If there was a new gearbox...

Henry Hopper

Henry Hopper

Senior Member
Given that complete bodies are now reproduced,QC rear ends,etc, ..I was wondering if a manufacturer produced a four or five speed gearbox that slotted straight in place of the original three speeds...no mods at all, just a bolt in and retain the torquetube etc, would there be a huge demand?...I ,for one ,would be very interested if the price was anything like realistic....my coupe drives great, but out of all the old Fords Ive owned, it's always the gearbox that bugs me, especially in today's traffic and fuel prices.

I'm sure that it cannot be that hard to cast a casing and fit a set of cogs..lol.
 
The T-170 in it's many various styles is a good choice, unfortunately it's not a bolt in. needs a hogs head for pre 49 and tale shaft modification to closed drive shaft. This gives 3 sp with Od. Have one in my truck and it works very good. shift lever comes out about 2' lower than stock. These are getting harder to find. The yard that found this one has been looking for another for the past year, with no luck.
 
Ron, I know about the swap ins with adaptors, I was just thinking of a brand new purpose built bit of kit that slid straight in and ticked all our boxes for getting 4/5 speed gears and the clutch linkage and torquetube, gear lever etc just fell into place.....a lot of guys Hop a flatty and the old three speeds don't let the potential be realised.
 
We can all dream. I think the future trans for the flatty is thr toyota W55/56. Unfortunately it's open drive.
 
Model A guys have them, so I guess it's not inconceivable to have them for V8s. Maybe someone interested enough could find out who makes the Model A box and approach them about a V8 one. The Model A one is in the Macs Model A catalog if anyone is interested.
 
It's always the constraint of the K-member in the 32 frame that is the killer. Trying to cram a 5 speed + reverse gearset into the length of an early ford 3 speed is virtually impossible especially when it would need to take the torque of the hottest motors and stand up to heavy abuse.

Mart.
 
Ol Ron is right as usual. The Toyota trans is an easy fit, good ratios.
For a new gear box, that is very expensive - tooling for the gear sets, and the castings - who is going to cast these in the US? And a price that is 'friendly' enough for you to purchase. Then how many are going to buy these? I work for a company that manufactures industrial gear sets, like the kind used to lift bridges or move conveyors. When we design and build new gearing, the costs and time involvement is huge.
 
While I think it would be a neat accessory , I also believe it would be hard to make a strong enough 5 speed to fit in the stock location - let alone cost effective enough to at least break even on the investment
 
But why is a 5 speed so neccessary? I feel that the majority of owners, looking for a bolt in upgrade, would desire the overdrive feature. The old F series 3&1 trans has been successfully cut down and adapted to torque tube drive, albiet about 1 1/2" longer than a stock 3 speed. Surely, that 'extra' 1 1/2" could be eliminated by; shortening up input shaft, reducing the throw between all gears, etc, in order to fit within the stock dimensions of an early Ford chassis, and fitting it all within a new, specially designed case?, or something similar? Food for thought...
 
I realise that manufacturing a full box would be expensive, but what if a gear set out of another box was utilised , say a T5, and a casing was made to accept those cogs.....I don't know, but just a thought maybe.Even make the casing out of steel plate like TVR did when they built there own motor.....cad cam ,laser cutting..I'm sure it could be done.....utilise existing bearings and seals and selectors etc.to keep costs down.Maybe a pipe dream but it would be nice to have an off the shelf bolt in option.
 
we're all thinking and dreaming about a 5 speed that fits in the rather small space between the K-member and the bell housing. I would be happy if someone would come up with a product that fits THROUGH the K-member without modification and perhaps bolt to it. I guess it doesn't really matter if the working components are located aft of the K-member. Cutting a torque tube is easy enough and may be a small price to pay.

Geoffrey
 
Talkwrench said:
Umm wonder what a Mitchell would cost all up landed in Australia..? : o P
Click to expand...
Mitchells are about $3500 here in NZ. The transmission I was thinking of for a Model A is made by Mitchell. It is still a three speed, but has synchros and is much stronger. Perhaps Mitchell would look at an upgraded V8 model. It doesn't worry me particularly because I run an F150 3 + 1 trans and open drive, but it would be cool for guys with stockers.
 
Unless you have OD capability what would be the point? There are plenty of stock boxes around and all the rebuild parts required.
 
You guys have named all the required parameters.
The transmission needs to fit in existing space.
It needs to be strong enough to stand say 400 hp for street use.
It needs to be a 5 speed so good engine performance can be had
through the gears by not dropping more than say 1000 rpm max
with a gear change. (4 speed with OD)
It needs to be able to have an output end adapted to either closed
or open driveline.
It needs all synchro gears.
It needs customer selectable gear sets at purchase time.

You are asking for Utopia. Not going to happen till they discover
how to disassociate matter.

All of the above named parameters are easily achieved and already
have been EXCEPT, "fitting into the required space".
If you want lots of gears, you will have to bite the bullet and do some
fabrication.
 
I have a picture of the modified Flathead bell housing for the Toyota trans. It's in my computer some place, need a grand kid.
 
Since many folks want to keep the stock K member,
How about using a torque tube setup using a Porsche 924 transaxle in the rear?
That way you could upgrade to IRS or maybe DeDion in the rear at the same time.
I have seen whole cars for less than $1000 on CL and the early 4 Cyl cars were similar in HP to a warmed up Flathead.

http://www.porsche924-944.nl/manual/Haynes/image002e.gif

Just some food for thought since we're dreaming..
 
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