My 1969 390 is bored .030 and my crank is turned 10/10. My truck is used to pull my bass boat and boat ramps are all full steep. I will put a posi-tack rear end in my 9" rear end. I will use aluminum edelbrock heads ?with a edelbrock intake ? and holley carb ?. I will need to get a cam also ?. This truck is a long wheel base and my truck is a 3 speed standard. Need a little in put on what might be the best set up for this build. I now have a budget and a roller cam is not in it !!!! I need headers and a dual exhaust more that a roller cam !! Money talks and mine is thin .

 

Might want to consider swapping in a different trans, 3 spd standard has a pretty fast reverse, not good for backing boats or any other load.
1st gear forward isn't much better for taking off on a steep boat ramp, I see a hot smokey clutch in your future with that trans.

 

He could regear that 9" while he's putting a trac-loc in it. 390's got plenty of bottom end torque to handle boat ramps no matter the gear ratio.

 

X2, IF OP is satisfied with cruise revs, a T19 would be a great solution, T18 or NP435 a consideration as well. Or rob a couple banks:

http://www.rsgear.com/products/off-r...-transmissions

 

I probably need to hit the banks before I finish. Has anyone tried a 4 speed top loader or is the reverse the same?

 

I'm getting a bit of conflicting info about what 1st gear ratio is in pickup 3 spd trans, you can put the trans in 1st gear and turn the input shaft to see how many times it must be turned to equal 1 turn of the output shaft. Most 3 spds I messed with had 2.99 1st gear.
Four spd top loader is actually worse with the wide ratio trans having a 2.78 1st gear and the close ratio having a 2.32 1st.
Reverse gear in these trans are normally the same as 1st
The T18-T19 four spd trucks trans has much lower 1st and reverse gears for getting loads moving such as your boat ramp situation.
Another option would be to convert to a automatic trans.

 

Don't let those two worry you about the 3 speed. It's not as bad as they're telling you. Ford put 3 speeds in millions of trucks. I've driven them, in every kind of situation, never burned out a clutch from the ratio in 1st. If you get wild with it on a steep grade, yea you will. Drive it normally you won't. If you're going to spend a lot of time towing heavy loads on steep grades, yea, invest in a better transmission, but for occasional use, the 3 speed is fine. Re gear the 9 inch while installing Traction-loc first then see how the 3 speed performs.

 

You never know what's been done to a old truck over the years but I'm assuming his still has the factory gears which with a 3 spd will most likely be 3.50 or 3.70 but could be 3.25's, for all around driving I wouldn't want anything lower than 3.70's.
Not saying a 3 spd trans won't work but for launching and retrieving that bass boat on steep ramps a trans with lower 1st and reverse gears is a 100 times better.
I will say if you keep the 3 spd make sure the e-brake works real good.

 

That's a requirement no matter what transmission's used. That truck's likely got 3.00's in it now. I had a 70 F100 Camper Special with a 390/3 speed and that's what it had. The six cylinder trucks would have had the 3.50-3.70 ratio rear unless special ordered.

 

I will put a camper shell on the truck to give that rear end some weight and also I can put my fishing, hunting, and camping gear in the back and keep it dry. I will look at the cost of new gears so when I put the locker in I can put new gears with it. I want a good pulling gear but also a hwy gear too and that may be to much to ask for.

 

Figure out what size tires you're going to run (diameter) before choosing gears. You can figure rpms by multiplying the diameter times pi (3.1416) then dividing that answer into 63360 (inches per mile) to get revolutions per mile. Then take that and multiply times the rear gear ratio to get rpms @ 60 mph. From that you can figure rpms at different speeds by dividing or multiplying into 60. For 75 mph, you would multiply the rpms at 60 times 1.25 ( 75 divided by 60 = 1.25)

 

I will run 33" tires if they fit with out having to modify the fenders other wise 31" should fit. I am not into low riders. I like my truck to be a truck. I would like for it to get 15 mile to the gallon gas mileage if that is possible. The engine being .030 over and flat top pistons I might be dreaming.

 

15 mpg ? Not on a good day, downhill with a tailwind with a 390 in a pickup. 12-13 maybe. 31's will fit no problem. Had em on my 70 on steel spoke 15x10's. Figure out how fast you want to cruise then figure the ratio to get it there at the rpm you want to cruise at

 

Thanks for the info baddad 457 I will figure the gears based on 31" tires. I also googled the T-18, T-19 and NV4500 tyranny's. I really like what I read about the NV4500 and I found one but it was on a diesel engine so no go and that one, so still junk yard diving. The NP435 is like the T-18 and T-19 but there is a lot of different bolt on's and square bolt patterns and triangular bolt patterns but the price on these was not bad ($200 to $400 used and $800 to $1200 rebuilt).

 

NV4500 would be good with the OD, what's wrong with running the diesel version.