[Chaplin]

Clois-
I debated the same thing and finally went with the TKO II. I don't know anyone that races with one, but the TKO II is considered Tremec's "road race" transmission. It has a higher torque rating than the std. TKO (475 ft/lbs v. 425 (I think the regular is rated at 425), third gear is apparently stronger than the standard TKO third gear and the overdrive is .83 as opposed to .68.

I really wanted the overdrive. Given the light weight of a Cobra coupled with the propensity for wheel spin, I would think that you would spin the tires before you could put enough torque to the ground to break the transmission.

But we'll see. I've got the trans sitting in the garage waiting for the car to arrive.

I avoided the Richmod for a couple reasons. One, I have heard that it does not shift as well as the Tremec or toploader (again this is pure rumor, no personal experience). Second, in order to get the desired overdrive effect with a Richmond you would have to use a 2.8 rear (or there about) which would mean that if you ever wanted to switch to a top loader, and use a 3.54 rear you would have to change the whole carrier (with the jag rear anyway). I'm not sure what the cut off is (someone help me here), but I believe that above or below a certain gear ratio you have to change the whole carrier. For example if you had a 3.31 and wanted a 2.8 you would have to change the whole carrier rather than just the ring and pinion gears (someone correct me if I'm wrong). At least with the tremec you will probably use a rear gear ratio equal to or close enough to what you would use with a top loader so that you could easily swap out to a top loader with out major headaches.

That's my .02