65 GALAXIE CLUTCH LINKAGE

[65er]

by the way 65er how does your car run with that 5 speed and what rear gear are you running ?

Well after not having a manual tranny behind a V8 for about 27 years and then not having had any kind of manual transmission at all for over 15 years it has taken me some time to get halfway decent with the stick, lol.  The car is great with the 5 speed and it's getting better but I can't tell how much of that may be the transmission starting to break in and limber up or how much is me getting comfortable with it.  I put the 4.30 gears in and odd as it may sound they are fine on the highway but definitely too short in town.  It sure does roll easy from a stop light but I'm hitting 4th gear at 30 mph.  I have a couple pumpkins and some more gear sets to try out before I settle on one.

[cajun65]

i bet those tires roll over pretty easy !

[65er]

Well have to see about the rubber burning capabilities pretty soon I guess. The transmission is supposed be broken in over 500 or so miles of careful driving so I've barely made a scratch a couple times so far. I think I've got about 425 miles on the new drivetrain right now... 

[AlanCasida]

If I had to do it again, I would have gotten the .82od and used about a 3.70 gear. I think that would make for a better everyday driver combo.

[cajun65]

Yeah I bought a chunk with 3:50 gear, but I'm thinking it will be lugging on the high way but I will try them first .

[65er]

I know of at least three members here and on the FE Engine Forum that are using 3.50 gears with the .64 OD and seem to be happy with them.   I'll be running my 3.82 gears for a while, then after that I want to try a set of 3.50's.  I really want that first hand experience with the different ratios in my car, my driving habits, my routes etc.   I don't want any conclusions just yet but from what I"m seeing so far it looks like a 3.25 gear and .82 OD might be my daily driver setup.

[65er]

Finally got a shifter boot, now I just need to restore the whole interior so the boot doesn't look out of place, lol.



Less than 10 bucks shipped and it's an actual Ford part (#D77Z7277B) which I thought was pretty cool.  I made the lever from 3/4" stainless steel rod and the ball from a piece of mahogany I've had hanging around for a while.

[jayb]

Might be easier to scuff up the boot a little than change the interior LOL!  Or just put on sunglasses before you look at the boot.  Great deal for a real Ford part...

[65er]

Hey look at that! Jay, do you always show 1320 posts or did I catch you on a good day?

[jayb]

Hmmm, I should change my user name so that the post number for jayb stays at 1320!  Oh well, too late now, this is 1321