The original transmission in the Mustang was the 2.77 3-speed with an unsynchronized first gear. It’s held up so far, but the general consensus seems to be that it’s a weak transmission. Since I’m hopefully going to have a little more power than stock, I figured I’d be on the safe side and go ahead and upgrade it.

The engine that the shop is working on has a ‘66 block, so I can use the later 67+ bellhousing, and the 3.03 Toploader 3-speed will bolt directly to that.

I found a guy selling a 67 engine and trans combo on Craigslist pretty cheap, so I got that. Turns out the block is another 66, not that it really matters. The engine has a knock, so I’ll probably keep it around as a spare and build it later on or something. The head was rebuilt 3000 miles ago, so that’ll be a little more useful. And hey… it has a chrome valve cover! I may have to put that on my good engine and see how it looks in the car…

I also got the old 2.77 trans pulled out. Not too difficult with no engine in the car.