Is it possible to create a custom 6th gear for the 6-speed tranny?

[burbel]

Just had a thought (oh know, there goes my $$$ again!

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Has anyone tried to create a custom 6th gear for the US 6 speed
tranny? Can such a thing be done? I was reading up on the
6-speed with the 4.55 R&P, and it sounds just like what I would
want, but I would still like to keep the revs low on long trips;
does anyone know if you could create a custom 6th gear that
would drop the revs down considerably?

Pardon my gear-ignorance, but, if it could be done, it sounds like
what I am looking for!

 

[David]

Race cars use custom gearing all the time. Just need to find a shop that can do it and be ready to spend a lot of $.

 

[burbel]

Any idea what would be a ballpark price?
Are we talking 10s of $, 100s of $, or
1000s of $ for a single gear? Know of
anywhere in the Austin or Central Texas
area that might be able to help with
this?

 

[David]

Not sure, but I would expect it to cost a lot, due to the nature of the work and the type of materials. Try calling Norwood Autocraft (972-831-8111) in Dallas. They don't do that type of machine work, but they run Bonneville cars so they must know someone who can do it.

 

[nsxtasy]

Based on what you're looking for, I think you'd be a whole lot better off sticking with the stock six-speed with the stock R&P.

 

[maomaonsx]

Let's see, you want to keep the revs low on long trips, I guess to save on fuel consumption, and engine wear. In other words, you like to save a few bucks in the long run. In order to do this, you want to have a custom 6th gear made--which is going to cost in the $thousands. Is it worth it?

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For some, it's a compensation.

 

[burbel]

Actually, that's what it all comes down to. I liked the idea of having the 4.55 and the 6 speed, but wanted there to be at least one gear where I could keep the revs low on the engine -- I'm still somewhat used to the chevy 350.

If I could get a custom gear for little $$$, at least on the highway I wouldn't constantly have that urge to upshift when at speed; however, since it looks rather expensive, I think I'll just have to learn to live with the revs (when/if I get the 6speed & r&p).

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[Lud]

You are talking thousands of dollars to one-off a gear. The actual machining isn't the issue (though that's fairly expensive too), it's the design time that will rack up the $.

The 4.55 R&P alone is also about $2500 by the time you pay for installation. So between the two you are probably looking at an extremely expensive gearing mod.

Normal highway cruising speed in 6th gear on a 6-speed with the 4.55 R&P is not much different than 5th on a stock 5-speed....