I am days away from starting my new 383 stroker motor. Last night I was helping a guy put in a Eaton posi rearend in his late model Mustang making 540hp to the rear wheels. He has broke everything three times, so I stated talking with him about transmissions and clutches. After a few soda pops I came to the conclusion that my next project is going to be beefing up my Toploader.

On to my question. What should be done, clutch and transmission wise, to allow me to plant 450hp 470ft-lbs thru a toploader and be able to shift it at 7000 without things getting sticky?
Issues:
1. How to get the tranny to go from gear to gear with that much power without having to completely unload?
2. How not to granade the tranny with that power?
3. How to not smoke the clutch out of the car when I do a mild 3500 rpm launch?
4. How to have a little wiggle room for when and if I put a 200 shot of Nitrous on it?
5. How to not switch over to a Muncie or Tremec (I would like to stay with the toploader for numberous reasons).

Finally, who do you know that can build or rebuild my Toploader to meet these criteria? Thanks for any idea. I have done zero research on this and am just getting started thinking about it. I found some places that rebuild Toploaders that I will call today, but thought I would see what you guys know too.

 

they say the toploader is the strongest transmission from the 60s, i think you probably be pretty good with a stock one.

 

I agree, there isn't really any reason to beef up a toploader. They're just about indestructible. You could call David Kees about it, though.

 

So I will not have any sticky gear shifting at 7000 with 450hp? I thought these trannys had to spool down to sync right at those speeds.

 

The Trans-am and Nascar Fords from the 60's used stock toploaders, with only lighter gears and magnesium housings. A good shifter and a fresh toploader will handle that no problem.

 

Yeah, the Toploader even by todays standards is still one of the strongest transmissions out there. It will take more abuse than most modern 6 speeds even. Call David Kee though and get the badass rebuild kit with all the top of the line blocker rings and synchros, it's the synchro setup that makes shifting a pia at higher rpms.

 

There are two toploaders, one for small blocks and 390s, the other for the "real" big blocks. The latter is beefier with a larger input shaft and will handle anything sent its way.

 

Yes, but the big block input shaft is shorter and won't work with a standard smallblock bellhousing without a special throwout bushing. I know Glazier's sells the conversion bushing