Tremec or Toploader?

You could still go with a Toploader and use 3.25 or 3.50 gears and keep the revs down. With a 26" tire, you'd only turn 2520 @ 60 mph, 2940 @70. A 390's got plenty of torque to still move the car in the 1/4 mile with 3.25's. My 67 ran low 14's with a pegleg 3.00 rear and a stock 390.

I have two tremecs in operation, love them, tko 6oo and tko 500. Opt for the .82 final though as the .67 bogs down too much unless you like around 90. I run 370s in the rear. Just a wonderful setup. One is behind a modular 5.4 in a 67 and the other behind a 302 in a 68. I have bought another for a 65. So far I've not cut the hump except for the 5.4 install. Had to trim the side just a little for the shifter. I use a "Hurst" shifter handle and 5 speed knob. This looks kinda cool and keeps the vintage look. Hope someone will chime in on the 390 fitment. It will take the hp and not even grunt. Good luck either way.

If you are driving for "hours at a time", I would get an od transmission. I have a 3.08 gear and 25.7" tire and it is ok, but much over 40 miles gets old. I am looking at a 2.73 if I do the Power Tour.

Useless trivia:
Tremec manufactured the Toploaders (all versions) under contract from Ford.

The title of the thread: "Toploader or Tremec?" struck me as funny because the Toploader IS a Tremec.

Check again, I think only the later ones were built by tremec. I think late 70's Ford turned over the toploader to tremec.

Too many rpm's at speeds above 70mph. 3000rpm's at 75 mph. It gets louder which gets old. I like it to be closer to 2500.

If you do hours at a time of highway driving I would recommend the Tremec. I have a toploader with 3.50s which I switched to from 4.11s but still get revs around 27-2800 rpm @ 65mph. I have been thinking about switching to a T-5 in the future for this reason. If you are at that point now I would go with the Tremec and mod your hump, it will be worth it. Good luck!

I think there is a drop bracket assembly which allows you to install a tko into a mustang without cutting the tunnel.
This puts your motor on an angle, as well may affect the u-joint angle a little.

I have a head on picture of a mustange with (I believe) a tko. The flywheel appears to be inches from the ground (lower than the collector flanges on the headers and the entire exhaust system) I assume this is what the lowering bracket might do.
It looks dangerously low to me.

Makes me re-think about what I want to do with a tranny again.

The extra angle on the engine wouldn't bother it. I'd be more concerned with the stress on the output shaft on the transmission. What gears are in the rear now? I swapped the chunk in my 68 Merc Monterey from 2.75 to 3.70 and the difference on the highway wasn't a problem for me. Sometimes, depending on where the powerband is in the engine, letting it rev more on the highway can be a good thing but this too, depends on how far you want to drive it

How about a Richmond 5spd?

What about a Gearvendors OD? They make a setup that replaces your tailshaft housing and you don't modify the tunnel. I think David Kee can hook you up, but it's not cheap.

http://www.gearvendors.com/hrford4sm.html

Richmond now makes a 5spd OD transmission.

You won’t have to cut up your tunnel to install it.

http://www.richmondgear.com/NEW5withOD.html


Not cheap, but can handle the power.

Have Modern Driveline build you a T5 with Gforce gears. Good for 400 hp. About $2300.

More on the Tremec topic

I'm reviving this old thread because the previous discussion is relevant, but doesn't need to be re-hashed.

If you participated in this thread originally, you may recall that there really weren't any solutions given to resolve the requisite drive line angle when installing a Tremec tranny. It's not as bad on the 67-up cars as the engine sits a little lower in the car, and I will limit my discussion to the latter cars.

My problem is that because the engine sits at such a steep angle (about 7 degrees), my High dollar CUSTOM headers contacted the passenger side frame rail... just a little, but enough to rub the ceramic coating off, and my AC compressor pulley is riding a little high (can't tell if it will foul the hood yet though). If the engine angle were the stock 4 degrees (as measured on a stock intake) both would have ample clearance. I did a little clearancing on the frame rail with a 3lb sledge while the engine was out, so that problem is resolved at any rate, but I decided to see exactly what was fouling the tranny when I attempted to get close to the stock driveline angle. To my surprise, the passenger side had ample clearance everywhere. On the driver side however, the front inspection plate (optional shifter location) hits the front of the tunnel longitudinaly while the mid inspection plate (another optional shifter location) still has about 3/8" clearance even though it sits under the floorpan brace. At this point, the engine is sitting at 5 degrees down in back, which is close enough to stock that I would leave it there. To leave it at this angle and yet keep from fouling the front opening, I plan to move the outboard edge of the front opening in about 3/4" and mill the flange down about 1/8" all around. Then I'll trim the cover down to fit and drill new holes to fit the new smaller opening.

I'd also like to install the new TKO-600 gear set with the 2.87 1st gear. D&D Performance will sell everything for the swap for $995.

So here's my question: how do I remove the front aluminum cover so I can have it machined? After removing all the bolts, the 3 shift rails need to come out, but before I just start ripping things apart, I'd like to know what is the least amount of tear down required to get the cast cover off?

(I realize this was long, and thanks to anyone who reads it all the way thru!)