1952-59 Ford Installing the 4 speed in the 55

Has anyone installed a 4 speed top loader in there car that used to have a 3 speed? If so what did you do to make the clutch linkage and z-bar work?

 

I installed an FE engine with a top loader 4 speed in my 55 fairlane. Used all the mounts off the Y block, even the bell crank bracket at the left rear of the engine. All the clutch mechanism from the Y block should work with the 4 speed.

 

Thanks Drag***, I dont think mine will work like Your Y block did the little ball that sticks out on the side of the engine for the Z-Bar to attach to is about 1-1/2" further to the front then the 6 cyl i had in it had. I will have to get some pics up so everyone can see what I'm talking about and maybe yall can help me figure out how to rig it up so it will work

 

Get the stock YBlock parts. They should work ok. A friend put in a 410 Merc in his 56 and used the stoick parts for the clutch.

 

If you can find a Y Block bellhousing that has the two sets of trans mounting holes, the top loader will bolt right on. Had to make an access plate on the top, forward of the trans tunnel to access the two top bolts of the trans.

 

streetdreams Im not sure what trans mounting holes your talking about? My bellhousing and trans mounts to the engine fine its the clutch linkage setup that needs changed from what I can tell do you have a pic that can show me? I dont know all the names for the parts so a picture will help if you have one. Thanks for you guys help

 

The clutch linkage should not have to be changed, I'm doing a Mustang 3 spd toploader switch on my 55 Victoria and it's completely seperate, just the ****** mount and driveshaft need to be addressed. Mine was Fordomatic, I picked up the linkage, bell, z bar and all mounts from a 55 junker, bolted it in and everything is good. Gary

 

White is correct. If you have all the Y Block manual trans stuff for the car and installed, Z bar, rods, pedals, bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, etc, the Ford trans you install doesn't really matter. An older Ford top loader will have two sets of holes for mounting to the bellhousing, one set for the early bolt pattern transmissions, and one set for the later pattern. As long as your clutch disc is splined for your trans input shaft, you should be good.

 

Heres a pic of the ball Im talking about...See how theres not much room between the Ball and the Forked Arm that Engages the Throwout bearing?

 

Something isn't looking right. Your "Z" bar, the part that has two arms on it, one to your clutch pedal rod, the other to the rod going to your clutch fork, is it the correct part for your car. I 've got to look in a manual and refresh my memory as to how the clutch linkage is on a '55 / '56.

 

Something looks missmatched, tomorrow morning when the beer wears off I'm going under Vickey and check it out, Gary

 

Clear head now, I'm not sure whats gonna be your set-up for a non-y-block set-up, I was ***uming you had a Y in it, but someone in here must have 289/302

 

Yeah the Z-BAR in the pic is the one that came on the car, I cant figure out how to remove it it looks as though it was welded on from the factory and the One that came with the engine and ******(that came from a 65 Falcon) doesnt fit in there either. I think I'm going to have to make one using parts from both and do some welding and fabricating. My problem is I have no welder.. LoL This swap has fought me from day one but I am persistent and WILL get that ****er in there. Luckily it looks as though the throttle setup from the old engine is going to work on this one.

 

The z-bar should bolt on behind the steering box on top the frame, its sock cucker to get at, but it can be done

 

You should be able to remove the Z bar by unbolting it through the drivers side inner fender.

 

I pulled the Bolt out that goes through the Braket from the Inner fender but it doesnt let the Z-Bar come out and the two bolts that hold the bracket to the frame is like you said whitenred55 LoL and I cant get a wrench to them. I think I'm going to try and make a sleeve that will hold the ball that is on the engine and the ball from the old z-bar together then make a piece of metal that will bend over enough to reach the fork. Another problem is this is all directly in front of the header 88400 that i bought. The header works great getting around the steering box but is right in the way of the linkage and Z-BAR. Has anyone ran two different type headers on there car one type on p*** side and another on the Drivers? Would this cause a problem with the engine?

 

I wouldn't run 2 different tyle headers unless its an absolute necessity. As far as the sleeve, theres lots of pressure exerted on the system, between the z-bar, return spring and throwout arm, theres gotta be some other way. And, the bolts can be reached on the z-bar mount, just not lotsa fun, harder to get in than to take out. If not maybe some C4.....and I don't mean the ****** type. Gary

 

What about if you used the Y-block eqaulizer ('z') bar and this SBF bellhousing pivot from a Mustang:



The Y-block bar is like a tube, and this pivot looks like it may move the two pivots closer to being in line with each other?

 

Take the knob off of the block, if you have the original Y-block block mount for the female end of the z-bar ***y., see if you can't fab something out of that, IMHO two knobs isn't the way to go. Gary

 

Thanks for the pic I will look to see if that would work on mine, whitenred- I dont have the side for the zbar that connects to the frame from the Falcon Only the Ball on the engine and the zbar. One problem is that I can connect the zbar from the Falcon to the ball on the engine but the zbar wont connect to the frame to hold that end If I could get that to fit I could just bend a Bar to reach down to the Fork I think it would work not sure. I just cant think of a way to make a bracket to connect to the frame and Z-Bar and still hook to the clutch pedal. Thanks for you guys help I appreciate the ideas yall are giving me

 

I think the best thing you could do is convert to a hydraulic clutch like late model Fords have,that would simplify things a bunch.Todd (aka ctfortner) may have some pics of his setup he can share with you,drop him a pm.That should also resolve your clearance problem with the header.

 

I know now why it didn't look right to me yesterday. Looked in the manual to verify. The Y Block uses a type of cup recieiver/pivot on the block side of the equalizer bar. That is why your equalizer bar has a ball on the engine side. The cup type receiver takes a bushing in it, the aftermarket replacements are two pieces. Looks like you have to adapt and fab the y Block part to your engine. A '55 or '56 Ford manual has a nice expanded diagram of the whole ***embly.

 

Streetdreams is right, thats what I'm saying, find the block mount for a 55 56 Ford, hook it to the z-bar and work from there and then try to fab a connection to your motor. For pedal alignment and dynamics, to me this is the way to go. Gary

 

I decided to just go with a Hydraulic clutch set up due to the lack of clearance from the Header on the Drivers side and not being able to get a z-bar that will work. It doesnt look like it will be a problem except for making a bracket to hole the slave cylinder. I am going to have to use a Pull type Slave instead of a push type because of the header also but once its done hopefully it will work well. I ordered all the parts the other night and when they come in I will take pics as I do it and make a thread on it in case someone else decides to do it later on down the road.

 

You could also hang a pedal ***y from a Fox Mustang in your car and use the cable to actuate the clutch.....

 

yeah If the Hydraulic set up doesnt work I will try that one next. Hopefully this works though

 

When we installed a 302/5speed combination, we used repo K code mustang exhaust manifolds, and a hydraulic clutch setup. Installation was very straight forward. We also figured the K code manifolds were money well spent, very saleable.

 

Should also mention we used a offset master cylinder pushrod.

 

These are the parts Im going with from Speedway