Toploader shift rods

[Rick Parker]

Roger: I have seen some aluminum plates about 1/2" thick that bolted to the trans to which the shifter control box bolted to, thus spacing the shifter to the left 1/2". Would this help you? Remember Top loaders did NOT come in small blocks.

I might addd, the photo above of my installation of the T10 does not have the correct tailhousing, but I bought the transmission for $175.00 at the time, and I fabricated the aluminum bracket to which the shifter is bolted to. I used period pictures to get the installation height correct and shift rods in correct orientation. This works perfect.


This might help:

http://http://www.toploaderheaven.co...ter_plates.htm

[rsk289]

Thanks for the suggestion, Rick, but the shifter lever is in the correct place - the only issue has been height, as the toploader sits too low at the back with the tailshaft pretty much resting on the crossmember and being too low to give the correct relationship with the diff flange.
I reckon the toploader mount flange is at a different height from that in a T10. I have the correct T10 mount on the chassis and I need to space this up by around 3/4". I know Nick sells a spacer for toploaders that lifts by about the same amount, so I'm not the first to find this. An ally block spacer mounted on top of the rubber, with longer bolts through the metal strap and spacer, should sort my problem OK. If not I'll be back on here quick!

[Rick Parker]

Best of luck........

[MAStuart]

RSK289 does your top loader have the early trans mounting pattern for the bell housing? OR a duel pattern wide and narrow pattern?

Mark

[rsk289]

Narrow, 4 bolts only. It's an HEH-E

[MAStuart]

rsk289 and everyone else thanks for replying to his thread. Larry yes I am using his plans.

Back to rsk289 linkage. I did a google images search for 289 cobra restoration and came up with this 1965 Shelby AC Cobra 289 Full Restoration
It has a top loader but I don't know if it is original to the car. Do we know for a fact that no leaf sprung cars came top loader trans? Has Dan chimed in on this one?

Mark

[MAStuart]

I looked at the picture in the link some more and it looks like it is using a scatter shield and a wide bolt pattern trans. I assume they used 6 bolt block on some of the later leaf spring cars. If you search ebay for top loader trans you will see that there is a wide verity of tail housing that were used on these trans. It looks like that with the right combination of parts that it will bolt in and have the right driveline angle and the linkage should clear without modifying anything. But what is the right combination of parts. That is the question.

Mark

[rsk289]

I'm pretty certain toploaders were never fitted to original cars - someone else will confirm this. No 289s were built with 6-bolt blocks apart from a very small batch of automatics - all manual cars had the 5-bolt block.
For using toploaders in 289s, it is not easy to find the right combination of parts. David Kee advertises a special tailshaft housing which works well, but I have been unable to contact him to place an order. Stock Sunbeam Tiger parts will work well, and I'm sure there are other parts that will work.

[Dominik]

Am I wrong in suggesting to turn the reverse lever up to clear the x-member and move the gear lever opposite to engage reverse?

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by rsk289

....For using toploaders in 289s, it is not easy to find the right combination of parts. David Kee advertises a special tailshaft housing which works well, but I have been unable to contact him to place an order. Stock Sunbeam Tiger parts will work well, and I'm sure there are other parts that will work.

rsk, I want to use a Toploader in a 289 as well. Finding information on which is the correct tailhousing is difficult. Can you tell me which tailhousing you are using?
Cheers,
Glen

[rsk289]

I am using a complete Sunbeam Tiger HEH-E toploader with the correct 5-bolt bellhousing.
Most of the 'original' Cobras racing in Europe use toploaders, but I think these have the David Kee 'Cobra' tailshaft. I haven't been able to buy one of these.

[ALF]

Does the tailhousing length have an impact in the leaver position?
I would say now.

But what is wrong?
Do I need to move the engine angle?

[CompClassics]

ALF,

It looks like you have one of two problems going on, either your transmission is moved to far towards the left side of the vehicle or your floor pan is to wide (fabricated incorrectly). I can not tell by the photos if your transmission and mount are secured to the crossmember, if it is then your floor pan has been fabricated incorrectly. I doubt that the transmission mounting bracket is installed on the chassis incorrectly, check to see that the right side of the tail shaft housing is nearly touching the parking brake mounting bracket. It also appears that you are using the correct tail housing.
Tail housings can have different mounting positions for the shifter selector box depending on the original application. The correct tail shaft housing for either the T10 or the Top Loader in a 289 Cobra chassis is the same one that was used in a 1963/64 Galaxie both transmissions were available in the Galaxie during this timeframe, the shifter selector box mounting position and overall tail shaft length are the same. You can actually use the same shifter selector box on either transmission, the Top Loader selector box is a little more robust as the selector box pivot shaft is larger in diameter (stronger). The transmission main case is irrelevant on the Top Loader or the T10 as it can be either a wide mounting pattern or a narrow mounting pattern it does not matter as it does not affect the shifter position or transmission overall length.

[LMH]

Some replica manufacturers change the transmission tunnel and floor panels (as opposed to an original car) to make a little room between the seats. Most replicas use a TKO transmission with a centered shifter where as an original car would have a side mounted shifter. You can see it on an original car that the shifter is off center. That might be what's going on here.
Larry

[rsk289]

Alf,
The shifter bracketry sits in the same place on a T10 as it does on a toploader.
What you have in the photo is very common to a lot of cars. Many of the cars I have seen, including originals, are so tightly packed at that point that modifications have been made to allow a little more clearance. Replica manufacturers tend to make the floorpan in that area work as a set of neat straight lines, which will allow the much more common T5 or Tremec or whatever to fit OK, but not the toploader/T10. The originals I have examined here have either more room or have modified floorpans to help with clearance. I actually cut and reshaped the shifter levers on my car when I had the toploader in there, which worked perfectly - and when I switched to the aluminium T10 I modified the floorpan and did some minor panel beating on the trans tunnel to accommodate it. I think your drivetrain is mounted correctly.
This problem isn't new to replicas or originals - these are all handmade cars with plenty of variation.

[ALF]

John, Larry and Roger
Many thanks for your help.

As a 1st steep I'll "play" with the engine mounting. Hoping to move it some mm counterclockwise.
There is some room on the safety loop. ;-)

2nd I'll work on the tunnel.
@Roger: Could you please provide some pictures of the changes you did on your car?

But the good news for me is the situation that the parts are correct. As I do this the first time I already made my mistakes.....

[rsk289]

I would post some, but attachment file size looks to be tiny and I've given up with Photobucket! I can email as attachments if you'd like, but I need an email address.

[1795]

Here are some pictures of my top loader mounted behind a 289. The clarity may not be great, but that is the best I am able to do as I was freezing my ass off in the barn in sub-zero weather. The braided line you see to the right of the linkage is the fuel line. It is tight, not a lot of room. The aluminum brace for the race seat is right up along the edge of the tunnel enclosure. You may need to loosen the motor mounts to get the proper alignment for the transmission. I had to play a little bit, moving the engine slightly more forward and side-to-side.



Good luck.

Jim

[ALF]

Hi Jim
Many thanks for the pictures.
Yes, I'll try to move the engine!

[1795]

No problem. It just worked out that I have not replaced the tunnel yet from making adjustments after last years race season.