Wayne,
This subject has been bounced around the list often, and there are as many
opinions as there are respondents.
I'll give you my "two-cents" worth.
1) New Ford top-loader parts are easily available, and not expensive.
2) The Top loader is just about the most rugged box ever put in a passenger
car, and is basically the same from the Tiger to the 427 Cobra (input shaft
diameter differences). This box can take more torque than you can get under
your hood, even if you move the firewall back 6 inches.
3) There are many flavours of 5 and 6 speed transmissions available. All have
some pretty tricky installation problems, and only the specialty houses, like
Doug Nash, make strong ones. The T-5 isn't half as strong as what you've got,
and that last gear is practically usless, with a 0.63 overdrive, unless you just
want a low rpm at cruise. There is a slightly stronger "World Class" T-5
available, but that 5th is still too much of a drop IMHO. TREMEC, who made the
original Top Loader has just acquired all the rights to the T-5's and makes them
in Mexico, along with their own 5 spd. The TREMEC is about 30% stronger than
the better T-5, but both have installation problems.
4) When Tiger made the MkII they used 289 6 bolt blocks, with trannys to
match. These tranny's can fit both 5 bolt and 6 bolt bell housings, as they
have dual bolt patterns, but need a smaller front bearing retainer for the 5
bolt. They also went to "wide ratio" gearing. Typically those words meant poor
spacing between gears, and lousy performance. In this case, however, the term
is relative. The close-ratio box had a 60 mph first gear, which didn't make for
very snappy starts off the line. The wide ratio has a more sensible 50 mph
(approx) shift speed, and gets awasy a lot faster, with the same horsepower.
The gear spacings are still very uniform, and the rpm drop between shifts at
6000 rpm is about 1200 rpm, instead of 1000 rpm. With the Ford torque curve
this doesn't give you any bogging. Just like the Beach Boys song "and I get
rubber ina all four gears".
5) Many enthusiasts go for higher ratio rear end ratios (3.55:1), to get the
same effect on shift points, and then find themselves really revving at highway
speeds. The tranny you've got, and the gears that are in it, are really very
good with the 2.88:1 and slightly larger tires (185-70x13's), which give about
26 mph/1000 rpm in top. At 3,000 rpm the car is going 78 mph and the Ford seems
quite happy at that speed. Mileage is still pretty good at 19-20 mpg with
combined city/highway travel.
Bottom line, get your MkII tranny re-built by someone who knows what they are
doing. A complete kit, less synchros, is about $250, and the labor about
$300. You can get almost everything replaced for about $1,000 without an
exchange core. Problem is, damn few tranny's were built with the Tiger 24.5
inch overall length. Same problem exists with any 5 speed conversion, and you
end up changing the driveshaft length as well as tunnel modifications.
Well, that's my opinion, based on having done both, and I am sure you'll get
many more alternates.
Steve
--
Steve Laifman < One first kiss, >
B9472289 < one first love, and >
< one first win, is all >
< you get in this life. >
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