One of our favorite parts of the 2009 SEMA show is McLeod’s brand-new M-800 five-speed manual transmission. This thing has survived 800 ft/lbs of torque and enough torture that the guys actually broke a dyno while trying to break the transmission. The main reason we love it is the fact that this transmission is not some crutched-up factory piece. It’s a clean sheet design and can handle all the ooga booga you can throw at it.

The guys at McLeod spent more than three years developing this unit, and in that time they really came up with some neat features. The real impetus behind the build came from the Mopar community that wanted a beefy, five-speed transmission that doesn’t require them to hack their cars up. McLeod was smart enough to design this transmission as a modular unit, so it is a bolt-in replacement for the venerable A-833 four speed and can be configured by changing the tail shaft and front plate to fit GM-equipped four-speed models, a Ford Toploader, and T-5 equipped cars as well.

We honestly don’t think we can break this thing, and we’ve broken a lot of stuff. It’s industrial grade. McCleod is so hot on this transmission that they put a 1-year/12,000-mile warranty on it. The gears are all forged, it’s a 32-spline output shaft, it bolts to your stock bell housing, and you have options on your first gear set. This IS the better mousetrap.