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By CK - 11 Years Ago
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I found a top loader for a great deal which I will be fitting into my 55' Tbird.
My first question is the speedo angle drive, Will this bolt straight in?
And how much exactly does have to be removed from the input shaft? What length is std.?
Is the spigot bearing any different in diameter?
Will the shifter poke through the original hole in the floor?
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By paul2748 - 11 Years Ago
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The angle drive that the 55 had will not work in a toploader (assuming later than 56 trans). Completely different design (exception 57 O/D trans).
You will have to use a 57 or later cable. If the clearance is such that the cable will not go into the trans hole, you will have to get an aftermarket angle drive. If that is the case, the design may be that you can use the the 55 cable. I put a C4 in my 56 Bird, and the clearances were such that I had to do just that, although I had to get a longer cable that was of a 55/56 design (ends).
In putting a toploader 4 speed in my 312 powered 54 Ford, I had to shorten the input shaft about 3/8 inch. You should always measure this to make sure of the amount to be removed.
Im not sure what you mean by spigot bearing, but if you mean the front bearing retainer it has to be turned a tad (again measure the hole in the bellhousing to get the correct dimension).
Don't know about the shifter location. There are various tailshafts available for a toploader that have different shifter mounting locations - David Kee (toploader expert) can help you with this
.CK (10/28/2014)
I found a top loader for a great deal which I will be fitting into my 55' Tbird. My first question is the speedo angle drive, Will this bolt straight in? And how much exactly does have to be removed from the input shaft? What length is std.? Is the spigot bearing any different in diameter? Will the shifter poke through the original hole in the floor?
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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what about the spedo rotation,i instaled 563speed into a 57merc and the spedo cableturned the oposit direction. recently was given a 56ford spedo to use for parts on my ranchero and the 56 turned oposit to 57.reaso being as i contiplate puting a 5spd in my ranchero and need to know what dir. the spedo turns,tho the plastic gears ar easeyer to get.thanks for any help
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By ian57tbird - 11 Years Ago
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The spigot bearing is the pilot bearing in the crank.
Maybe a floor mounted shifter might be an option like they put on the Falcons here.
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By miker - 11 Years Ago
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I did a top loader (the odd ball Granada that's an o/d) some years ago. As I recall, we had to modify the mounting brackets a bit. But the shifter came out at the stock location. I think the shift rods had enough adjustment, but we might have cut the threads a bit longer and shortened them afterwords. I used a Hurst Syncho lock. We built a little sheet metal "box" to cover the shifter and mount the boot. But the carpet had enough give to go back down. I think the shift lever was the real short one, for early Vette's. At least back then, you could spec the brackets for the trans, and the shift itself separately, so the Ford brackets with the short short lever.
I've had better luck with trans mounted shifters than floor mounted. There's more noise, but everything stay in alignment. I know you're not going to use full throttle, or shift hard, and 'bird motors never move around on the steady rest.
The angle drives can be bought to drive the same or reversed. They can also be built with a increase or decrease in speed, in case the trans gears aren't available in what you need to keep the speedo accurate. With both trans on the floor, you can figure that out.
It's been too many years and too many projects to remember for sure. But I think I might have used a 12" cable extension on the drive cable. Something from an early Z28 Camaro. Over here, it was cheap and available.
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By slumlord444 - 11 Years Ago
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If you use a small block toploader you will have to shorten the input shaft slightly. If you use a big block transmission you will not. The 57 speedometer cable should work. The throw out bearing should work unless you use the large input toploader. With that you will need the 428 bearing and retainer and either use the 428 throw out fork or modify yours by splitting and widening it slightly. You will also need the clutch disk to fit the large input shaft. The stock Hurst shifter for the toploader can be made to fit by modifying the mounting bracket. Think I had to space it towards the drivers side and move it back and lengthen the shift rods. It is a case of crawling under the car and making it fit. I also cut off the Hurst handle and welded on a T Bird handle. It comes thru the stock chrome shifter plate after you gut it. Think I had to raise the shifter slightly and grind a little off of the bottom of the shift arms on the shifter to clear the frame. It is tight but will work. Stock rubber boot makes it look like the 3 speed is still there. If you want the shift pattern on the knob use the Mustang toploader knob with a bushing to mate to the T Bird handle. Took me a week or two of my spare time to make it work. Started with the engine and trans on the stand and dry fit it all in the car before I dismantled the engine for rebuild. Still working on a lot of details before assembling the engine and putting the engine and trans back in the car. Oh, you also need the front driveshaft yolk off a C6 or 57 Overdrive driveshaft for the large input trans because the output is also larger. Driveshaft length should work.
