Yeah, it's my understanding that the HEK-AD was used in the 66's.

 

http://www.5speeds.com/toploader.html That might have some info that helps. And as far as Toploaders being "invincible" yes and no. You put enough power/abuse through anything, it'll break. That being said, for street applications, you'd be hard pressed to have an engine, or drive hard enough often enough that'll kill a toploader. Miles kills them, synchros/blockers rings eventually wear out etc. The case was heavier than it needed to be, so there's little/no flexing, and the gears are a good quality steel that are like 60% oversize from what was considered necessary. They're very hard to break and considered to be a bulletproof tranny. They also weigh a LOT, pull one by yourself under a car with jackstands, you'll find out how "sturdy" they are!

 

http://www.4speedtoploaders.com/ Here's another one too

 

Thanks for all the info guys, it really helped.

 

Hi again.Ford did not stamp that vin on your transmission. That's a Metuchan built 'A' code car. In 66 the only transmissions that went into mustangs that got vin stamped went into 'K' codes. Since, Ford didn't vin stamp 'A' code transmissions, someone else stamped that number on there. Ford also didn't use T-10s at all in the 66 model year, except for in some of the T-5 cars heading for Germany.
To answer the question about which is the better tranny, the top loader by far. They are virtually indestructible, whereas the T-10s would blow up if you looked at them real mean.Hope that helps.

 

what about the hurst shifter...my understanding was that it isnt a 66 std item even in the shelby
I'm assuming that the one Fast65 has is not original. Any thoughts?

 

Never the less the T-10 transmissions, not one of the most desirablecompared to a top loader, was stamped and quite well done, not engraved but of the same level of quality. If not doneby the Ford factory, then it was someone that was very good. And being it was stamped on the bottom on the tailpiece extension adapter,who ever did the stamping, had to have it out of the car. It's difficult to work upside down. This is not a task that most people would think of to do never mind doing. There are too many coincidences to firmly exclude Ford.
Jim

 

Hi again.Ford didn't start putting Hurst shifters into cars until the 69 model year.The Boss 302s and Boss 429s had hurst shifters, as did some of the other performance oriented models.The Shelbys also had the Ford shifters,with the exception of the four 65 and four 66 GT-350 factory drag cars that were prepped out by Les Ritchie High Performance Motors which had hurst shifters.

 

Hi again.Ford has been firmly excluded.They did not vin stamp motors or trannys on anything except the K codes in 66. We know that the tranny has been out of the car on at least one occassion, since that isn't the vin of your car. And as far as stamping it well goes, I personally know of at least a couple of dozen people, myself included, that could easily duplicate anything that Ford did to one of these cars. And that's just right here in one town. It is not a difficult thing to do. Some of us simply choose not to falsify numbers, since that is wrong, but others are not so picky about matters of conscience, and have honed their skills to an astonishing degree. That tranny was not vin stamped by Ford. That tranny was not installed in a 66 mustang by Ford, unless it was on its way to Germany as a T-5, or possibly France. I really hate coming through the door looking argumentative, and I hope that this doesn't cause any bad feelings because it surely is not my intention to step on any toes or be 'right at any cost', but what I said about the vin stamping is just plain the truth of the matter. There is a book by a gentleman named Tony Gregory, the K code guru,about the K code mustangs that will tell you exactly what I told you, as will any number of other very credible sources.Again, I sure don't want to make you angry, and I hope that you and I can get along. I'm actually a pretty nice person, even if I am as hard-headed asmy husbandtells me.(Which I'm not, btw, he's just confused a lot.)

 

Jim
Since I have owned my stang I have met a number of people who like to,shall wesay, make "original" that which is not quite so...they have no problem pulling a gearbox or an engine or grinding off a fender number and restamping just to have a "numbers matching" car.

We have more "genuine" GT Falcons in Australia than were ever built by Ford

I wouldnt rule out that T-10 but it would be pretty unusual.