Does Anyone Know The Prefered Toploader (year, Make And Case#) For The Mavericks. Staying With Built 302. Thanks
Toploaders come in only a few 'flavors'... They are identified by a tag on the side of the case, not so much by casting numbers. The number you want to indentify by will always start with "HEH" or "RUG". Some high points to remember: *You should make sure you get a small input with long nose. The FE small input looks identical, but the short nose that goes into the crank bushing will not seat in a 302 and will ruin the tranny. *Make sure to get a short tailshaft. The short tail was purposefully designed with the same mounting dimensions as a C4. So it's a direct swap into a Mav. The long tails were used in larger cars, like Galaxies and Torinos, and were designed as a direct swap to a C6. They will be a can of worms to install in a Mav. *The gearing has 2 flavors: Close ratio and Wide ratio. Wide ratio is the only way to go on the street. It will make a higher gear act lower until you hit 4th gear. *Early toploaders use the old SBF bolt pattern on the bell, so unless you are using a 5 bolt bellhousing 289 block, stay away from those. In short: Short tailshaft Long crank bearing nose Small input (the BBF big input is unmistakeable, huge) Wide ratio 6 bolt bell pattern Those are the high points. Stick with this and you won't need to shorten/modify your driveshaft, mod your crossmember, swap in lower gears, etc... As for looking for a magic number, don't bother... There are literally hundreds of numbers... about half of those are the number you are looking for. Also, don't go for any toploader with D7 cast into the side of the case. That is a 4 speed with 3 speed gear ratios and an OD stacked into the 4th position. This is what amounts to a super wide ratio tranny. Okay for economy, but the rpm drop between gears is not best for performance.
There are a couple of Toploader remanufacturers and rebuilders that sell complete transmissions. I am thinking about going with a David Kee Toploader. They are licensed by Ford and build brand new Toploaders, including cases and internals. The trans. length for the Maverick is 24", with wide or close ratio (28 tooth or 31 tooth 2nd gear) for about $1,800 brand new. If I could find a used one I would rebuild it, but all I can find are 3-speeds, not 4-speeds.
Start hitting some swap meets. I have owned several toploaders and have never paid more than 200 bux for one. I have bought more than my fair share for 100 bux. Just gotta be at the right place, at the right time, by keeping your eyes open and getting to the hobby swapper at the meet before the toploader vendor gets to him and buys the tranny. At last years local swap, I picked up a perfect wide ratio for 200 bux. The toploader company rep walked up as I was picking up the tranny and offered me 400 right there. I told him I would think about it. I let him dig into the tranny and check wear and such a little later at his tent (on the way to the truck), and he upped his offer to 600. Said he would have to do very little to the tranny it was in such good shape. I passed and put it in my Sprint. I figured if he liked the tranny that much, I got a good one. Anyway, you gotta beat the dealers to the deals.
Howdy neighbor....You just missed Ford Carlisle. You can easily find a good toploader there for around $400. I havent seen $200 on a toploader in a very long time. Last one I sold went for $450. Around here $400 is the lowest I've seen.
You are correct. The average price I see on them used is 400-500... That is what I would expect to sell one for myself. Buy at 200-300, sell at 400-600. Just like stocks, buy low, sell high.
What Is The Differance Between The Heh And Rug Toploaders. And I Know You Said There Are Hundreds Of These Trans Out There But What Year And Car Are The Closes For The Maverick.
RUG and HEH are NOT an indicator of a difference. You can have a RUG with everything you want, and it's from a 72 Mustang (using examples), and you might find an IDENTICAL tranny, but the PN starts with HEH... just because it is from a different model or year. My 75 has a wide ratio RUG, while my Sprint has a wide ratio HEH. They are TOTALLY IDENTICAL. The only difference is the part number on the tag. One is from a 70 Boss 302 and the other is from a 66 Stang coupe. 289 through 351 Stang from 66-73 or 289 through 351 Cougar from 67-70 are going to be optimum. They are all long nose, short shaft, 6 bolt. 351s will have 11" clutches.
I would focus on finding any Ford/Mercury car,, say no older than 1964. Think 289-302 equipped cars. Dan
They swapped from 5 bolt to 6 bolt bells in mid-65. If you are not familiar with the difference, stay away from 65 to be safe.
Everything ratio411 said is spot on. The only thing I would add is that you can swap out the input shaft from an FE with the longer one at a reasonable price. I paid $250 for my toploader and made that change (at a cost of ~$100) and it works great. And I replaced all the bearings at the same time for an additional $100 or so (if memory serves me, it was 2 years ago after all).
Swap meets around here are hard to come by. Every yard I checked either had cars with C4s or 3-speed toploaders, no 4-speeds. If anyone knows of any swap meets in South La. or Mississippi, let me know. I have a few parts I may be looking to trade out. And I just picked up a 69 302 complete except for valve covers for $200, so I don't really want to spend $1,600 more on a tranny than I did on the engine.
I've found that most of the yards are picked over or the owners know what things like this go for. I would search the local papers, craigs list, bargain trader, and the best would be swap meets. Then of course there is always e-bay, but some people get way too caught up in the bidding and some things go for rediculous prices. You've just got to set your budget and stick too it. It can be done, but it may take some time. Be patient, there are a lot of them out there.
Most You See Do Not Come With The Bell Housings. Are They Easy To Come By , And Factory Over Aftermarket????
