Okay, normally I'm a Chevy guy, but I have this 200 six powered car with a C4 behind it that I'm racing in 24 Hours of Lemons. After an okay race this weekend in which we wore out the poor 99,000 mile motor, I'm starting to plan upgrades for next year. Is there an easy way to get a T-5 behind this motor? Or maybe just a 4 speed top loader? Just how bad is the lat model SROD 4 speed that came behind these motors in the late 70s? I know the final blocks had an "Almost V8" bell housing pattern, but I have the original style. You don't really want to know about the car, its much too new. At least the motor is staying traditional. I plan on adapting 3 1 barrels, or maybe sidedraft motorcycle carbs to the log in the near future. Once the motor has compression again, that is. Woody
Fordsix.com has the answers, but in a nutshell, here's what you need: First, determine which block you have. There are essentially three bellhousing patterns - the early pre-64 "small pattern", the later 65-81 dual pattern which has both the old small and the large pattern, and the late 81-83 "big bell" which is similar to a small block V8. The easiest one to adapt is the dual pattern block. If you use a bellhousing for a 3.03 toploader 3-spd, all you need is a common T5 adapter plate as sold for the V8 conversions. It will bolt to the bell, you bolt on your T5 (the V8 version uses the stock pilot) and you are done. You may have to drill and tap a hole to hold the adapter in place because of minor differences between the V8 and the six cylinder bell, but other than that, it's a bolt on. If you have an early 144-170-200 with the small pattern, you will need a different adapter, and those are harder to find (Modern Driveline?) You're also going to be hindered by availability of discs and pressure plates for the recessed clutch. Even for LeMons, I think you'd be better off finding a later 7-main bearing, dual pattern block. The later "2/3rd's of a V8" big bell is also hard to adapt. While you could easily bolt on a V8 bellhousing by re drilling the two upper bell housing holes, you'll have a hard time finding a 157 or 164 tooth flywheel that will fit the crank. The SROD will bolt directly to a 3.03 bellhousing. The big drawback is the m***ive gear spread between the lower gears. Thee is also a "fake" toploader OD trans that will bolt on, but it also has a horrible spread of gears. For a cruiser either is fine, but for LeMons, I think you'll hate it.
Thanks a bunch! Fairly certain I have the dual pattern block. Its a late 78 build date on the car, and the starter is not the low mount kind, as far as I recall. Will a 4 speed top loader bolt in place of the 3 speed 3.03? I seem to remember when I did a 250 to 200 swap in an Econoline 5 years ago I had to swap everything because the bellhousing and transmission for the V8/big six was totally different from the small six. And yes I took out a 250 that had been swapped in and put a 200 back in its place. Just about anything is going to be better than the C4 and 2.73 rear end gears we had last weekend (those are going away too, to be replaced by 3.45, I think). We could have been faster if we had shifted the C4 manually, but I was scared of someone over-revving it, or hitting neutral so I made all the drivers keep it in D. I had tried Fordsix.com, but I had a hard time getting on the forums. I will try again. I will be rebuilding this motor, or replacing it in the near future so all the info will be needed. It ran and ran, but now there just isn't enough compression to start it anymore.
The toploader from a small block is a direct swap for a 3.03 but the shifter location could vary from car to car. Also, depending on which transmission you use, the speedo drive gear could be different. And again, beware those "fake" toploaders with the OD gears. Fine if you want the OD, but lousy ratios for road racing. Try http://fordsix.com/forum/ to go directly to the forum. You'll still have to register in order to post.
Yes, a 4 speed top loader will bolt in place of the 3.03. You have to use the 1967 or newer belllhousing stuff from a Mustang or Maverick. I run a toploader OD from a Granada in my 1960 Ranchero and it all works very well for me on the street. It does have a fairly large gear spread as "mustangsix" talked about. That transmission was used just prior to the SROD you spoke of. I've never used one of those and don't have any experience with them. But behind a 200, even one built up, will be ok I think strength wise. The gear ratio thing would be what you have to decide about.
Registered, got the email confirming it but all I get when I try to log in is "The specified username is currently inactive. If you have problems activating your account, please contact a board administrator." Of course I can't find the email address of any admin to contact anywhere on the site
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