As far as I know, all Jericos are flat plated, like Larry said, once you pull it out of one gear, it practically jumps into the next. I have never had either off my Jericos pop out of gear, under lifted throttle, although I believe that is the case with the clutchless models. I was assuming you were talking about using a Long V Gate shifter with a Toploader, with a Jerico I would absolutely recommend a Long shifter. A face plated Toploader would work pretty good, but the Jerico does have several advantages, including much lighter weight, no drain plug pointing down to dig into your chest or make it tricky to use a trans jack, multiple shifter locations, and most helpful, a wide selection of easily changed ratios. With a Toploader you are stuck with either a 2.32, 2.78, or a weak aftermarket 2.90 low gear ratio, Jerico offers at least as low as a 3.25 1rst gear. Most guys I know usually run between a 2.93 to 3.19 1rst. One thing to consider, is that the older DR4 Jerico is no longer sold new by Jerico, only the "upgraded" and much more expensive DR 4-4 revision. Hopefully Jerico will continue to offer parts for the older DR4, but a local guy needed a new input shaft for his Jerico, used in a FOX Mustang application (longer input shaft) in the 1 3/16"x18 MoPar Hemi spline with Ford pilot sizing, and Jerico said they no longer offered that piece. A few years ago, I bought that exact same input for my 85 Mustang. So if you find a used Jerico, that is a non FE application, I would confirm that Jerico can supply the parts to make it fit the FE application. Both my FE and SBF Jericos use the 18 spline MoPar inputs with the length and pilot top correct for each application. Not saying a GM or MoPar application could not be modified to fit a FE, but its nice to have it be a direct fit. If you currently run a 1 3/8" big input Toploader, Jerico does (or did) offer that input and bearing retainer, so you could bolt it on, and retain your big input clutch fork and throw out bearing. With my MoPar spline input, I use a regular small input Ford throw out bearing and fork. Also, the Jerico uses a larger 32 spline Turbo 400 slip yoke spline on the output shaft.