One of the key things I wanted to do during the project was to swap out the old Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission into a stick shift. I looked at few different alternatives from Richmond and B&W. In an ideal world the HD T56 would have been my choice but when I was looking for a new transmission they were hard to come by and if you found one you'd end up paying top dollar for it.

I was told by a friend about few Richmond Road Race 5-speeds which were supposed to be sent out to some racing series but the deal had gone sour and all the transmissions were up for sale. I got a real bargain deal on a tough as they come Richmond. I bought the transmission from G-Force Transmissions along with a Long shifter.

To complete the transmission swap I needed the pedals, clutch linkage, Z-bar, clutch fork, transmission bracket and mount, bellhousing, flywheel and clutch. I found the stock pedal assembly and the linkage with the Z-bar from a local Vette Shop. I replaced the stock linkage with a trick linkage from Speed Direct. I used stock clutch fork.

After hearing horror stories about broken flywheels flying through the floorpan I decided to go with Lakewood's bullet proof bellhousing (#15000). The clutch is Centerforce Dual Friction II. It was recommend to me by several guys who have used it in the past in big cube engines. I must say it's relatively easy to operate and gives great feel and grips hard when needed. I also used Centerforce throwout bearing.

I fabricated a bracket for the transmission out of billet aluminum and put on a new poly mount from Energy Suspension.

The transmission was rough to change at first. I remember my first 1/4mile attempt with the new transmission with just 50miles on it I made a fool out of myself not getting the second gear in right. But now it works well and only thing I would change it to is a T56.