Richmond 5-speed floor clearance

Looking into putting a Richmond into a 4-spd E-body, car already has the 4-spd hump.

I have been told by one fellow that the Richmond + linkage all cleared his 4-spd '70 Cuda with no messaging necessary.

I did not see this with my own eyes, and have heard stories just the opposite, but I don't remember the details
and it might not have been an E-body.

Anyone have E-body experience with the Richmond ?

AndyF might best answer this.

Fairly major modifications are required to put a Doug Nash into a B body and I doubt that an E body would be any easier. The torsion bar crossmember needs to be cut and reworked and the floor needs to be modified.

IIRC the shifter for an E-body is farther rearward on the tailshaft than a B. I think in order to have straight shift rods you will have to move some metal around. If you have noodle shift rods you might get away with minor floor pan surgery. I know that the GF5R (same dimensions) in my '66 B-body required floor pan and torsion bar cross-member modification to fit correctly and retain good drive line angles. G Force will rent you a case to use for mock up if you call them up.

Look at the two transmissions side by side and tell me how you're going to fit that in a Mopar with making some serious modifications to the floor?

I have to ask the obvious question is he installing a 4 speed or a 5 speed??? The 4 speed is based on a Super T-10 while the 5-speed is based on a Doug Nash design. Which one is he doing to use?
I have recently rebuilt a Richmond 5-speed for a friend and he has it in a HEMI powered Cuda. The torsion bar crossmember needs to be modified and you also need to make a custom shifter mount to move the shifter up and back past the crossmember. You also have to fab up tome custom bent linkage to clear the crossmember.
I still have your number so I can text you a picture of the linkage and shifter mount in my phone.
If he is using a 4-speed then it will be an easier install but the shifter position and linkage will still be tricky to engineer
I will try to get the pics to load on my computer.
Oh yeah he will also need a longer driveshaft with a T-400 yoke on it. I used a Spicer 1350 Chevy dump truck yoke for mine.

Gus


















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Andy's picture really exemplifies the issue we are discussing with fitment. As you can see the shifter cannot be moved any farther forward and where it is in the path of the t-bar x-member. The wider case also will require tunnel modifications and it takes a little work to get the floor pan contoured so that it does not intrude into the pedal box area (I like my roomy b-body lol).

Fourgear, We are talking about the 5-speed.

Thanks guys, the pictures are helpful.

Is the E-body tunnel in fact the same as the B-body in the same model year ?

I thought maybe some of the clearance issues were from guys trying to put the 5-spd into a 727 car,
but evidently even the 4-spd cars need work.

A Richmond 5 speed will not fit in an E body car without significant modifications regardless of what someone tells you. Just lay under the car and look at the space and you'll understand the issue.

The 66-70 B body and 70-74 E Body used the same length torsion bars. That tells us that the engine/trans is in the same place with respect to the torsion bar x-member so that is I why I assume you would have to modify your car similar to my Charger. The only difference between an automatic tunnel and a four speed tunnel is the factory cut a hole and added this:

http://www.brewersperformance.com/proddetail.php?prod=FT160

On my car I cut the spot welds off of the shifter box and moved it up and back on the tunnel. Non-four speed people don't even notice that the shifter is in the wrong (improved) location.

Correct, the T bars are the same and the K frame is the same between E and B body cars so the trans tunnel is probably the same or very close to being the same. I think the transmission mount and crossmember interchange also.

Thank you for confirming that Andy.

FourGear,
Still thinking about this, I can't mock anything up yet.
Your friend with the hemi Cuda, even with modifying the T-bar crossmember he also had to relocate the shifter on the tranny ?
If you have those pics, can you send to 206-255-6644 ?

not sure if you can see these pics or not, if you can, this is probably the kind of stuff required for the Richmond 5spd also.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_x5rdAFeZU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Wow, [censored], that looks great, extremely helpful !
How did you make that big C-shaped brace ?

that's not mine, just someone i keep up with. looks like he welded lots of sections of tubing (maybe 1x2") to form the C in the tunnel.
anyways, it's extensive work. if you search google images for something like "mopar T56 swap" you can see images of what other people did.

This article might show you some of the fab work required. This is for a T56 which is even bigger than a Richmond but a lot of the information will apply.

https://www.hotrod.com/news/install-tremec-t56-6-speed-plymouth-duster-mopar/

I sent you a pic of the shifter on the transmission with the bracket.

Gus

I got it, great picture.

If I go this whole route, I guess I can kiss a carpeted floor goodbye.

I have carpet in my Savoy it just doesn't fit too well, When I had my Long V-gate in the car with my Richmond I needed a BIG hole in the floor.
Gus

Here is my '65 Coronet with the 5 speed shifter for the Doug Nash. The carpet in this picture doesn't cover the hump since the original carpet was fit for a console. I don't see any reason why a good upholstery shop couldn't make carpet fit a 5 speed. It is on my list of things to do but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Andy your list of things to do must be about 10 feet long

Gus

I've never pursued it, I would think it would be difficult to shrink & stretch the materials.
Maybe they can work magic.