Ok, heres the deal. I'm thinking about a SBC 427 HO engine, however I need to figure out a transmission to go with it. The thing is, what I want may not be availible to get. Here it is: I want a 6 speed transmission, in this situation it may have to be auto. I want a shift kit that will go to a 6 speed. so it reads P R N 1 2 3 4 5 6 (vertical) is this at all possible? Why you may ask I want 6 gears. the reason being, is that the 550 hp SBC 427......I want to use all of its power. and that with lower end gears tuned for acceleration, and the higer gears for top speed. more gears, more acceleration. with less gears comes less manueverability. Taken i'm only 17 and don't know very much about transmissions or auto racing shift kits, i need help. anyone willing to help me?

 

More gears means nothing to acceleration. You pick a transmission based upon your engine power, car weight, tire diameter, intended use. You choose your rear-end gear ratio to put you into the power/drivability range, then the trans gears adjust that from take-off where you have tq-multiplication to get you moving, through the top and/or OD gears to keep you moving at your MPH needed, at the RPM your engine works best/efficient in.

After all this, you still need to afford what you want/need..

Modern 6/7/8-speed automatics attempt to keep the engine in it's optimal RPM range thorughout most of the street MPH range. There's no performance reason for more gears, only MPG.

I've had a 4sp-auto (700r4) with 3.73 rear gears, and a 6sp-manual (T56) with 3.42 rear gears behind my 427 sbc.. Each had it's pros and cons.

 

but since you have more gears in a 6spd, you have 2 extra gears you can alter to tune to acc without loosing top speed. I want to be able to jump the line faster than all those mustangs, but not redline @120, and have no more gears to switch into. SO i figure more gears, the better. Mostly use it for daily drive, racing at strip on weekdays, and take it to a long, wide open area to floor it and see how fast it could go, wherever that may be with out it being illegal. but as of now i have a 3.23 10-bolt. would that be good for a 427 setup or not?

 

Why an automatic? The new GM A6 transmissions would be an option if doing an LSx motor, but would be more work to get on an SBC (not impossible). The Trans would also need an ECM to control it. The easiest and cheapest way would be to put a T56 in. You could easily run 4.11 or 4.56 gears in the rear, and have the double-over drive for running the Texas Mile..

 

This is blatantly not true. Imagine the extreme case a direct drive system VS a CVT the CVT can stay at your RPM of peek hp where as a direct drive system has to accelerate throught the entire rev range. Take a guess which one would accelerate faster all other things being equal? Its physics Acceleration = Mass/Force this means the greatest accelerations will be when you maximize the force and to do that having more gears to keep the motor closer the RPM it generates the most force will accelerate faster than one with less gears and a wider ratio. It could also stay at an RPM for best economy but it dosnt have to. More gears in effect is an attempt to become closer to a CVT. This is also what a "close ratio" transmissions does it allows the motor to remain at its peek performance by useing gear rations that are much closer than standard transmissions. Also depending on the gear ratios 6 speeds many times have a double overdrive which allows for steeper gears in the rear while maintaining street ability which in effect multiplies torque further and again allows the RPMs to change less with shifts like the same thing a close ratio transmissions tries to accomplish. So anyways on the the original posters question yes there are kits that allow you to change the shift pattern around but it will cost a pretty penny and im not sure it would do you any good. Reason is i get that you probably want to shift it but if its electronically controlled (and being a 6 speed automatic i imagine it is) you can program it to shift whenever your want under various conditions. So under regular street driving it will shift like normal at low rpms you program and under heavy load it will shift at the precise RPM you want which is perfect for racing consistency. Not quite as fun but if you really want to shift go stick shift. As far as the 10 bolt that will have to go it will be destroyed in pretty short order under enthusiastic driving conditions.

 

"Blatantly" ? Not so.. Modern motors are under-powered and have narrow powerbands. CVT and multispeed transmissions overcome the limitations of weight and power to try and optimize the complete combo. You can't say how the gears will affect the combo unless you know all the variables.. Dragsters routinely run Powerglide 2-speed transmissions, because they're light and the engines have large powerbands. A 427sbc will be the latter, not the former.

But as I've said above, the costs of doing an A6 conversion will high and won't be beneficial.. Drop in a T56 and don't look back.

 

Its not so much a matter of power band or modern cars vs high performance cars all the same principals apply. Lets look at all the high powered cars who arguably have no real intentions of fuel economy and see how many gears they have. Really i have not heard of any modern sports car or performance oriented car for that matter that does not have at least 5 speeds.

Bugatti Veyron 7 speed
Nissan GT-R 6 speed
New Corvette 6 speed
2008 Lotus Elise 5 or 6 speeds
Enzo Ferrari 6 speed
Dodge Viper 6 speed

That being said a car whose power band was very wide with a broad torque curve would benefit less but still going to more gears is improvement. You could argue that the weight savings from useing a lighter trans could outweigh the benefits of having an extra gear or that the cost doesn't justify the performance gains but you cant argue with physics. Racing is a problem trying to maximize "the area under the curve" more gears and close ratio gears accomplish this. Also yes there are people out there running 2 speed power glides however there are dragsters running direct drive too but this isnt a 7000 hp car nor is it relegated to drag strip duty only.

