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A little story. For the past 2 years I've been operating a Mobile Bike business out of my '66 Supervan just north of Washington, DC in Montgomery County. I've rolled up hundreds of driveways, set up shop and repaired hundreds upon hundreds of bikes. My van gets more than it's share of attention and has played a roll in filling my schedule to the point that I can hardly keep up. Up until 2 months ago, it was a side hustle, but now it's how I make my living. This year I had to hire two mechanics and knew that I needed to buy another van. That decision was forced last Saturday when my 3-speed manual transmission gave out. I bit the bullet, broke down and bought a late model van to keep the business operating.
The shop confirms that I need a replacement and I've been given the task of locating one. I'm appealing to the Econoline community to help keep an old work-horse in the work force. I'm attaching a photo of my trusty 4-wheeled business partner and the code off of the transmnission. My fear is that I order one from across the country and it turns out to be wrrong. I'm uncertain if the numbers and letters have to be exact for it to work. If you have the experience and knowledge, please help a humble bike mechanic and fellow Econoline owner out.
Look on the case for letters like "HEF" on the case. There should be some others like "BB" or something else.
What went wrong with the transmission?
It is possible you can get another 3 speed and have your tailshaft housing and tailshaft transplanted, depending on what is wrong with your transmission.
"Was the transmission all syncro?" I can't answer that. Not even sure what that means. For about 5 miles there was a whirr which kinda sounded like it was reverberrating up from the clutch linkage. Then there was a thunk and the van dropped out of gear. It wouldn't go into first or reverse, but I was able to limp it home in second while there was a sound like a beer can skipping around in a garbage disposal. Probably shouldn't have kept going but I figured the damage was done and all I wanted to do was get it back home. As it ended up, the clutch pedal rests about halfway to the floor - doesn't have the full tension that it had. My mechanic who works part time wrenching bikes loved the story and loves the business. Even though they don't specialize in old vehicles agreed to take it on. Said he'd check the clutch and throw out bearing and take the steps to diagnose. The result of his efforts is that I need a new gearbox. Needless to say, he can't go through his normal channels. I'll have him look for other letters on the case. Another gearhead friend sent me a link from Broncograveyard.com for a 3-speed V-8 transmission with 9-3/4" Case Length (completely rebuilt Tremec 303) for $589. He says it's more a matter of measurements than anything. Physical size, input and output shaft diameters etc.... that there may be differences in gear ratio's and such depending on what it was used in. I want to understand more before I pull the trigger and risk getting the wrong thing.
You should have a model 3.03 3 speed in your econoline. That particular 3speed was used in just about every Ford light duty application from at least 1963 through 1972. That would mean any column shift from a fairlane, galaxie maverick or even f-100 would be the same. Check your local junk yards, or just pull the one you have and have it rebuilt. Parts should be very easy to come by.
You should have a model 3.03 3 speed in your econoline. That particular 3 speed was used in just about every Ford light duty application from at least 1963 through 1986.
All the 3.03 "wear" parts (bearings/seals/syncro blocker rings/gaskets) are available from auto parts stores.
Most are the same 1963/79 Passenger Cars, 1963/86 F100/250; 1965/87 Econoline, 1966/77 Bronco, 1980 Granada.
Buying a used trans is not a good idea, it may be no better than what you have now, could be worse.
3 speed manual all synchromesh means you can shift into 1st gear without the trans grinding...unless the brass synchro blocker rings are worn.
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