I've been reading a bunch of posts about various topics related to removing and installing engines in early T-birds.  I found one post where a kind gentleman asked a poster where he lived as he was willing to help if he lived nearby.  I never even thought about that possibility.  I will soon be doing an engine swap in Raleigh, NC if anyone nearby is willing to provide some assistance.

I have a 1956 Thunderbird and will be pulling the engine/tranny as a unit, separating the tranny and sending it out for some work/rebuild, moving components from the old engine to a newly remanufactured engine, marrying the repaired tranny to new engine and installing back into the car.  I have an engine stand to put the new engine on, and a borrowed cherry picker hoist to work with.  I am not a mechanic, so will be trying to follow a shop manual and researching on the internet to figure out how to do it.  I have no experience, so hints and advice will be critical.

Thanks,

Zuburg.  Unfortunately, I'm too far from you to offer help with your engine swap.  My recollection is that after purchasing your 'Bird you learned that the previous owner had installed a 239 engine and the shift linkage on the automatic transmission brought the original application of the transmission into question.

Before taking the Fordomatic to a transmission shop, I'd recommend determining what year tranny you've got.  Personally, I would not use a '54 Fordomatic.  A unit out of a '55, '56, or '57 passenger car or 'Bird would suit me for road-ability purposes.  While I would not be hung-up on originality, know that the Ford repair manual on the '55 Fordomatics is different from the one for the '56 and '57s.  While the '55-'57 transmissions will interchange for installation purposes, I don't know what the differences are internally.


NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

Thanks for your suggestion.  You are right about the 239 engine.  I really never thought that the transmission might also be a 1954 Fordomatic, but it makes sense.  I will try to have it identified when I pull it out of the car.  I haven't really driven it much due to all the other problems with it, but I didn't really perceive any linkage problems.  It seems to shift into all the gears fine, and it does go forward and backwards and shifts (although, it seems to shift slow, I let up on the gas and then it shifts into high gear when in Drive).  I haven't really been looking for a complete different transmission.  If I do, I wonder if I should look for a manual which is what originally came with the car?  Or if I don't care about originality, maybe I should consider a later, more reliable automatic conversion like a C4?

I put a C4 i my 56 Bird and am very happy with it. Rear mount used the stock C4 mount.   Make sure that it is one that came with a floor shift as the shift arm on the trans sticks up.  On mine, the shift arm went both ways. 


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I forgot to ask what is wrong with a 1954 Fordomatic in case that's what I have?  Also, would the following C4 transmission I found on Ebay work?
bEAAOSwuTxV~yGF&vxp=mtr">bEAAOSwuTxV~yGF&vxp=mtr">http://www.ebay.com/itm/TCI-511238-STREET-RODDER-70-82-FORD-C4-TRANSMISSION-289-302-351W-351C-/191782036894?hash=item2ca719a59e:gbEAAOSwuTxV~yGF&vxp=mtr

How difficult is it to retrofit a C4 into a 56 bird?  Can you use the old Fordomatic shifter, or do you have to use the shifter like used in 1965 Mustangs?

flat-o-matic makes a kit to couple a C-4 to a Y-Block. It includes the bell housing and flywheel which you will need if you buy that trans off of e-bay. I do not know if they make a kit specifically for the T-Bird.  you will also need a trans cooler for your car, if you do not have one in the radiator.

Another firm that has C-4 conversion parts is John Mummert in El Cajon Calif. He's in one of the links from this site..


Paul

Another couple of questions regarding removing the engine/fordomatic as a unit.  The shop manual I have says to remove the converter air duct assembly on the transmission (I have an air-cooled fordomatic).  Is that necessary?  I haven't heard that mentioned in any posts.  The book also states to remove the engine rear mount bolt, raise the the transmission, then remove the cross member that serves as the engine rear mount.  I thought I read that the 1956 Thunderbird did not have a removable cross member?  The shop manual covers regular 1956 Ford passenger cars as well, so maybe they were referring to non-Thunderbirds with that statement?

The air duct is easily damaged when taking the transmission out. It would be safer and probably easier to remove it first. I'm pretty sure the T-Bird doesn't have a removable transmission mount so I believe your book is referring to a car. I don't have a bird but I thought you had to either remove the engine and transmission togather or at least move the engine forward to get the transmission out. 

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

The birds have a very short crossmember mounted right at the X of the X member. They unbolt, but mine was so crusted up you had to scrape it to find the bolts. There was a recent post here about raising the rear of the car to get a bit more room to lower the tailshaft. Also there was a discussion of adjustable lifting plates and where to attach them. Your dealing with quite a bit of weight, and a good reach over the front in a bird, so a larger, heavy duty cherry picker is a plus. I was lucky, I could borrow one that was used to pull motors from 1 ton vans and medium duty trucks.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