 

You can bolt any trans to any engine if you got the cash to get an adapter plate built. And its not rocket science, just some machine work so things line up n bolt right.

So you can get any 6 speed trans you want, if you can afford to adapt it.

 

I want a stick, however i want to be able to have a straight line shift pattern, like a shift kit offer for auto. no "H" pattern shifting. I want to ry and eliminate the longetivity of shifting.....or would my answer be a 6 speed manual, and then get a short throw shift kit to eliminate shifting time? because the quicker your shifts, the quicker you're putting power back to those wheels.

 

no Lsx, i'm set on a HO 427 SBC.

 

Yea there's no "shift kit" for standards to eliminate the H shift pattern. The best you'll be able to do is a short shifter as you said. Although with a short shifter and some skill you could shift pretty quick combine that with the fact there are less losses in a stick shift trans, whatever you may lose in shifting time you could make up for with increased power to the wheels. Stick shift does require a good deal more skill though.

 

yea, but every transmission grabs differently, some are touchy, and some you have to give it a bit more gas. I think i'll go with the short throw and t56 setup. i'm up to it though. reccomend a certain rearend? i was thinking more along the lines 0f 3.55 or 3.73 gears.

 

No problem, just gonna cost money to have some techno geek build an electronic shifter. Your straight line shifting will be fly by wire. Fighter jets are fly by wire and as that tech gets into more and more cars, the price on such things goes down.

Its all a matter of money

 

Personally ide swap to a ford 9 inch (they make them so there a direct bolt in replacement) with mid 3 low 4 for a rear gear ratio since the t-56 has the double over drive you can get away with it. Start to go too steep though and first gear is almost useless lol. Even with 3.73 it seems by the time i can even get my foot to the floor its already time to shift into second.

 

9 bolt ford is a 3.55 rearend. i herd so many people put 'em in cuz they are made better and has just the right setup.....thats about the only thing ford made better than chevy.

 

There just about the toughest rear axle youll come across. And i love how the whole center section is removable for service. Its a bit heavier than a chevy 12 bolt but still the 9 inch is stronger and the extra weight is well worth the durability to me anyways. For that we have to give ford credit. Theve done a few things right in their time and I have to admit if it werent for ford starting the whole pony car craze with the mustang the camaros and firebirds may not have exsisted so hats off to them for that anyways. So i wouldnt feel too bad putting a ford axle in a chevy just like how chevy motors find their way into fords.

 

yea, well, the fords ain't got nothin powerful enough to beat a chevy, so they match em with chevy motors. i don't mind a ford rearend, but a ford motor, transmission, or anythingelse is just absurd to put on a camaro, ironically the camaros were built to outrun stangs. they are "small, vicious animals that eat mustangs" -CEO and inventor of camaro

 

Nope ford for the most part is just for show which works when it comes to sales. Again i will give credit where credit is due but ford just never really got into the real performance end of things. They built a sporty mustang which is a fun car with some pep but was never really meant to be a beast just a fun car people would enjoy. It seems like all of ford claims to fame are not really Fords doing. Take the mustang although there are powerful versions out there none of them are really fords doing. Roush mustangs, saleen mustangs, shelby mustangs these are people who could take fords cars and do something with them but from the factory i haven't seen too much that was really all that impressive performance wise. Even the famed GT 40 was the result of Fords temper tantrum against Ferrari for refusing to sell out to them and as result again Ford went to another company (Lola) to design a car for them to beat Ferrari on the race track. Interesting story behind the GT 40 lol.

 

so you're saying ford got other people to do the performance stuff. None of it was actually "theirs". I knew Carol Shelby just took the mustang, droped a 428 CJ in it, did a few restyling and called it a GT500, and they've been making em ever since. Didn't know Saleen was a whole other company, figured it was a style offered......like a z/28 camaro.

 

Nope Ford dosnt do a lot of their own stuff performance stuff. Im mean when it comes to passenger cars yea or like the mustang they did that but most of their real claims to fame performance wise were the results of "partnerships." Even things they did do like the Mustang cobra the cobra name comes from something they didn't do lol. The shelby cobra which was the result of again ford hiring Shelby to build a race car. Its kinda like SLP is to GM they did a lot of work with the camaros for example but arnt part of GM. But the difference is SLP cars arnt all GMs known for performance wise unlike ford most of the ford cars you hear about are the result of some other companies work not fords.

 

Well if money was no object, you could get a lenco tranny. It doesnt have a strait line pattern, but individial levers for gear selection. Might be a pain to drive on the street.