toploader input shaft

Turns out my swapmeet tranny for my 289 Cougar has a 390 input shaft in it, which makes it about 1/2" too short to reach fully into the pilot bearing. Does anybody know if there is a special pilot bearing made to adapt the short 390 shaft to the 289 crank? Thanks!



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Are you sure about this? Years ago when gas went up too much I swapped a 289 into my 390 big block Fairlane and the top loader 4 speed bolted up and ran perfectly.I didn't think there was any difference in 4 speeds except the huge input shaft that came on the 427 models.



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Yeah, I assembled the bellhousing and trans without the clutch assembly and without the fork and looked thru the fork opening. Only about 1/8" of the shaft was in the pilot bearing. Twice now it's spit out the pilot and broken the trans front bearing retainer after a number of 7500 RPM shifts (and a couple/three missed shifts-somehow got second instead of fourth!). Every other input shaft I have lying around (toploader overdrive and various three speeds) are all out of small blocks and all have a significantly longer 'nose' in the pilot bearing area of the shaft and are 1/2" or so longer. Apparently the 390 crank extends further past the back of the block surface so the input shaft is shorter. I ran this trans for four years or so with no problem and then put in a scattershield which uses a 1/16+" thicker block plate. I now noticed two wear marks on the end of the input, one where it was riding in just deep enough to work until I added the scattershield and one closer to the tip of the shaft. I have found a source for a 289 input shaft ($160) but was hoping someone knew of a cheaper way.



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Any good machine shop should be able to machine you an extra thick pilot bearing from "oilite" bronze. I also heard that some aftermarket guys who specialize in parts for engine swaps sell these.



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The small blocks had a longer snout. The FE engines bellhousing is not as deep as a small block. The snout for these trans missions have a shorter snout. Do know a good machine shop with a lathe? If so get you a piece of brass and have him make you a thicker pilot buching, One that will seat all the way into the crank. A stock pilot bearing does not seat all the way. Then make it long enough to extend to the shoulder of the trans input shaft. Do allow a little clearance here as the shaft and bearing at times will turn at different rpms. I have done this before and it works. Just make sure everything is tight and square. Basically what you will wind up with is a pilot bearing that is twice as thick as a stock one. Take 2 new pilot bearings and stack them together, This is what you are after, just in one piece.



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I have the same problem. I have a 67 Cougar with a 289, and it's bolted to a 4 speed toploader out of a 66 Galaxie with a 427. The input shaft comes up short but still engages the pilot bushing by 1/8" and also the collar on the clutch hangs 1/2" off of the end of the input shaft. Everything works but every time I launch the car hard, I bend the clutch equalizer bar. Anybody know what keeps causing this ?????? Thanx..Mikee



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