Top Loader to a TKO600, Any Regrets?

[Obsessive]

Originally Posted by decooney

Jeff,
For what its worth - IF you really love the butter shift Top Loader and do not drive the car on the highway for long stretches very often, you might consider a change to the rear axle ratio first before you give up that TL. I run a TKO 600 in a another car, but can't seem to let go of the TL in my FE Cobra. You know what I mean...Wow, 3.73 is crazy low in a big torquey 454 like that, no need for it in a 2500lb car. If you can pick up a second rear diff center section with 3.31 or even 3.08 and try it, it will transform your car. I think its more fun to drive too as it makes 1st gear more usable without always blowing off the rear tires, especially with a 3.08 - acts like a slingshot. A WR TL has a low enough first gear to work with and its not so low that its unusable. I've tried 3.31 and 3.08 in both of my FE powered Cobras. I prefer 3.31 for around town for trips say under 100 miles at a time. If I was doing longer drives I'd do a 3.08 rear. I have 3.31 now, and might go back to 3.08 myself down the road. For now, 3.31 with a WR TL is still really nice - especially if you have a larger cam in your FE and want to keep the rpms up a little to run it in sweet spot while crusing around.

I have to agree. I've built a couple of these (Cobras with 427 FE motors stroked with a 428 crank) and my favorite combination is the WR TL with 3.08 rear end. I recently, went through my CSX and detuned the motor with a more streetable cam (.507 lift with 274/284 duration), blueprinted the Holley 850 DP and it now feels like the best street set-up I've ever experienced. Personally, I love the character of the car without the 5th gear but enjoy the high gearing for freeway speeds. The motor has way more torque and HP than any of us really need on the street and this seems to be an excellent combination. I have a shifter that I purchased from Dan Williams Toploader years ago and it's nearly perfect. My only complaint with the shifter is that it abandoned the reverse lockout. Call me quirky, but I actually liked that feature in the original set-up. I'm a sucker for originality and the 4spd TL satisfies my need for it being correct. However, my inner hot rodder side took some liberties and I really enjoy this set up.

Hope this helps.