i just bought back my old columbia rear that i put in my 34 in 1973 has 3.78 r&p. car had mild 59ab , 26 th linc trans, 17'' wheels, never was happy w/combo, to hi geared in od. sold car and guy put in 302 eng, rear traded owners about 5 times never put in car again.after that car i have put columbias in 3 other cars. 40 coupe, 4.44 r&p 25 th linc tran,, larger tires, dont remember size, 59ab, mild.ran good. Mild 53 merc, 26 th trans, 4.44 r&p, 700x16 trs, runs good, still have, mild 8ba, stock 39 trans[ ran out of linc gears] thats why only 4.11 r&p,7.50x16, hope to get on road next week.thought that was my last ft. hd build but now have old rear back and a friend has some nos lin grs, and i have 2 engs , a 8ba &21 std LB ???still have a set of 4.44 gears also. ain't got no body, but friend has 34 5w he want to get rid of, old stock car no rng gear...HUMMMMMM realy too old for this. Need to finish my 34rdst been sitting on rack 17 yrs w/331 cad eng. too many decisions, think i'll just go have a drink......
Cool story. I have a Columbia with 3.78 RP '39 trans 29 tooth cluster and 265 chevy in my roadster and love it. Cruise all day at 80
I am restoring my Dad's 1939 Ford coupe with a Columbia rear end w/4.44 gears. In the day - Dad ran a 371 J-2 and stock 39 trans with the 2 speed rear. He installed a 300 hp - 327 in late 1960's. The car has not been on the road since. He never had any of the correct vac*** lines and hardware - just took off the vac*** can on the rear end and when stopped - shift from hi to low by hand. With a 327 Chevy and Muncie 4 speed - the little Ford accelerates. Any ideas - pics or articles on a cable or elect motor to activate the Columbia 2 speed on the fly - versus manual hand switch?
My Columbia came with a vacuum canister in which a previous owner had drilled a hole and attached a linkage rod to the piston. I ***ume it had been connected to a manual shift arrangement of some sort. No matter how it is set up, the clutch must be depressed before the Columbia unit is engaged "on the fly." IMHO, the original vacuum setup works very well.
hurricane is gone ,all kleaned up and back from happy hour. sorry BLue One , i guess i was confusing, was trying to say that in my 75+ years that i found that type of camshaft, trans gears, rear end ratio, tire size are important w/OD trans, or rear. to high a final ratio and too hot a cam don't work for normal driving, hi speed or accelerating it will work. in my rdstr pu i have 53 merc eng w/isky 400 jr cam, 26th trans, 4.44 columb od rear. i like to just poke around driving 35 mph in hi gr and etc. the 400 jr cam was awful to drive like that, it likes to accerate or have a lot more rpm's than i got especially in od. car jerked and bucked that i thought ti would bust somthing, i took the 400 jr out and put the stock 53 merc cam back in and it is a completly different car, now i can drive it. i love od's, have a T w/columbia, 2 model A's w/borgwarner od's, 34 w/83 frd. tk 4spd od, building 34 rdst 331 cad eng w/hd ford t-85 od. MIKE STEWART, i got a 3/w valve from Mc Master Carr to shift my T columbia...YAHOO storm is gone....