To go behind the 4v 351 Cleveland we decided to go with the super durable Ford four speed toploader. We picked up this toploader and it was in great shape when we opened it up. Since we were rebuilding the engine and all of its components we went with the standard rebuild kit from toploader heaven. We didn't have to replace any of the gears or synchronizers in this one either which was great. All we needed to do was an easy rebuild, clean, and paint. This was a great experience for me to learn a little bit about manual transmissions and how they work. They aren't too complicated or difficult to understand so it was a fun rebuild and I actually ended up rebuilding two more after this; one for my dad's 428 mach and another big block toploader that we had picked up as a package deal with the other one.
A great surprise to see once we pulled the lid off for the first time. Well lubed gears and synchros with minimal rust/pitting and tooth wear.
Although the 351 Cleveland is the big block of the small blocks, the toploader used for its applications was a small block toploader which has a small input shaft and 28 spline output shaft when compared to the big block toploader which has a larger diameter input shaft and 31 spline output shaft.
After pulling the output shaft and cluster gear out its really easy to see how little there is to the manual transmission. Just need to inspect all of the parts and clean them, then they should be good to go!
Clean parts. Yum..
After a quick count of the teeth on the gears and cluster gear, it revealed that we have a four speed toploader that is wide ratio. Should work just fine!
An inspection of some of the gears above reveals that there is no pitting on gears at all. There is no cracking at the base of the large teeth and minimal wear on the small teeth. The gears will work fine for use again.
Making sure all parts are well lubricated using Amsoil's severe gear synthetic oil, I started by reassembling the synchronizers
Next, the fun step of rebuilding the output shaft with all of the gears and synchros. This assembly is loaded into the top of the transmission. Hence the name toploader.
This is after putting the cluster gear in, the cluster gear pin, new ball bearings, needle bearings, all new seals and rings for the toploader. Sealed by the set screw holding all of the detents for the shift rails in place. Just needs a coat of paint!
Cast coat iron. Looks factory.
The standard rebuild kit with the Hurst Competition Plus shifter came with all of these new goodies. A new aluminum shifter mounting plate, shift rods, bushings, clips, and shift levers.
Finished off the four speed toploader with a nice polished by hand.. aluminum bellhousing. This thing should look great behind the Cleveland!
Here it is all said and done. The shift levers are easily adjustable after playing around with the shifter when its on the engine stand. It sure is fun to play with! The white knob is going to be changed out with the brushed aluminum T-Handle soon as well. What's that in the background? I see a box of Hooker Headers.. should look awesome once it's all together.
Below are the other two Ford four-speed toploaders that we rebuilt after this one. Both are big block large spline input shaft and 31 spline output shaft transmissions for 428 cobra jet and shelby cars.
This transmission is for the 428 big block sitting in the background. Going into a 1969 Mach 1 R-code.
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