Posted by Jack Cain on September 04, 2000 at 20:15:08:
In Reply to: Does Doug Nash still make his 5-speeds? They basically are posted by a Ford Toploader with overdrive. on September 04, 2000 at 18:08:18:
No, they haven't been made in years - however Richmond essentially took over production of the Doug Nash 5 speed and made some improvements to it. I do not know if they still make the 5 speed but I do know that they make a 6 speed unit.
However, I don't think that the gear ratio's will work with the standard power wagon rear end.
Here is a short excerpt on some of the Richmond 6 speed attributes.
RICHMOND 6 SPEED OVERVIEW
This 6 speed is the best 6 speed design out there. Since 5th gear is direct and not an overdrive gear you get nice close ratio shifts ( rpm drops less than 25 percent) all the way up 5th. The original concept of the Richmond 6 speed was that it was based on the Richmond 5 Speed ( the old Doug Nash 4+1). That concept was that in the 1960's to early 1970's we didn't mind having 4.11 or 4.56 rear end gears in American muscle cars. We could have a close ratio 4 speed because we could have a 4 speed with a DEAD 1st gear ratio like 2.20 coupled to a rear axle with a 4.88 gear. Since the gas crunch came along we saw conventional autos having the rear axle ratios drop to 3.08. This would not work well with a 2.20 1st gear 4 speed. So they made 4 speeds with 2.88 or 3.42 first gears to make up the difference. The problem was that the 4 speeds being produced became "ultra wide ratio" gearboxes. This wide ratio thing didn't work for the street people since they didn't want 4.11 rear end gears and a close ratio box or 3.08 rear end gears and a wide ratio box. The Doug Nash 4+1 fixed that problem. It gave you the ability to have 3.08 gears in the rear and have a close ratio "5 speed". The 5th gear was direct and first gear ratio was 3.27 to 1. The newer 6 speed adds an overdrive gear to the mix allowing the user to boost axle ratios to 3.90 to 4.11.