66 toploader conversion

What is involved in converting a 66 coupe 289 c4 to a toploader. Driveshaft, crossmember, trans tunnel, cutting holes in the floor, etc?

You missed the clutch pedal, "Z" bar assembly, Flywheel, bellhousing, shifter, clutch assembly and throw-out lever and bearing.

Oh, and no cutting required if you have the correct Mustang tailshaft on the transmission. No change to the transmission tunnel either (if we are talking Mustang.)

It is all a simple bolt-in and is easily accomplished if you had a donor car for all the misc parts.

Cross member is about the same, can use it, but the tailshaft mount is way different.

The driveshaft is wrong, need to use a different yoke up front. May be able to locate one and then have your older one altered at machine shop.

That will save you a couple nickels.

You going with original shifter or replacement?

Wm.

Originally Posted by coosbaylumber

Cross member is about the same, can use it, but the tailshaft mount is way different.

The driveshaft is wrong, need to use a different yoke up front. May be able to locate one and then have your older one altered at machine shop.

That will save you a couple nickels.

Wm.

Lots of misinformation found above.

For a 66' Mustang 289 car (I am stressing Mustang as I do not know the exact car we are talking about,) the factory C4 is the same length as the proper Mustang and common "short tail" Toploader with bellhousing. It uses the same 28 spline trannsmission yoke (assuming the toploader isn't the rare 31 spline model.) The driveshafts are also the same length too.

Also, the crossmember is identical and the toploader will use the same rubber tranny mount. No mods are needed here.

He can use either a factory shifter (not recommened for hard shifting) or a Hurst Competition Plus which will work in the same floorshift hole, even with a factory console.

The starter will be different as the manual starter has a different mounting flange than the automatic.

Originally Posted by dennis111

Lots of misinformation found above.

For a 66' Mustang 289 car (I am stressing Mustang as I do not know the exact car we are talking about,) the factory C4 is the same length as the proper Mustang and common "short tail" Toploader with bellhousing. It uses the same 28 spline trannsmission yoke (assuming the toploader isn't the rare 31 spline model.) The driveshafts are also the same length too.

Also, the crossmember is identical and the toploader will use the same rubber tranny mount. No mods are needed here.

He can use either a factory shifter (not recommened for hard shifting) or a Hurst Competition Plus which will work in the same floorshift hole, even with a factory console.

The starter will be different as the manual starter has a different mounting flange than the automatic.

+1
My brother swapped a toploader into his 67 (factory C-4 car)and reused everything but the starter...

I have seen some variations of tranny mounts but this was due to different years..Some toploaders use an inline bolt pattern for the mount where I believe all c-4s have the mount crossways to the centerline of the trans...My toploader mount has the bolt pattern for both setups so it would work on either trans..

Yes it is a mustang. However, the c4 is from '70 and not '66. are those the same?

Originally Posted by hepcat69

Yes it is a mustang. However, the c4 is from '70 and not '66. are those the same?

Yes, the 70 Mustang C4 will be the same length, have the same fit, and will still use the same parts for swapping as I described above.

Easy swap and the hardest part will be in installing the clutch pedal stuff up under the dash. Even that is just a time consuming bolt-in.

Dennis and Fordnut got it. I have done this swap several times with 67 and 68s and once with a 70 /68 (fella wanted mu Auto I wanted his Toploader, the onlything I had to get was the pedal). Always used same driveshafts, cross members etc, the only thing different for me was the starter, always used the same one.

This last time, my Toploader didnt have the duel mount holes so I had to go with the inline type mount.

One thing I did do different this time was the Cable Clutch, huge fan of that for now. Difficult if you want to run big tube headers, but for resto mods etc the cable is sweet. Does require different bell, fork, clutch/plate though.

Gydyup!

One thing missed was the speedo cable will now enter the tranny on the passenger side (at least this was the case with a 1966 C4 to toploader conversion). I made mine fit with some crossmember modification (very tight bends though). I believe the speedo gear also needs to be changed (different rotation?).