Pinto Car Club of America

Hi, new here, live in Il. and have a 1929 ford model a huckster for the wife. it has a 1976 2.3l with 4 sd. and rear, tall tires 7.25x13 on rear along with the heavy woodie body = shifts into 4th gear at 50 mph and all aceleration is gone. I would not mind some performace upgrades but the boss wants an auto installed anyway.
my questions are;
will the auto trany help on gettin the rpm up into some power?
can the rear end gears be changed easily? (would like to convert to 5 bolt pattern at same time) keeping the same rear housing?
Drop spindles; which ones stayaway from?

great site, still readin and learnin. Thanks! Steve

Thanks for the info, the rear is the 6.75" but with some mods on the housing for old style suspension that i would rather not change out. going to check the ratio soon. i take it that the gears do not come out in a 'easy to change cluster'? Steve

So the power lost with the auto is due to being an auto trany and not final ratios?

The final drive in an automatic is the same as a 4spd at 1:1. Where you lose power in an auto is the torque converter, it slips constantly (unless it's a lockup unit). In your case the tall wheels on your Huckster act as an overdrive. Those hucksters are cool cars by the way. You can change the final drive in a 6.75 axle, they're just not particularly strong. For your purposes though, it ought to be plenty.