Found 3.20 gears from a 65 Mustang. I am going to install them in my 62 E100 7.5 rearend. Hope this will provide better hwy speed. Has anyone had experience with this swap? I am still running the the stock transmission. Thinking of going to a toploader? Any thoughts? The pickup has a 70 Maverick 200. Keep on truckin! jimarlie.

 

I think the swap to a 3.20 gear is a good choice. I had a Maverick with the 200 I-6 and a 3.08 rear and the car went 95 top speed. Not bad eh? I think you may actually get a better top speed because the engine can get into it's power band better this way. A 3.20 is still pretty tame for gas mileage too. Your accel. will get better and you won't have to give full throttle all the time(I had to with mine). I don't think a 4 spd. top loader would help much, the 3 spd. has a lower first and gives for better launches. This may help your mileage too because you won't have to floor it(back to the beggining) to get going. The 4 spd. may have more gears and will drop RPM's while shifting, but your final drive ratio will be the exact same between the two and the extra gear may not help at all. I say stick with the 3 spd. manual that you currently have, it is a good trans.

 

Maverick70,

Thanks for the input. You make some good points! Great to hear from you.

jimarlie