Will a top loader 4 speed trany with over drive bolt up to my FE 390 bell housing? The owner thinks it came out of a 80 something model vehicle.

 

Maybe. Bolt pattern is the same. Check input length. Iron or aluminum? You will have to go easy on it.

 

The input is either spot on or 1" too long. If it's the long input a spacer can be used between the bell and the transmission. But it all needs to be visually checked without the clutch and pressure plate in place (transmission bolted into the bell, bolted to the engine, with the flywheel in place. Input snout must go into the pilot bearing/bushing at least the depth of the bearing/bushing.

 

Read this first. Toploader Imposters

 

Someone here has run an iron one behind a 352 or 390 for a long time with no issues. No clutch drops, burnouts or speed shifting.

 

It's basically a 3 speed with a over drive gear, same ratio's as the 303 three speed trans in the first three gears.
Should be a nice driving and cruising trans but I wouldn't thrash on it, I have one to go behind a 406FE in my 64 Fairlane

 

Early 3 speeds were great daily drivers but not great racers. Had one behind a mild 312 Y block. Went thru a dozen of them in two years. Wrecking yard was giving me bulk rate on replacements. This was back when they were plentiful and not popular.

 

3.03 was the stronger one if I recall. Same as the Toploader 4 speed in terms of strength

 

Nitpicking alert.

1960s performance toploader 4 speed is stronger than the 3.03 3 speed, stronger than the BWT10 four speed it replaced, and stronger than the BW 3 speeds.

3.03 three speeds are stronger than the BW 3 speeds, but were NOT offered with an overdrive unit.

A "three plus overdrive" is a 3 speed with an od unit, like so:

Ford Borg Warner Overdrive Parts Prices

The transmission in question here is a 4 speed overdrive, patterned on the toploader performance 4 speed, with some parts interchange, but overall weaker than the performance trans due to the issues discussed in the link in post 4.

The 3.03 and the toploader 4 speed look similar but do not share cases or anything else afaik.

The 4 speed OD ratios in 1-2-3 vary depending on car or truck, iron or aluminum, but are not the same exact ratios as the 3 speeds.
Tremec T170 SMOD, SROD, TOD Transmission Specs & Ratios

ClassicBroncos.com Tech Articles » Blog Archive » Toploader 4 speed manual ? Transmission Guide

 

Thank you for the info. I will see what he has and then I will be able to decide if it will work for me.

 

RUG SR-OD Single Rail 4 Speed Overdrive.

1978/83 F100/150 300/302 / 1978/87 E100/250 300/302/351W // 1977/80 Granada / 1979/83 Mustang/Capri/Fairmont/Zephyr.

The Econoline shift lever mechanism is completely different than F100/150 // The car shift lever mechanism is different than F100/150 & Econoline.
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RTS TS-OD Top Shift 4 Speed Overdrive.

1984/87 F150 2WD/4WD & Bronco 300/302.

The shift lever is two pieces and contains multiple parts. It's a notorious POS!

Both of these trannies are "weak sisters." One speed shift, you can kiss the little darlin's good bye.

Replacement parts for these trannies can be very hard to find. Most auto parts store parts clucks have never seen or heard of them.

 

WOW, I think I will stay away from that trans unit. I have talked to my local machine shop owner, and he brought up the idea of us putting the trans from this dodge truck diesel into my 69 FE 390. We have been friends for about 50 years of course this might try our friend ship a little. He has a dodge truck with a 6 speed trans in it and with his help we are going to attempt to fit that trans from that diesel into my 69 F-100. We know the pilot bearing will need to be reamed out and I am sure we will be modifying the bell housing to fit that FE 390 motor and we will need to check the out put shaft on the trans for the correct length to the pilot and crank. Then the sheet metal work I will have once in the truck since I have the low hump. We will also need to do some drive shaft mods too. We are just in the idea stage and I am not real sure about this swap.

 

What is the transmission model from the Dodge?

 

The cast iron 3+1 OD Toploader is fine behind a 390. It's the Aluminum units you want to steer clear of. The iron unit is a bolt in to replace a 3 speed manual transmission. The 6 speed ZF's are not bullet proof no matter what anyone tells you. They do not tolerate missed shifts well. I know this from experience with the one in my 99 SD F250 with a 7.3. The one came with it had to be replaced a few years after I bought it. 3rd and 5th gears went south in it.

 

Those ZF's are nice, but they are "truck" transmissions, not "hot rod" transmissions. Much too bulky to power shift or even lightly speed shift. The gears are much too heavy and I'm sure the synchronizers won't put up with it long before not working well anymore.