11/14/2001]

PRNDL

I see this is not an overdrive trans (5th gear is 1:1). Do you need the Richmond 6 spd to get an o/d gear? Won't you need to change your rear ratio to really enjoy this trans? MJ

groovyjay

MNJack I think you can order over drive gearing from Richmond.

Flareside

Groovyjay, just call them and order it. That's what I did.

Gkull, it is probably a bit much for a 2.73 rear. Richmond sell tons of different ratios for the road race trans, but these all have the 3.04 first. You'd be better off with the first gear that's used in the "street" version, since it has a 3.27 first gear. As a side note, my stock trans and rear (M21 with a 2.20 first and 3.55 axle) give me a 7.8 first gear, and I think it's too tall, even with a big block.

Mark (MNJack), yes, you need the 6 speed to get overdrive. I'm looking for harder around town acceleration, not a change in my highway driving. I don't spend much time on the highway, so the 1:1 fifth is fine for me. It's identical to what we have now. When I have the time (and funds!), I'll probably install 3.08 gears, since I don't think my rear has ever been rebuilt anyway. The 3.08 will be a good compromise between low rpms and high accelleration.

The six speed would surely work well with our stock gears, but then we'd have to spend twice as much money, and still have a 33 year old rear to boot!

-Joe



[Modified by Flareside, 1:30 PM 11/14/2001]

gearheadz

Sounds interesting...with my 3.36 rear, the 3.04 1st puts me at 10.21 which is about the equiv. of a 4.56 rear with the 2.20 1st gear Muncie.

Man, with some drag radials, 60 ft times could be very nice.

Mark

gearheadz

Joe .... just checked the Richmond site and it shows 2.625 as the highest numeric 1st gear available for the road race version. The street version shows 3.28, 2.13, 1.57, 1.24, 1.00.

Any ideas? Mark

Flareside

Mark, download their PDF catalog, it's MUCH easier to understand. I think the ratio you're looking at is the first gear ratio before it's combined with the main drive set ratio. The actually realized ratio is 3.04. Look over to the right more on the web chart.

gearheadz

Duh...thanks for the heads up! The PDF is much better.

Mark

ML67

As of 1:00 PM there were only 3 left. By 1:02 PM there were only 2 left. :)

Thanks for the heads up Joe.

Take care,

Mark

PS I bought it for $1250 w/o the shifter. I'm going to install a Hurst 5-speed using TheOman's modifications w/ correct shift handle.


[Modified by ML67, 9:56 PM 11/14/2001]

Chuck Harmon

Thought some of you might like to see a few more details on the Richmond race gearbox. I was more than a little tempted! I probably would have gone for it if they didn't come out with the 6 speed.
If we are talking about the same tranny, the race version shown here is definately NON-synchromesh.

Chuck




[Modified by Chuck Harmon, 6:49 PM 11/14/2001]

Chuck Harmon

Note that the trans can have overdirive ratios in 3 & 4th gears even though 5th must be 1:1. In order to make shifting easier with the non synchro gearbox, I was going to keep all ratios the same percentage difference between gears. i.e. Double clutching from 4th to 3rd would be the same rpm increase as 2nd to 1st. With all the gears selections available I was able to spec out the gearbox within about 1% of all the gears. I think I spec'd them at about 25% gear to gear. Perhaps some might think a little too close between 1st and 2nd, but perfect between all the other gears.

Chuck

Flareside

Chuck, it's definitely a full syncro trans. G-Force and Richmond both verified this for me. That trans you considered looks like a monster! I don't see it in Richmond's catalog anymore...

-joe

Flareside

Mark, are you really going to run it with the 4.11? Wow, that will be quite a launch with your engine!

-Joe

Tom73

Oops, I made a mistake (first this year). I see that you say they traded them in for "new G-Force non-syncro transmissions"

tom...


[Modified by Tom73, 8:56 AM 11/15/2001]