I am in agreement with all of you, the T5's low gear will make it hard not to spin the tires in first, and it does have a high 5th of .63, and not only that it is only rated for 330 ft. lbs of torque. It all depends on the rest of your drivetrain, the TKO600 with the .64 5th prefers a 3.73 rear gear or lower, or you might never use 5th gear. With the .82 5th in the TKO600 you have a little more room to play in the rear gearing, I have had customers with Cobra replicas install the .82 with such rear gears as 3.25, 3.55, 3.73, and even 3.90 and all were pleased with the results. What you need to determine is are you going to be cruising on the open road alot at higher speeds (65-80) or more city driving. Also you will need to see what type of RPM range your engine is set up for, that is a major point to consider, because you won't want to get to far out of your cam range otherwise you will be lugging the motor down. As for the shifting, the stock TKO shifters are made by Hurst, but there are several aftermarket companies out there with smooth and quick shifter replacement tops. As for reliability, we units out in veh. that have been there for over ten years, in fact I just spoke with a gentleman that has a TKO600 in a '23 T bucket that has over 1000 hp and a little over 925 ft. lbs. of torque, and it has been there for almost three years without one problem. Hope I could be of some assistance.
jimig@standardtransmission.com