I'm going to look at a couple of top loaders for my Maverick. Does anybody know what part # indicates a close ratio 4 speed as opposed to a non close ratio? And I 'll want to make sure it will work with a 302. Help Please. Thanks Steve
If you are not road racing the car, the wide ratio is best. You get a better spread between gears. Dave
Yup .... listen to ratio411 ... I didn't know and got a close-ratio out of a 1965 Shelby Mustang. It is serving it's purpose and the price was right but the wide-ratio is better for 1/4 mile type driving. If the tranny is out of a Boss or Shelby type car it is usually close-ratio since these were built as road course cars ...
Gee, we used to always prefer a close ratio because it because it kept the rpms up in the range of max torque.
Yep, good for road racing... Wide is better for the street/strip. You get a granny first gear so you don't have to run a steep rear gear. The 2/3 gears are then spaced evenly to keep a good rpm rather than dropping off like it would if it had the 2/3 of a close ratio. Then 4th is 1:1 as the others, but you can cruise with a higher gear. The wide ratio with 3.50s would have the accelleration of a close ratio with 4.11s. Then highway and fuel economy would obviously suffer with the close ratio. My wide ratio came from a 70 Boss 302... They are hard to tell apart just by trying to remember numbers. There are ALOT of numbers. They all begin with HEH or RUG. Mine was a RUG, but there are both ratios with both prefixes. Follow the link above and write down all the acceptable numbers from the chart and if the tranny you find is not one of those numbers, keep looking. Or order one from there. There is also a way to tell the ratio of the tranny by counting the teeth on one of the gears inside, with the cover off, but I don't know the details. Good luck. Dave
Bingo! Got me a RUG E2 from a 68 289 Mustang. It's a wide ratio and it sounds like it's the one that will suit me best. The seller has another top loader for sale but it's from a 68 390 Galaxcy and it has a Hurst shifter on it. He wants $550. It's a wide ratio also.
