A recent find. Love the chrome swans neck shifter column. Will do some studying on it later...but do have a double detent cover to replace the single with. Hade an old piece of tape marked "good" runs thru the gears good n tight as if rebuilt. Also showed a price of $150. Someone poured tar on top housing to seal up I suspect.
Check out the last few posts in “Building my first roadster in San Francisco “. It mentions differences in the double detent tops. You may already know, thought I’d let you know anyways
FYI, you can't just swap a few parts around to use the later top casting. You will need to make sure the forks match the gears/syncros. Also be aware the lever for the later top has a longer bottom tip, so the earlier lever won't fit. The tar is actually the original Ford foam seal that fit under the floorboard tin. They melted with heat and oil/fuel chemicals. Common to find on the top of old Ford transmissions.
did you verify the vin that is stamped on it so you know it is a 39? or remove the shifter to look for brass blocker rings? The serial number is stamped on the flat pad just above the inspection cover on top. what is the number??
I second what Mark says. What indication do you have that it's a '39 (or good)? Is it possible that the scrawl at the bottom of the tape says "4 Speed"? Not what I would call the best documentation.
Like others mentioned, you need to open this up to know what you got. Rear mount and top are early Ford. I would doubt this gear set is the later, '39-up style since the forks would need to be changed, etc. If the other top does indeed have the 81A 3" fork, then you did good getting the package for $150 since the top is worth that.
The slanted shift tower & rear mount points to it being a 33 34 Trans. The double detent top needs the front fork measured to in sure a 3" fork, otherwise it's not much help. I wonder if the swan shaped shifter is just stuffed into the 33 top ?
So some good news and bad news... As yall suspected/identified....nope not a 39. But luckily I did manage to grab an actual 39 top in addition to this unit...it too has a swan shifter but not chrome...it'sthe double detent one pictured.. So fingers crossed the case design I have may support the bigger gears. The extra top forks do both measure larger that the complete units with the largest measuring 3in. So there's that. Standing by comments. Super clean inside no rust in the case...just nasty gear oil. Very slight burr at the back of the tallest gear
I printed this a long time ago and keep it in my wallet so at swap meets can tell what is what http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_serialnumbers.htm
nope it is a 35 by my guide. 32's were ser #001-203,126. and yours is 1,316,174. it is the sequential number of cars built per year, they only made 200,000 32's so 1.3 million can't be 32
Find yourself a common 40-48 side shift transmission. Shop around for one with good internals, opening the case and look for chipped gears. Might even find one for the same price you paid for this one, if you are patient. Then take all those good late internals, with some new bearings, bushings, gaskets, syncros, and springs from Vanpelts, and put it all in your toploader case. The late shifter casting and 3" yoke will fit right on it. Then bolt whatever rear mount you need to work with your planned chassis. Viola.
If the '49 is out of a car, totally different trans. and the gear sets don't interchange. If it's out of truck, then good to go. Truck trans. had a 29 tooth cluster which is a little steep for hot rod.
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