im running the t5 in mine, had the trannys 5th swapped, it was traded from another t5, dont know what it was, as mine is a '92, swapped the tail to mechanical speedo.
anyway the fifth gear that was pulled just acted like i pulled out of 4th and when i shifted to 5th it felt like i had put it back in 4th.
its fine now, running a '39 banjo with 3.54 gears, tires are 27' have to look for my rpm sheet i wrote up but i remember it always dropping down to 1800rpm in 5th.
and yes it will pull just fine starting out in 2nd gear.
and i really like your trany strap better than the way mine was fabbed.
rich