'56 T-Bird Automatic Trans

Are they unique to the Bird or will one from a sedan fit?

 

Should just be a Ford-O-Matic, same as a sedan.

 

I believe they are the same, except for the shifter and possibly the kickdown linkage.

The housing, mount, and bell housing should be no different.

 

First let's put my comments in perspective. I sold my bird 40 years ago and it was a '57. Having said that, there a couple of things you might check. Some of the Fordomatics were air cooled and some were liquid cooled. The tail shaft might be shorter since they had to squeeze things tight in the birds. You might post your question on http://www.tbirdforum.com/forums/

Charlie Stephens<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

'55 is aircooled. '56 is liquid cooled. Although the liquid (oil) is cooled by air.

 

The answers to your questions are, yes and yes.
The correct transmission for a little Thunderbird is a medium case Fordomatic, with the output shaft and housing from a small case Fordomatic adapted to fit. All three years were built this way.
Air cooled gave way to water cooled during the 1956 model year, so either could be correct for that year.
A small case Fordomatic from a full size car will fit. The mounting pad on the tailshaft will be about an inch short of fully resting on the mount, but the mount holes can be stretched that much. You will also have to change the forward facing selector arm for one that points straight up and down to facilitate the change from column to floor shift operation.
If you are contemplating fitting a small case trans, and don't already have one, then it would be worth your while to seek out a '58 - mid 60's Cruisomatic to gain the "first gear in drive" feature. The pre '62 versions are manually modulated and as such work with no extra modifications. The later ones are vacuum modulated, and will only need a simple line run from the manifold to the transmission to make it work.

 

How about going to a junk yard or a good old time repair shop and looking in their Hollander (sp?) Interchange Manual? Or maybe you could find one in a large library (or they could order one transferred). Have you tried calling AMCO? What about the TBird restoration shops?

Charlie Stephens

 

Why do you need a transmission, is the one in the car bad? Or are you switching out a stick or don't have a trans? If you have the stock Fordo, then just rebuild it. Parts are available and it isn't an overly complicated box to rebuild.

 

thanks for all the help. I've owned this Bird since '68. and it has gone through a lot of changes. Now I'm going back from a built 929 with a 4 speed to a nearly stock 312 with an automatic. My wife won't drive stick and she wants to enjoy this car.

 

Think about as C-4 conversion. easy in the Birds