Opinions on transmission for 1953 F-100
01-10-2014, 01:19 PM
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Opinions on transmission for 1953 F-100
First time post. 
I'm building a custom 1953 F-100 truck and would like some opinions and thoughts on what to use for the transmission for it. I want to caveat that I'm not a mechanic, and I'm learning all of this as I go.
Here's what I'm planning to use it for and some of the information on my current plans.
I'm planning to primarily use it as a daily driver but want to have it set up to run autocross (yes I know this is a truck) in the future. I want to be able to still use it for hauling stuff around occasionally, but nothing extremely heavy. At most towing a motorcycle or loading the bed up with mulch. For autocross or road course thoughts, I don't plan to set the truck up for it yet, but want to build with the ability to get to that level as some point in the future. I don't want to build it in a way that requires me to start from scratch later when I am ready to go all in.
I have ordered a new performance, complete chassis from TCI Performance that will provide a full IFS up front and a four-link solid axle 9" rear with a TSD limited slip diff and 3.50 gears.
While I know some may think it's sacrilege to put a Chevy motor in it, I have built a 350 small block performance motor that was intended for something else and now isn't needed. So, that's going in, both from a cost and maintenance perspective. It will have a MSD electronic fuel injection setup and full electronic ignition controlled by the MSD ECU. This should give it some reliability and low maintenance.
What I need to figure out now is what transmission to bolt up to the engine. I think I'm going to end up going with an automatic to avoid the complexity of adding a clutch pedal and cutting up the floor to put in the shifter. With the research I've done so far, it looks like a 700R4 or 4L60 would be my primary options. I understand there are 4L60E/4L70E/4L80E, but those would require a separate ECU to control them since they are electronic and would be a bit expensive to purchase and configure. I need to keep the cost down to a reasonable level since most of the budget got sunk into the chassis and suspension.
With all of that said, what are my options and what would be some pros/cons be between the different choices?
I'm building a custom 1953 F-100 truck and would like some opinions and thoughts on what to use for the transmission for it. I want to caveat that I'm not a mechanic, and I'm learning all of this as I go.Here's what I'm planning to use it for and some of the information on my current plans.
I'm planning to primarily use it as a daily driver but want to have it set up to run autocross (yes I know this is a truck) in the future. I want to be able to still use it for hauling stuff around occasionally, but nothing extremely heavy. At most towing a motorcycle or loading the bed up with mulch. For autocross or road course thoughts, I don't plan to set the truck up for it yet, but want to build with the ability to get to that level as some point in the future. I don't want to build it in a way that requires me to start from scratch later when I am ready to go all in.
I have ordered a new performance, complete chassis from TCI Performance that will provide a full IFS up front and a four-link solid axle 9" rear with a TSD limited slip diff and 3.50 gears.
While I know some may think it's sacrilege to put a Chevy motor in it, I have built a 350 small block performance motor that was intended for something else and now isn't needed. So, that's going in, both from a cost and maintenance perspective. It will have a MSD electronic fuel injection setup and full electronic ignition controlled by the MSD ECU. This should give it some reliability and low maintenance.
What I need to figure out now is what transmission to bolt up to the engine. I think I'm going to end up going with an automatic to avoid the complexity of adding a clutch pedal and cutting up the floor to put in the shifter. With the research I've done so far, it looks like a 700R4 or 4L60 would be my primary options. I understand there are 4L60E/4L70E/4L80E, but those would require a separate ECU to control them since they are electronic and would be a bit expensive to purchase and configure. I need to keep the cost down to a reasonable level since most of the budget got sunk into the chassis and suspension.
With all of that said, what are my options and what would be some pros/cons be between the different choices?
