Toploader Inspection
Kevin,
What you want to look for with the toploader is the wear on the gear syncho teeth, not the brass synchro rings themselves, as they are relatively cheap, <$10 apiece. Here are 3 examples from left to right of gear teeth condition - 'good, 'used' and 'worn'. Notice the ends of the teeth initially look like a dog house. The tips get worn down with normal use. Sometimes the these teeth are worn completely flat and even chipped. At that point the gears no longer mesh smoothly when shifting and grinding will occur. This usually happens when going from first to second, especially when speed shifting, consequently, second gear almost always needs to be replaced, the other gears not so much. You'll find the same wear pattern with the brass synchro rings.
You will love the wide ratio setup. I go one step further and install a 2.90 first gear in place of the factory 2.78 wide ratio first gear, then I install 2.72 rearend gears in place of the 2.88s. Compared to the close ratio with 2.88s, this setup gives me a 19% improvement in first and a 6% overdrive, the best of both worlds short of 5 speed, but for 1/10 the cost of a 5 speed and not having to mess with the shifter, linkage, speedo cable, bellhousing, clutch, pressure plate, clutch arm, slave cylinder, slave bracket, output yoke, driveshaft, etc. The toploader can take anything you can throw at it and you maintain that factory look above and beneath the car.
Gary