Be aware that face plating is NOT the same as "pro shift" "slick shift" or "crashboxing" a transmission. Slick shifting or crashboxing normally involves removing a number of the small syncronizer teeth on the gears, which provides a larger "window" for the slider to engage with.
Pro shifting, as done by Liberty, involves cutting off the syncro teeth from the gears altogether, and replacing them with welded on pro shift rings, that have much wider, pointed rectangular lugs, and are used in conjunction with sliders that have had sets of the syncro grooves machined away, again providing a larger window for engagment under WOT shifting. Both of these modifacations typically require semi regular trans teardowns to adress burred up or damaged lugs and sliders.
Faceplating is how drag race transmissions like Jericos and G Forces are built. It is similar to how motorcycle transmission are built. Instead of a row of small syncro style teeth around the gears, and coresponding grooves in the sliders, a face plate trans has a number star shaped rings attatched to the gears, and the sliders have ramped slots, that engage with the arms of the stars. With this setup, when a shift is made, even if the slider slot doesn`t immediatly line up with arm of the star, because of the ramp, it will ride the ramp, and pop into the next available slot. Unlike the other styles, routine teardowns are not needed, as there are no sharp points that need to be dressed with a die grinder. I have 2 Jericos, and the trans in my 331 SBF 85 Mustang(10.29ET@128MPH) has been in the car for 5 or 6 years, and I`ve never had the cover off yet. The Jerico in my 427/454 FE Fairmont (9.97ET@132MPH) has been in the car for 12 seasons, other than replacing a broken 3rd gear a few years ago, it too has remained untouched. All the sliders and star rings are origional, and have never be touched up. Other than changing the trans oil every 2 or 3 years, the Jericos are almost maintenance free. If you were to send a Toploader to G Force, I believe that they can only faceplate 3rd and 4th gear, as the star ring design requires special hubs, that won`t work with a regular syncro stype 1 rst gear. However, they can retain the stock 1rst gear, Pro shift 2nd, and then faceplate 3rd & 4th. My buddy ran just such a G Force modified toploader in his high 10 secong SB 64 Comet for a couple of years, until he bought a Jerico DR4. A few benefits to the Jerico are weight, strength, and a multitude af different gear ratios. With theToploader, you are pretty much limited to either the 2.32 or 2.78 factory 1rst gear ratios. Dave Kee does offer a 2.90 1rst gear ratio, but I know several guys who had the 2.90, and broke them it thier 10 second cars. The 2.90 gears may well hold up on a slower car, or a car without slicks. Of course I wouldn`t consider any of these types of mods, or the Jerico to be very street friendly, although I suppose they could be tolerated on a limited use weekend warrior.
