F150 tranny with overdrive

[The Master Cylinder]

Originally Posted by Gene F

Buying all of this in a kit is very appealing to me. Gosh think about it; a Burtz engine, this 5-speed (synchronized), a heavy duty radiator, and cast iron drums, and your A would be almost indistructable. The thing would basically last forever with a little maintenace here-and-there. You could run it on the freeway all day without it chewing itself up.

Maybe you should buy a Shay?? https://www.ebay.com/itm/14509637477...Bk9SR7axzL2OYg

[Phil Brown]

Sorry, I just don't see how the f-150 trans could cause any problems with the front wishbone. Never even heard of any problems before your mentioning it.
Close to 15K miles on mine, less on my Dad's but enough that if there were problems they would have shown up by now. ( motors are not stock and NOT driven like a stocker)
Would love to see more on your club member's failure and this so-called "beefed-up" unit, whatever that may be ?
Sounds more like a Mitchel O/D lover trying to spread bad rumors

[Phil Brown]

Just so everyone can see how things get mounted in Dave Delume's kit

[rwh]

[rwh]

Well folks I am on the struggle bus trying to post photos, but I finally completed assembly of the "Goldilocks" transmission today. It wasn't easy, but there is no way I could have done it without the help of a bunch of folks on the forum.
Special call out to Vince and Malak. Vince manages a great website and has always been polite answering my really dumb question. Malak for engineering a solution of the OD gear. Off modifying the driveshaft and arms. Sure I will have more silly questions.

[AL in NY]

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I think GeneF has NO idea what he's talking about. I have NEVER heard of any problems with the front wishbone or the rear radius rods when using the AA bellhousing and torque tube drive shaft. I put the F150 Tremec RTS in my CCPU in 2009 and have 28,000 miles on it with a highly modified Model A engine. I haven't had any FRONT wishbone problems or rear radius rod problems. I did all the machining and installation myself and I have just completed installing the "Goldilocks" gear set. It took me 2 years to find the gears, but I'm really glad I made the change.

[petew]

Originally Posted by ThosD

Since the Mitchel trans and OD unit have lifetime waits, I have been reading old posts regarding other transmission swaps. The comments about the T5 having a too low 1st and a minimal OD ratio makes me wonder about the differential gears. Are these comments based on a 3.78 rear end? Would a 3.54 gear set improve the drivability of a T5?

My T5 swap uses a mid 1980's T5 transmission out of an S10.
1st gear is 3.78 , 2nd 2.18, 3rd 1.42 4th 1.00 and 5th is .072 . As far as I'm concerned the ratios work very well with the 3.78 rear ratio and 40 horsepower.
1st gear is a little short but very usable and 5th will give you 60 mph at right around 2000 rpm.

BritishV8.org has a complete list of T5 transmissions by tag number and application in their articles section with gear ratios for each.

[lyleknievel]

Lots of good info here. I am not yet at the point of thinking too much about this -- I am still working to get my car on the road...but once I do, I will probably come back to this thread and consider the options given...