trans up date to over drive

chuck stevens

chuck stevens

Well-known member
I know it probably has been done before but just had to post this anyway. This trans is 50 mercury with a borg warner overdrive, I know they have stronger syncros and better ratios than the old top loaders of the mid thirtys. I'm hopping to install this set up along with an 8BA in a 34 so I came up with this. The heavy angle on the right side with be home to the e-brake, just like the top loader. It seems to shift good on the bench, time will tell, Chuck S.
 

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Chuck.......I'm not sure what type of transmission you're showing there, but the one shown below is a '49-'50 Mercury O/D. DD

238461
 
Looks to be a '51-'53 Ford or Mercury to me. The fact that it does not have the integral bellhousing (and therefore the early style clutch linkage) will make hooking up the clutch more difficult than normal.
 
Here's a 49 Mercury that that was posted before.

Bob
 

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The main case definitely is 51 Ford. The OD I'm less sure about, but does not appear to be 49 - 50 Ford.
 
40cpe said:
I think the point of the post is the clever conversion using a toploader shifter.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree that that was Chucks main point. I have seen that converstion of early top loader shifter tops on the later side load transmissions before. May have been a post on the old Fordbarn when Shelly owned it. The discussions covered doing it the way Chuck has his, vs. some of the commercial aftermarket shifter conversions, i.e. Hurst, and others. Those old FB posts are probably now lost somewhere in cyberspace.
 
I'm very new to this all. I'm curious though when the old FB is mentioned. What years were those? I find it sad that that info is gone.
This conversion is very cool by the way.
 
JM 35 Sedan said:
Yes, I agree that that was Chucks main point. I have seen that converstion of early top loader shifter tops on the later side load transmissions before. May have been a post on the old Fordbarn when Shelly owned it. The discussions covered doing it the way Chuck has his, vs. some of the commercial aftermarket shifter conversions, i.e. Hurst, and others. Those old FB posts are probably now lost somewhere in cyberspace.
Click to expand...

John
Are you thinking about the modified shifter on the 49 Merc O/D trans in my truck? http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156620
Chuck's version shows that's there more than one way to skin a cat...
Les
 
He could use the late 1951 Mercury bell housing for that. It has a direct bolt up for the later 51 & up Borg Warner pattern and it has a rotating clutch release mechanism that could easily be made to work in an early Ford. I also always liked the fact that it has a little removable dust cover pan so a person can look at the clutch. Put a Borg & Beck clutch on and go to town. Those late 51 Merc bell housing are a one year only deal so I don't see them on the flea-pay very much and even then they are usually missing the dust cover pan. They also used a different throw out bearing but I've seen those offered for sale at several vendors sites.
 
Thanks for the kind words, I'm not sure what year the trans is, it was a flea market find last winter in Florida. Les, you're set up looks much cleaner than mine. The biggest problem I had was getting the detentes of the top shifter to coordinate with the side loader detentes.... extra holes in the levers and adjustable linkage. This will be set into place without the body so the clutch set up will be easier, Chuck S.
 
chuck stevens said:
Thanks for the kind words, I'm not sure what year the trans is, it was a flea market find last winter in Florida. Les, you're set up looks much cleaner than mine. The biggest problem I had was getting the detentes of the top shifter to coordinate with the side loader detentes.... extra holes in the levers and adjustable linkage. This will be set into place without the body so the clutch set up will be easier, Chuck S.
Click to expand...

Chuck
If the detents continue to be an issue consider using a spring with lighter pressure in the detent galley in either the shift tower or the trans. It will make shifting a whole lot easier. I chose to do it in the shift tower to insure that one of the detent balls didn't inadvertently drop into the transmission due to the reduced pressure. PM me. I'm curious about your design, especially how you dealt with the horizontal brackets from the shift tower to the transmission wanting to rotate on the axis of the sliding shafts in the tower and how you modified the forks to attach the horizontal brackets.
Les
 
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