Ok, I'll try and make this as short as possible. I was tinkering around on my 55 Tbird, adjusting valves and while I was underneath fixing an exhaust rattle, I see the cable that runs from the dash to the overdrive on the trans. Just a simple lever, operated by a cable. The cable is broken inside the car, not attached to the handle... Now this little 292 is screaming at 55 mph, so for kicks i flip the lever to the other position. Take it for a spin and immediately notice a huge difference in ratio, it's awesome! HOWEVER, I came to a stop sign and there was some clunking, then I lost the spring that keeps my pedal held up (I've only driven this car about 3 miles, so that may be completely coincidental) the clutch still works fine, but the pedals dropped. With the lever flipped to this position, I notice some clunking every so often while letting out the clutch, and there is no engine breaking while OD is engaged...I plan to get a cable and get the T handle in the car working properly... My question is, how do I use this overdrive deal...am I going to hurt anything just leaving it in OD while driving normally around town? Can I hurt anything? Can I engage OD while driving? Say I hit the highway from town, while I'm in 3rd can I just engage it? Or do I have to stop and engage, then run through the gears. Thanks so much for any info and sorry for my ignorance, this is new and strange to me. I'm quite mechanically inclined, but I've never had a car with an OD like this, and I'm waaaaaaaay to young to remember when this stuff came out Thanks a ton guys.
I had a '52 Studebaker with overdrive. I recall it operating so: after getting to speed wanted, say 30 mph, pull the cable , let of gas and tap [release ] the clutch at the same time and it was in overdrive. That is how I remember it. Ben
you have the owner's manual for the car, don't you? they don't cost much, and have the instructions for how to operate it. But you already mostly figured it out. The cable gets pushed in for "highway driving", and pulled out for "city driving". It will free wheel when the cable is in, and you're going too slow to engage the OD. There is a governor that turns on around 30 mph, then when you let off the gas for a moment it should shift into OD. You won't hurt anything leaving it in OD mode in city driving, but it might be easier to drive if you take it out of OD. You can shift it in or out at any time. Also there's a kickdown switch that will pop it out of overdrive (electrically) when you floor the gas pedal.
Just a FYI, there's a vendor on that auction site we all know and love, that's selling "Ford" overdrive cables, cheap. Usually, they're quite a bit over the price he's asking, and USED! And, they're metal/chromed, and not rusted/plastic. Item number 111954793156 if you're interested. I bought one for a future project. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_m...le-***embly-1949-59-ford-1949-58-mercury.html is where you buy it from the same company, but not on ebay.
Thanks for the helpful swift replys! So that clunk I hear (other was an audible "clunk", but not an oh my god the world's coming to an end clunk") is probly that solenoid you mentioned squirrel. No I don't have an owners manual. Came with 30 years of reciepts, boxes and boxes of new on box parts, but no owners manual :/ I didn't realize that the OD would alter the ratio of all gears including reverse. I though it was only to be used in 3rd gear for the highway. I need to figure out how this OD all works. I'm glad I figured this out tho, I was gonna start looking for a 302 and a T-5 to swap in but with OD on this little 292 can cruise! So it will stay firmly in the frame rails for now. Car seems much more friendly to drive with OD engaged...not sure why I'm so excited about this haha car is still pretty new to me, so it'll be a while before the novelty wears off haha!! And thanks for a line on the cable! I'll be ordering one tomorrow!
OD won't work in reverse, there's an internal linkage that pushes it out of overdrive when you shift into reverse. And it should not engage below 30 mph, the OD unit doesn't like the torque of being in low gear.
A few more 'overdrive' details.... There's a 'governor' also on the transmission, this enables/disables the OD according to speed. With the cable pushed in (OD enabled mechanically), once you reach about 27 mph the governor electrically enables the OD and releasing the throttle to coast above this speed will cause the trans to shift into OD. When slowing in coast mode, once you go below about 22 mph it will shift out of OD. Running it with the OD mechanically enabled is no problem; the trans will shift automatically in/out of OD when coasting. If your 'kickdown' is operating correctly, flooring the gas should cause the motor to 'hesitate' then shift out of OD for p***ing or hill climbing. This hesitation is normal and required; what's happening is the circuit momentarily shorts the ignition ('unloading' the transmission) and once the shift is completed, it restores the ignition circuit. Great trans for fuel economy, but they don't suffer abuse well; avoid speed-shifting, and change the gear oil in both the main case and the OD case regularly. Note that there's separate fill points for each, but only one drain. I've owned multiple cars with the BW OD over the years, and I generally just left them in OD all of the time. Now as you've noticed, there's no engine braking with the cable pushed in, so there are times when the OD isn't a good idea. When parking, you either must use the park brake or shift into reverse, and going down long hills (like mountain p***es or other long grades) can cause you to run out of brakes, so keep that in mind.
When I lived in L.A., O.D. made heavy traffic a lot easier by staying in second gear. When the traffic slowed down, the trans shifted out of O.D., when the traffic picked up good, I would let off the throttle and it would shift back into second O.D., that worked great. Traffic was never fast enough for 3rd gear.
I would suggest you find an owner's manual for your car. Probably on ebay and certainly at a large swap meet. Driving a car with overdrive is always a treat for me. In fact, I seldom buy a shoebox Ford unless it has overdrive. I don't like buying Mercs without OD, but will. The electric portion of the system is a bit complex, but not a huge deal. There are guides to diagnosing issues that are very helpful. Your car will be happy with a functional OD system. You will be too
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