How much room with a stick ??

When my dad and I bought the maverick the guy who owned it before swaped in one of those 3 spd od manual transmissions. Made a real mess of the trans tunnel to install a huge hurst competition plus T-shifter and then put in a fairlane pedal assembly. So what we have now is a very unsafe car. The shifter handle is on my leg and i can't press the accelerator without hitting the brake pedal and I won't even get on the steering. With this all said how much room is there with a stock setup ? I was pretty sure we were going back to the c-4 but now I am just curious. Any help is appreciated

 

Yeah that sounds really unsafe! With the T5 trans in mine there is plenty of room, none of the problems you stated. Its a real mission to clean up messes made by other people who have no clue what they are doing. Better chunk all that stuff and start over.

 

Thanks for the reply. What did you have to do to get a t-5 in there cause I have heard some bad things about my trans? Also do you or anyone else know if early mustang parts work like the pedal assembly and shifters.

 

my t5 shifter hits my leg in second, but it just rests against it, I will be getting a different shifter soon though

 

I have lots of room with my T5,and even with my super long old style hurst shifter handle.Use the search function to find t5 install posts there is a bunch of them.Derek.

 

I put an old Hurst stick on my T5 as well. Just bolted it to the right side of the shifter nub, no problem with hitting my leg.

 

Do you have the Ford toploader 3 speed od or the Borg Warner SROD? The toploader is a good robust piece.. but the SROD will not hold up to alot of power or abuse.

 

The tranny he has looks a lot like a toploader 4spd but it is a 3peed with the fourth gear an overdrive.
You might be able to solve the shifter handle problem with a torch by bending the shift lever to the right (towards the passenger). You can probably get the right pedal asembly to cure the other parts and then reinforce the tunnel to strengthen the tunnel area up.
That tranny has the shifter mounted further back and to the left than the Toploader does and it really doesn't belong in a Maverick or Comet. Like I said, you can make it work but you would be better off with a real Toploader four speed or a good C4.
Paul

 

thanks for the help. The trans was out of a granada. So what ever that makes it (Prob the weaker one). I looked up the shifter and it looks like the Hurst super street/shifter. The bottom of it is massive compared to any stock ones I have seen. Also by right pedal assembly you mean maverick/comet? Cause I have a mustangs unlimited catalog and they have all the parts for the pedal assembly but for mustangs. Sounds to easy but I thought I might ask about it.

 

You have the Toploader OD.
Good tranny if you use a steep gear.
Plenty strong for street use.

From your description, I think your biggest problem is the wrong pedals.
That is why your brake is too close to the gas.

Any Toploader mounts it's shifter on the left side.
The internal rail types are the ones that mount more centered.
It is possible you have the wrong shifter, or the PO spaced the shifter over to mix match linkage or something.

I would check it out before tossing the tranny/shifter.
The pedals have to go though.

Dave

 

Thanks for all the help. When I get to drop'n in the new motor I'll pull the trans and check the numbers. Well what I need is stock pedals, so if anyone has some laying around. But until then its e-bay or a c-4. Like I said thanks for all the help.

 

I have put 4 of those top loader overdrives in my car so far and have used the stock FORD shifter and it required no modifications to the tunnel and I even used my factory 3 speed shift boot as well. Just finding a GOOD 3 speed overdrive (top loader overdrive) is tough. Had my best one rebuilt and ended up with a reverse only trans. Dropped one off at a local trans shop and after 3 weeks I took it home in a box, RIP (rest in PIECES, many pieces that is). Sounds like you just need to get the right pedals for a Maverick and use a factory shifter. I know there are other options on the shifter from Hurst/Mr Gasket, just haven't used any of them.

rk