200-R4 Transmission, more stuff, rebuild, learning curves!

In the quest to improve both the performance and fuel economy of his 1932 Ford, a friend Reg and his son Jay have asked me to help them build up a 200-R4 overdrive automatic transmission. Currently the car is running a Turbo 350 unit with a 2.73 final drive. The car is used for a lot of touring, weighs maybe 3000 lbs at the most. With the addition of the 200-R4, a Ford 9-inch Traction Lock with a 3.55 ratio will be fitted. The steeper 1st gear of the new transmission will give a nice kick off the line with this gear, and the .68 overdrive will give a long-legged 2.41 on the open road. Not much of a drop, but the car will still be revving less, so economy will improve, the lock-up torque converter in the 200-R4 alone worth a mile per gallon extra. Reg and Jay have really dived into this project, doing a lot of hands on, and really wanting to know how these things work. I am proud of them for wanting to learn. With luck I sometimes say, there are so many factors involved in them working! With this, it brings me to my own exploits on my '72 Vista Cruiser. A weak type of washer, subsequently updated with improved parts since I put the unit together, coupled with very spirited driving in the first couple of years I had the car, led to a breaking of the low sprag. The car was still mobile believe it or not, nothing else was ruined in the transmission. The sprag was replaced with one having a torrington bearing, and a wide Kevlar 2nd gear band along with a Sonnex Super Servo was put into my unit as well. The transmission in mine is a lot more linear now, meaning it shifts crisp and quick (not hard) at light throttle but at WOT it really kicks, chirping tires. The Sonnex unit has much to do with the improved characteristics. Reg's unit was from a Monte Carlo SS/Cutlass 442, so it has a few upgraded parts already. Like anything with old cars, much is a trial and error process, always an ongoing story. Old car projects are never finished.