My 55 TBird was born with a T86, R10 overdrive and 4.1 rear gears and still has it's original drive train. My motor is a .060 over 292 with 312 heads and intake.  It's a wonderful setup for modern driving.  I disable overdrive while driving around town as I rarely get into third gear with the O/D engaged. I use O/D for highway driving.   At 60 MPH In 3rd gear O/D, my engine is turning about 2,000 rpm.  The O/D drops the RPM by about 1/3.  The 4.10 gears make for spirited acceleration. It's a very peppy car.  I am nervous about blowing my transmission, so I never hammer it from a stop or power shift.  I blew up my share of Ford three speeds back in the day and I don't need any more of that.  One more thing, the T86 is not syncro in first. With the O/D engaged you can shift into 1st without coming to a complete stop.  The T85 R11 was a very tough transmission if you can find one.  It came behind 312s and some big blocks. I doubt you will blow one of them. 

Miker,

I thought about the T85 at one point but, as you said, probably won't be easy to find one...plus the shifter issue(s).  I didn't really entertain the T86 because of its somewhat "delicate" reputation.  At the end of the day, it's a hot rod so I would always want the option of beating the crap out of it!  (Not Really- but give its reputation, I'd never FULLY trust that it wasn't about to break the next time I drove it.

I went back and read the whole post. Thinking about the 4.27 rear gears, and your original complaint of the rev’s at highway speeds.

If you can live with a non-syncro 1st gear, how about a T-86 overdrive transmission? Ford must have used millions of those behind 292’s, and if not abused they live just fine. Bolting them up is painless. Finding a floor shift for the o/d can be a challenge, space along side for the shifter (new hole in the floor) and maybe the Model A crossmember for the trans mount. But they’re more available than a T85 o/d, and smaller. With the 2.4? 1st and 1.6? 2nd they’ve got pretty decent spacing, 1.1 3rd and 0.7 o/d. That puts you about 2250 at 65mph.

I think there’s some Jeep parts that let you put a floor shifter on top in, but the odd rumor is all I know.

Just a thought.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

You are correct, my T5 1st gear ratio is 3.35  -  been too many years.

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

3.35

I don'tr remember the gear ratios of my T5. It's from a 90 Mustang GT and this info should be in my notes or on the net.   I'll look and report later.  I think 30X9.50 R15 LT  30" diameter tires help keep the revs down some. 1st gear is ok but for my strickly street driving I wouldn't want any more than the 3.5 rear that's  in the truck now. 1st winds out prety quick making a shift to 2nd necessary just before conpleting a corner, for example. My adapter is the one clocked straight up but I can't say what would be best for your "A" chassis. 

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Thanks for the info everyone.  Do I want the adapter that's clocked 5* or the straight one for a Model A?  
I honestly don't think there's THAT much room between the tranny and the floor.

Dearborn- does your trans have the 3.27 first gear?  With my 4.27s out back, I would be looking for the 2.9 (or whatever) first....I suppose I could study the numbers and even if First turned out to be useless I would just consider it a 4 speed with a granny gear.

That is correct - all car y-block manual bell housings are the same.  The pics you posted are of a common Y-block standard trans bell housing so you're good. The truck is a different animal as stated above with the mounting ears, it is also about 1" deeper due to the ears and is available with 2 different trans bolt patterns, the common 3 speed trans and the larger pattern granny gear 4 speed, also stated above.  I did the T5 conversion in my 64 F100 and that presented different challenges than a car. Finding a rebuildableT5 form a 5.0 Mustanag will be a challenge or, new ones are available. Will need to consider the cost of a core, the cost to PROPERLY rebuild it as opposed to a new one. I installed a 3.5 gear in the rear axle and any higher than that would probably make 1st gear useless in my case. I can't stress enough what a wonderful inprovement a T5 is behind a Y-block. It  modernizes the driving dynamics of our Y powered vehicles. Get the ratios correct and it's not much different than driving a 5.0 Mustnag, at least on a straight run. It is the upgrade that I feel made the most bang for the buck. 

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Paul’s right about the car bells. All the truck bells I’ve seen have the large ears for the rear engine mount (the front is the steady rest style under the dampener). What I don’t know is whether the truck had 2 bells-one for the 3 speed and one for the granny low 4 speed. I can’t tell from your pictures which bell you’ve got. Some truck bells have a boss for a hydraulic slave cylinder, some don’t.

Just been too long since I looked at mine.

What are you using for engine mounts?

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

All standard shift bellhousings are pretty much the same, right from the 239 up to the 312..  The exception is the truck bellhousings


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