Is orange always low speed positive? - Yes Is Black always positive high speed - Yes

Is white always negative? - Yes, or neutral

Is Brown, what the heck is brown? - both Brown and Red are used by the timer to reverse the polarity within the motor, causing either agitation or spin depending on how the timer reverses the polarity, against neutral (white) 

And last but not least, yellow (my emphasis) - internally within the motor, the thermal overload is wired between neutral (white) and yellow, with yellow ultimately leading back to the neutral side of the 120v service into the machine

Within the attached pictures, you'll find diagrams for a later LAT series machine (my preference), as well as the 702 wiring diagram.  

Within the LAT diagram, timer contact 10 controls slow speed, with 6 being normal speed, with 2/4 acting as the motor reversing contactor against neutral. 

On the 702 diagram, contact 5 sends current to the fabric control switch, along with contacts 4/6 acting as the motor reversing contactor against neutral.

Keep in mind, on single speed helical drive machines the colors change.  Black ends up being the neutral back to the 120v service, with yellow calling spin and green agitation, with red working with white to reverse polarity within the timer.  

Ben

The timer picks speeds per machine and is variable? - depending on the model, it does.  Some lower to mid-level Maytag models will have multiple cycles built into the timer that call for different speed combinations for two speed models (normal agitation/slow spin; normal agitation/normal spin, etc.).  Otherwise, the more TOL models with a speed selector switch/button, the timer will call the speed selector switch to pick the speed that is chosen by the user, to then feed the motor the positive to the appropriate wire, rather than having the timer do this with a hard coded cam. 

Having the reversing circuity built into the timer also is a two for one - the timer can function as both an interval function timer AND the reversing contactor all in one, without having the extra expense of a separate reversing contactor.   Most MFGs used two extra cams in the timer for this purpose (when the machine required reversing for either spin or agitation), and it's brilliant.  I can only think of one US domestic washer that had a dedicated external reversing contactor, and that is the very early 50's H-axis Horton Robert recently found.     

Ben

The gap exists due to the difference in height produced by the 06 and later series base, vs the earlier 00/02 series bases, and in trying to use an 06 and later guts inside an 00/02 and earlier cabinet. No parts combination of various transmissions or tubs or tub brace is going to make up for the gap.

This machine is a combination of three machines -

• The turquoise 702 cabinet and top came from central Wisconsin as just the cabinet/top/front panel.  Strange, I know...
• The white cabinet that is seen in the "Hot Rod Maytag" clip was a combination of parts harvested from a 700 machine that was parted out for another member
• The 06 series base and trans/tub were from an early 70's A806 that was rough on the outside but in pretty good shape otherwise, as seen in the "Hot Rod Maytag" clip

The black large capacity poly agitator is actually pretty rare these days.  It came from a large capacity commercial Maytag from the 70's, which weren't common even then.

This machine will have that gap in place unless you find an 00/02 series machine and swap the base/trans/tub from the donor machine under the turquoise 702 cabinet, but you'll loose the large capacity tub.

Ben