A decent C6 will take the power of most any street motor, and one that's been beefed up will take big power. Downside is they have a rather large parasitic drag factor and are bulkier than a C4, and pretty much any SBF C6 you find will be from a truck application so it won't be the best for a performance application as-is.
I've got a good, used small bellhousing (ie Windsor) C6. It was behind a Cleveland in a Mustang and seems to work fine, but it is a used stocker. It shifted fine and I have the convertor too. If you're willing to drive to Irwindale you can have it for $350.00
Probably more... Back in the late seventies, one of the guys in my town had a LS-5 monte carlo, engine was bone stock except for headers and tuning, spent his money on converter, slicks and 4.88's, it was one of the faster cars around.
I forgot, in addition to the old race C4 and hopped SB C6, I also have a nearly new FMX from a 69 Cougar, with an 11" street converter
Thanks for the offer currently I'm between a C6 out of a 77 Lincoln that was hooked up to a 400m and the C4 that came out of the cougar. Possibly if the gentlemen from Napa who has the top loader gets a hold of me. But I'll keep you in mind, thanks.
I have been looking for reviews of TCI and I found some older replies that really don't sound good are they the same company are have they improved?
Nice top loader here for $850. The shifter will run you some $$ though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Top-Loader-4-Speed-/272364629285 Falcon T10 here. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-FORD-F...TANG-GT-66-65-63-FORD-TOPLOADER-/322019260167
either get a t5 and take it easy until you can afford a better one or go with an auto. I am running a t5 z spec and worry about it. If you don't put a real heavy clutch in it, that will help as well as not power shifting.
That was my original plan but quite few people I am talking to are telling I'm gonna blow up most trans except a tko which is 3k together or a built c6
If you are going to drive it like a race car then yes you will break a t5. I can tell you I have taken mine on the hot rod power tour, (3600 miles in 9 days) done burn outs, ran a few times on the track, went on a road coarse and some dyno time with not issues. This is the same issue I run into with putting a turbo on mine. It is way more fun with a manual but expensive to have much more than a stock engine.
That depends on how you drive it and how much traction you have available. Could you grenade a T5? Without a doubt... A Ford toploader or super T10? With a set of slicks or side-stepping the clutch, probably, but that's what it would take; with street tires and semi-sane driving you'd have to work at it to blow one of those up. A TKO would be bulletproof, but is that what you really need? There's a lot of trade-offs involved in a performance automatic, and none of them make the trans more 'street friendly'. The AOD would be the best compromise in an automatic IMO. A modern performance build on one will be the equal to a C6 for street use.
Your clutch is the key to getting the most thru your transmission without breaking it. You might be surprised at how much power they can take when paired with the right clutch. Here's a simplified explanation- Ideally the clutch's holding power should be matched to the power the engine makes, with very little reserve. Let's assume the engine makes 500 ft/lbs and the clutch's capacity is 700 ft/lbs before it begins to slip. When you launch the car, that clutch is going to draw 700 ft/lbs…the 500 ft/lbs that the engine is making at wot plus another 200 ft/lbs of stored inertia energy that will cause the rotating assy to lose rpm. That extra 200 ft/lbs makes the launch more violent, but as soon engine rpm is drawn down to the point that engine rpm sync's up with vehicle speed, rpm ceases to drop and that transfer of an additional 200 ft/lbs of inertia energy stops. The downside is that after you have lost the rpm and used that inertia energy, that spent energy then has to be paid back in full before the engine can recover the rpm that it lost. That inertia energy transfer which initially made the car launch harder now slows the car, as it reverses and some of the engine's power must be used to recharge spent inertia energy back into the rotating assy. In the end, that temporary 200 ft/lb boost did not actually net you any performance gain. Why subject your transmission and drivetrain to that extra 200 ft/lbs if it doesn't net you anything? What if that extra 200 ft/lbs that didn't net you anything is enough to break something? If that 700 ft/lb clutch were replaced with a 600 ft/lb version, the duration of clutch slip would be roughly twice as long (around 6 tenths of a second vs. 3 tenths of a second), which means the car would be traveling faster at the point where rpm and vehicle speed finally sync up...much less bog. Not only does the drivetrain see less abuse, but the engine does not lose as many rpm after launch and after the shifts...the engine will be pulling from a higher average rpm where it makes more power. It might be hard to believe, but even though the 600 ft/lb clutch slips longer and puts less stress on the drivetrain, the car will actually be quicker than it was with the 700 ft/lb clutch. Here's a link to a clutch capacity calculator. It can be useful if you are trying to determine if a particular clutch might be in the ballpark to match your engine's power or your transmission's capacity... clutch-torque-calculator If you already have a clutch that has a lot more capacity than your engine, there are ways to temporarily reduce clutch capacity that will protect your drivetrain. My ClutchTamer is one example of a simple adjustable way to temporarily hold back some clutch clamp pressure at the throwout bearing. This works great for cars that spray, as it allows choosing a clutch with enough clamp pressure to handle the spray, but allows you to dial back the initial clamp pressure as needed to prevent bogging the engine when it's running NA. You can get similar results with a well trained foot, but that method is generally only practical for launches.
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