Opening up a can of worms?
 

Hey fellas,

So here the deal, I just bought a 35 ford 5 window coupe and although I love it I hate the 3 speed. I took it to the GoodGuys show this weekend which was about an hour drive each way and going 45-50mph max sucks!!

Doing a little research I found that the T5 is a one of the many solutions to the speed issue. My question is where does it stop? I mean if I put in a T5 shouldn't I also swap the rear? Won't the crossmember need to be modified? And if I swap the rear don't I have to change the suspension over to parallel leaf springs?

What are some other affordable options to solving this issue? I don't want to put too much money into it.

Thanks,
George

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

sell the classic ford and buy a generic gogomobile. the fun is driving an automobile that the guy next to you can't get to run, arriving in something other than cookie cutter 2016 crap can

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Hi Everyone. George, I got my first flathead experience about eight years ago. My dad got a 36 Phaeton. It came with 4.11:1 rear gears and was all-in at 55mph. A gear swap to 3.78:1 now lets the same car get any highway speed needed. A good friend and Barner JM 35 Sedan, went to 3.54:1 in his 35 Fordor after a sudden rebuild and is loving it (he does a fair bit of long distance driving).

So, the very likely issue in my opinion is the rear gear ratio not the transmission.

We arranged a swap with CharlieNY here on the Barn. He sent us a rebuilt one, and we sent the one we took out. I have no idea about the costs, dad handled that one. Charlie is amazing to be a customer of!

Another thought is taller tires in the rear helps a couple of MPH.

You hit the nail on the head when you said there are many solutions!

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Yeah I get that but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy driving on the freeway at 45mph getting passed by wide load semi's.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Awesome,

That sounds affordable and reasonable enough. I just didn't want to put tons of money into to drive it faster. As long as I can keep up with the flow of traffic I'm good. 👍🏻👍🏻

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Solo, I hear you that you don't want to be blown off the road by semi's, so the good news is you can drive cross country without ever touching a freeway. If you want the old car experience, remember, there were no freeways back in the day, and at least for me, the enjoyment is in the trip, not in how fast you can get there. Try it, you might like it.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

I can do 60 mph in my 1937 Ford.

But I feel more comfortable doing 45 - 50 mph.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

I had the same issue with my 36 Ford. I put a Columbia overdrive rear axle in my car. Changes gears in the rear from 4:11 to 2:94. Makes driving on the highway much more pleasurable. This certainly is not a cheap option. Installing 3:78 or 3:54 would be a more economical option. I will say even that the car will easily cruise at 65+, but it feels much faster. Good luck with your choice.


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Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Put in a Mitchell overdrive, around $2,500

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

The rear end ratio is your speed problem. However, just remember that the brake system of that car is not up to going as fast as you might want. If you have more GO you need more WHOH to be safe.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Honestly with 4.11:1 rear gear it should easily do 70 mph, it sounds revvy, but you won't hurt it. It should cruise along easy at 60-65 mph. If it won't, somethings wrong.
Also it's what your used too, modern stuff with overdrive or double overdrive trans will whisper along at 90, and with all the sound proofing, you can't hear it any how.
With 4.11 rear and 26" tall rear tire, stock trans, that little flathead is turning about 2400 rpm, that's all! Hardly a lot is its??
At 65 mph it's pulling 3500 rpm, still not screaming is it?
If it really won't go higher than 45-50 mph, something ain't right!
There was a valve spring test used on Ford V8's in England where you'd do circa 55 mph in second gear, if it wouldn't do that without floating the valves, it needed New valve springs.
If I recall, the minimum top speed for a '35 when testing performance was 78 mph (May have been higher), if it didn't do this, the car required work to fix this.
The info is in the Ford service bulletins, don't have mine to hand to verify, hopefully Bruce Lancaster will be along and confirm.
Martin.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Ok I've been there my car would do 65 but it sounded like it was being pushed hard.
I installed the Mitchel overdrive and though about changing the rear gears, I stuck with the 4.11. Now I can do 60 all day and no worries she drives great. If I had to do it again, and still may, I think a 3.78 gear with the overdrive would have worked better. Affordable? $2500 for the overdrive or about $500 for new gears. that's less then $1 per bit of fun!

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

The cheap option is gear change 350 bucks or so maybe cheaper. Another option in a Borg Warner overdrive in the drive tube shaft.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

As Jeff (-VT/JeffH) mentioned in his post, I put 3.54:1 ring and pinion gears in my '35 fordor sedan this past May, and then drove this car to Tulsa, Ok in June for the EFV8C/A's CNM. I purposely drove a route that took me over the mountains of Western MD, West VA, and Western PA, and never had to downshift going over any of those mountains. When I got to flatter country I found I could easily cruise at 65 mph all day long, and easily pass at 70-75 mph if I wanted to. However, I usually keep my highway speed at ~ 60 mph, and try to maintain a 10-15 car length distance from any vehicle in front of me. The speed is easy, it's the stopping quickly part that always concerns me.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

As a few other folks have mentioned, changing the transmission won't do anything for you. I have a '39 Ford pickup with 3:78 rear end and I can drive it 65 mph with no problems. I also have a '47 Ford tudor that with 3:78 that I can drive 65-70 mph in easily. Heck the Model A in my avatar will do 60. It sounds to me that you have other problems perhaps engine related. For better cruising rpm's go to a 3:54 rear end. Ultimately your rear end gear ratio will have more influence on your cruising speed than transmission gears.

What is the condition of the engine? Have you done a compression check? What about the ignition system? Does the ignition system need a tune up? Also, did you remove that funky carburetor set up and replace it with the stock components? What is the condition of the carburetor itself? You see there are a whole host of things to consider before just changing out parts for the sake of it or because you read something in a magazine. Anyone can bolt on new parts but a skilled mechanic will trouble shoot first.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Like Seth, my Model A will do 60 without a problem. I don't think I have a stock rear in it, but I haven't really checked. I need to do that some day. ;-)

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

I drive the model A at 65, have gone the whole length of PA turnpike at that, the 39 with the 60 and 4:44 rear was driven at 65-70 all the time---- it's not the trans if it won't go faster

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Well I changed our coupe from a 3 speed with 3.54 rear ( which would do 70 all day if asked to) admittedly we have a1950 merc motor. And changed to a T5 , have had some clutch issues etc. is it better , it sure changes nicer and revs slower as we have the .72 5th gear.
But in the grand scheme the effort required to retro fit a 5 speed with the body on leaves something to be desired in the engineering aesthetics.
A 3.54 rear gear and 750x16 tires is all you need. Or a Mitchell
But I am stubborn and going to fit a t5 into our next one but will do more research into the clutch package to use maybe hydraulic, and this one will be designed to have a t5 with the body off.

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

our 38 coupe had 444 gears in it, top speed about 50mph, installed 355 gears now will easily cruise a 65mph, a gear set costs about $400.00...our 38 conv. has 378 gears , 55-60 is a good speed for it

Re: Opening up a can of worms?
 

Ditto to all that has been said. My completely stock 1934 cruises nicely at 60 mph and will do so for hours on end effortlessly . Top gear is good from 5mph to 60 mph. It would go faster but I see no point in pushing it - You need to look at the rear end and/or the engine -Karl