ford-o-matic swap questions

50mercfan

50mercfan

Member
Hello fellas, I have a 55 Customline 2 door sedan. It has the 272 with 3speed manual transmission.

I wanted to swap the transmission to a C4 ,but, the swap kits are too expensive. I found a ford-o-matic for a reasonable price out of a 55 crown vic.

What problems should i expect with the swap? will my stater work? driveshaft? crossmember location? anything else i need to know?
 
Simple bolt in after you remove the spigot bush in the end of the crank. You will need to change the column if you want to keep column shift. You'll also need to wire in a neutral start switch which from factory is bolted on the bottom of the column.
Everything will fit.
 
I don't remember all of the details but I recall that some of them were air cooled and some water cooled. If the one you are getting is water cooled you will need to modify your radiator.

Charlie Stephens
 
Rick and Charlie make good points. You might get away with a separate trans cooler, but it will need to be sized as a stand alone, not an auxiliary.

If the fordo is like the one in my old bird, the shift pattern is drive and low. Do a search if you don't know how they work as a 3 speed as opposed to normal driving as 2 speeds. Might take some searching to find an aftermarket shifter if you don't find a column. That trans was an air cooled, and it was a short lived item before they went to oil cooling in the radiator.
 
i have been doing some reading here. i'm confused. can you not put it in drive and go? there was some talk about starting in different gears. is it actually water cooled with coolant? or oil cooled like a more modern transmission? my dad had a 56 thunderbird. you could just put the car in drive and go. is the shift pattern different than what we are used too? is it a 2 speed or 3speed ? i'm planning on a floor shifter if i can find one. thanks for the responses so far.
 
I put a c4in my 55 f100.It is air cooled and I put in a seperate cooler for the ****** fluid .there are all kinds of floor shifters available.
 
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Yes, you can put it in drive and go. I had a Ford-o-matic in my 55 Crown. It was air cooled and actually has 3 speeds even though the shift quadrant just shows D and L. If put it in D, it starts off in second and then shifts to high. Put it in L and it starts in low and stays there until you move lever to D (or over-rev engine-not a good thing to do). When drag racing way back when you would start off in L (low) when got up to desired shift point, move lever to D. Car will shift to second. Move lever back to L and it locks in second. When need to shift again, move lever to D and car shifts to high. You can also have it in D and floor the gas and force car to start in Low. Shifts sooner than doing the manual trick but will use all 3 gears.
Ben
 
50mercfan said:
i have been doing some reading here. i'm confused. can you not put it in drive and go? Yes there was some talk about starting in different gears. is it actually water cooled with coolant? or oil cooled like a more modern transmission? The fluid is routed thru a cooler in the radiator. my dad had a 56 thunderbird. you could just put the car in drive and go. is the shift pattern different than what we are used too? No LDNRP is it a 2 speed or 3speed? '55 Fordo is a three speed. i'm planning on a floor shifter if i can find one. thanks for the responses so far.
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If your Fordo is a '55 it is air cooled. Is it complete with the Air cooled torque converter and bell housing? You will need the throttle kick down linkage also for it to work properly.
 
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CrownVic55 said:
Yes, you can put it in drive and go. I had a Ford-o-matic in my 55 Crown. It was air cooled and actually has 3 speeds even though the shift quadrant just shows D and L. If put it in D, it starts off in second and then shifts to high. Put it in L and it starts in low and stays there until you move lever to D (or over-rev engine-not a good thing to do). When drag racing way back when you would start off in L (low) when got up to desired shift point, move lever to D. Car will shift to second. Move lever back to L and it locks in second. When need to shift again, move lever to D and car shifts to high. You can also have it in D and floor the gas and force car to start in Low. Shifts sooner than doing the manual trick but will use all 3 gears.
Ben
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thanks ben, i understand that now. are the park, reverse, and neutral in the normal places on the selector?
 
I had a Ford-o in my 57 wagon. It started going bad so I had to do something. Rebuilding it was going to be expensive and replacing with another was risky. I was wanting something with a few more gears anyway so I looked at the C4 swap. At the time I thought it was too expensive. I'd read about swapping an FMX as being practically a bolt in. So I went that route. Needless to say in my case it didn't turn out to be a direct swap. After paying to have a custom torque convertor made, it ended up costing as much as if I had gone with the C4 and I still have a heavy, older trans. So my suggestion to you is to go with the C4. Or better yet, stick with the manual and find a 4 speed toploader and put that in.
 
If you're going to swap to modern trans, why bother with a C4? It's still a three speed unit, just like the original Ford-O-Matic except it starts out in 1st gear (unless it's a '64 version). An overdrive AOD would be more efficient and should cost about the same as a C4.
 
40 Deluxe said:
If you're going to swap to modern trans, why bother with a C4? It's still a three speed unit, just like the original Ford-O-Matic except it starts out in 1st gear (unless it's a '64 version). An overdrive AOD would be more efficient and should cost about the same as a C4.
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i would normally agree, but im not swaping to a modern transmission. the PO installed a rear axle out of a granada. the gear is high enough that it only gets to around 1600 to 1800 on the highway now. and overdrive would be too much.
 
Any 54 to 57 V8 trans will work. Late 56 and 57's were water cooled (fluid was pumped into the bottom of radiator) Not sure about 58. In 59, the Fordo went to a true two speed.

50mercfan said:
whats the year range that would bolt up to and work on my 272?
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