I have a 63 Galaxie with the 289/C4 floor shift, manual steering and brakes. I would like to swap the 390/C6 from my 63 Thunderbird parts car into the Galaxie. I would also like to swap the PS and PB from the Tbird into the Galaxie. Does anyone know if these swaps will work and if so, what is needed? Thanks! Dave
I did a similar swap years ago, so working with fuzzy memory here- You will need a set of FE motor mounts for the Galaxie, as well as a radiator. The transmission crossmember will have to be modified and probably a new driveshaft unless one of the old ones is the correct length. New exhaust system, and modified accelerator linkage. Can't really comment on the steering, but the PB should be a simple manner of swapping everything over. @Crazy Steve to the white phone please.
The front suspension and steering on the Galaxie is completely different to the T-Bird, you might be able to use the pump but I think that’s probably it.
I'll clarify a few things first... Neither the Ford or the T-bird used the C4 or C6 transmissions as OEM. The C4 didn't come out until '64, the C6 until '66. So, if that's what you have, both cars have already been modified. If the 'bird still has the OEM trans, it'll be a Cruisomatic. Either way, there will be some monkey-motion getting the shift linkage to work. You might give some thought to swapping in a Cruisomatic steering column (the Fordomatic used behind the 289 in '63 was only a two-speed, the detents won't line up, which explains the floor shift). The floor-shift trans used a different shift lever on the trans, so there's another mod if you want to keep that. If the 'bird doesn't have a swing-away steering wheel, you may be able to swap that column in but you'll need the whole thing, steering wheel and all, as that's different from the Ford. Ford did offer the swing-away on the Galaxie, but good luck finding all the parts. You will need Galaxie motor mounts as the 'bird mounts are totally different. You may be able to use the 'bird radiator with suitable changes to the mounting, otherwise you'll need a new one. Another detail is the C4 had the back-up lights/neutral safety switch located on the trans, neither the C6 or Cruisomatic do, so you'll have some work there. These were typically located on the column linkage. The news on the power brakes is a bit better. They do share the same drums (although apparently not front hubs) so no issue there. They also appear to use the same booster, but the mounting is different. The 'bird bolts it directly to the firewall, the Ford uses an intermediate bracket/bellcrank. You can buy a complete booster with the bracketry new for about $200 from Summit making it a bolt-in. You're SOL on the power steering however. None of the linkage interchanges between them. I will recommend PS however. The added weight of the FE makes for a hard-steering car at low speeds, it'll be handful in a parking lot. I've got a '60 Ford with a FE and manual steering and I'm definitely converting to PS. I'll recommend using a Borgeson conversion box (about $700) as the OEM PS can be expensive to find/rebuild. This will allow you to re-use your existing manual linkage. Figure $1K by the time it's all in with the pump/hoses/etc. You will have to modify the steering column/shaft. If you do run across an OEM PS set-up for reasonable, remember that the '63-64 is different from the '60-62 and doesn't interchange.
Crazy Steve- thanks for the technical input. That’s alot to do for my abilities. Are 63 and 64 Galaxies interchangeable as far as motor mounts, PS, auto floor shift components, etc? Thanks!
Other than the exterior sheetmetal and some interior trim, they are basically identical. So a '64 would be a good 'donor car' for your '63.
Pretty much everything mechanical is the same for 63 and 64. I had 9 64s over the years and used a lot of 63 parts.
Thank you Crazy Steve and Bangingoldtin. New Plan! Just picked up a 66 Fairlane 2 dr hdtp in decent shape for my area. The car has no motor/trans so new Plan is to swap the good-running z code from my 63 tbird into the fairlane. Looking for the 3 pc frame mounts for FE in a Fairlane and I will need some other swap parts as well. Also need a PS box and column. Thanks!
The Galaxie heads and exhaust manifolds will not clear the shock towers in that car. Ford made a different head to use in those with exhaust manifolds to match. I don't have the head casting numbers needed. Calling @Crazy Steve again! I also had a bunch of those cars and loved that body style. Edit- That car is off topic for this site. I would suggest looking for another site for further info on it.
The heads are only part of the problem.... From '58 to '64, the FE was only installed in full-size cars (ignoring the hand-built, race-only '64 Thunderbolt Fairlane). When Ford started using it in the smaller cars and trucks, they added additional bolt holes to address various issues. They added an extra motor mount bolt on the blocks for the trucks in '65, and another for the Fairlanes in '66. One additional change is Ford altered the boss on the block where the generator attached when they switched to alternators. Same issue with the heads. '58-65, they all had 8 exhaust manifold bolts, arranged vertically, two per port. In '66, they added additional bolts arranged horizontally for the Fairlane (and soon-to-come '67 Mustang), sometime six, sometimes eight. These used different manifolds obviously. One difference is Ford only added these for the specific cars they were used in, so not all heads had them. This is why all the aftermarket heads have sixteen exhaust manifold bolts; they'll fit all cars/trucks. The upshot of all this is the later motors can be retrofitted into the earlier cars, but not the early motors into the later cars if using OEM parts. There are aftermarket solutions. I believe Crites offers some motor mounts, and if you use headers, all I've seen have both patterns on the flanges. Be warned however that FE headers for the Fairlanes/Mustangs are miserable SOBs to install and you're going to wish you had all sixteen bolt holes. BTDT... One last caution. Not all Ford '60s small/intermediate unibodies are the same. A lot of guys miss this (or ignore it) but there are three distinct body types. The six-cylinder bodies are obviously the lightest. When Ford added the small-block V8 to the Falcon/Comet in '63 (and this is also true of the Fairlanes), they added a lot of reinforcement with much thicker metal in the frame rails, crossmembers, rockers and especially the shock towers to deal with the extra weight and power. These also got torque boxes (tying the frame rails and rockers together). When they added the FE in '66, they added yet more reinforcement, primarily in the shock towers. Under rough or long-term usage, they've been known to crack around the upper control arm bolt holes, occasionally with the control arms pulling the bolts clean out. That is not good.... All is not lost however. That 289/C4 is the perfect choice for the Fairlane. All parts needed are reasonably cheap and available. If you want more zip, hunt down a 351W. It'll fit where the 289 does with some minor exhaust mods and can make big power with the right parts.
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