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By CK - 11 Years Ago
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It is a small block top loader. Out of an 60's XR Falcon GT
1-1/16" input shaft and a 28 spline output shaft.
31 teeth on the second gear which makes it the wide ratio box that I was looking for.
Are FMX outputs 28 spline?
I'm thinking of modifying the original shifter, yet I have seen a nice one on Ebay "Renegade" its a sequential shifter.
I assume they cam the linkages?
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By paul2748 - 11 Years Ago
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I never ran into a rotation problem. I can only surmise that the hole for the speedo gear on the trans is on the opposite side of the trans than what came factory .
Besides teeth count differences, there are differences in the way the teeth are oriented - to the left or to the right. I don't know which came in a certain trans.
2721955meteor (10/29/2014)
what about the spedo rotation,i instaled 563speed into a 57merc and the spedo cableturned the oposit direction. recently was given a 56ford spedo to use for parts on my ranchero and the 56 turned oposit to 57.reaso being as i contiplate puting a 5spd in my ranchero and need to know what dir. the spedo turns,tho the plastic gears ar easeyer to get.thanks for any help
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By paul2748 - 11 Years Ago
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Assuming this, the pilot bearing/bushing in the YBlock crank was the same size as the toploader trans, id wise. I used an original YBlock pilot bearing/bushing
ian57tbird (10/29/2014)
The spigot bearing is the pilot bearing in the crank. Maybe a floor mounted shifter might be an option like they put on the Falcons here.
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By slick56 - 11 Years Ago
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For parts, David Kee is the top loader guru. His Aussie dealer is LA Motors here in South Oz.
http://www.davidkeetoploaders.com/
I am running a 3 speed big block toploader behind my 292, the speedo drive exits on the
left hand side of the extension housing; the only place i could get the l/h drive gear was from him.
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By CK - 11 Years Ago
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Here you go guys, this is the shifter I was talking about.
And thanks Slick I'll keep David Kee in mind with the fitment etc.
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By ian57tbird - 11 Years Ago
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It is very much a race type shifter. Do you want to be clicking through all the gears to go back to neutral or reverse on a street car.
I bet there is a good chance that if you take the measurements of your input shaft and the measurement of the crank the bearing suppliers might have something that fits.
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By Doug T - 11 Years Ago
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In the T birds the original 3 speed or OD shifters were mounted to the transmission tunnel sheet metal not on the trany, the automatic shifter was the same.
I have a 427/428 toploader big input shaft trany in my T Bird, with a new old stock Hurst competition + 8" shifter. With the big block trany the shifter would not fit the original body hole, it was about 2 - 3" too far forward when using the Hurst adaptor on the original tailshaft. housing, so the shifter hits the dash board. However the TopLoader rear mount was spot on for the T bird chassis. The trany will bolt on the bell housing if it has the dual bolt pattern but the retainer for the trany's front main bearing must be turned down to mate up to the Y bell housing. I use the big throwout bearing and I split the stock fork to match it. The small engine trany is probably different in several respects.
But my toploader has been modified to take a BW R72 Overdrive which has no provision for a shifter at all. After working on it for a while the answer was to do what Ford did and fabricate a mount to take the Hurst shifter and adapt it to the original sheet metal location on the transmission tunnel. This required longer shift rods and it is real tight under there but I did it without cutting the trany tunnel. It has worked well for 14 years. I also beefed up the engine steady rests (side motor mounts) since they are pretty flimsy as delivered from Ford
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By slumlord444 - 11 Years Ago
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I forgot about turning down the front bearing retainer. You pretty much did what I did. It can be done.
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