1954 Crestline triple duece and Fordamatic

R

rickhz

New member
Does anyone have photos of the kickdown linkage setup? I am working on a friends car and he just dropped off the manifold and carbs. Now I have to figure out how to adapt the linkage to the new manifold.
 
My experince was that the carb linkage is much easier to solve, as opposed to the TV (kickdown) linkage.

Richz, did you already start the changeover?
 
Not your question, but is the engine the intake is going on an early 54 239 and is the intake designed for that engine ? While there is an intake designed for the early 239 most tri-carb intakes I see are designed for the 55 and up engines and there can be a very serious port mismatch resulting a vacuum leaks.


I am completely unfamiliar with 54 automatic carb linkage but you may have to use the linkage from a 55-56 automatic car if the intake has the usual mounting holes on the left rear of the intake, possibly using 55/56 linkage part that attaches to the firewall . I'm only speculating as I have no experience in this type of thing.
 
paul2748 said:
Not your question, but is the engine the intake is going on an early 54 239 and is the intake designed for that engine ? While there is an intake designed for the early 239 most tri-carb intakes I see are designed for the 55 and up engines and there can be a very serious port mismatch resulting a vacuum leaks.

I am completely unfamiliar with 54 automatic carb linkage but you may have to use the linkage from a 55-56 automatic car if the intake has the usual mounting holes on the left rear of the intake, possibly using 55/56 linkage part that attaches to the firewall . I'm only speculating as I have no experience in this type of thing.
Click to expand...

Both good points. The 54 F/M (only) has to have a special tool to set the TV linkage correctly. There was a discussion here some time ago about this.
 
The early Borg Warner units were controlled by a Throttle Valve or TV linkage as was mentioned. This is not just a kick down set up. It' controls all of the transmission shifting by adjusting the system pressure in relation to the throttle position. This can be complicated to change when a person starts modifying with a different intake manifold for multiple carbs. The original bell crank and control rod system was set up to work within the normal range of operation of the Ford-O-Matic design. It would be great if the aftermarket manifold had the mounts for the TV bell crank.

Later Ford AOD transmissions use a cable to function its TV but a person has to synchronize pressures to throttle position to make it function properly on the old FOMs. It could be done with a cable but it would require a chart of pressures for different throttle positions to get it up with correct TV arm distance and cable rigging. A change over from an FOM to a C4 might be a better bet. The C4 is vacuum modulated so it could be set up a lot easier.

Other ways to go would be to ditch the FOM and look for a T85C manual gearbox with R11 overdrive since it would be a bolt on with the right stuff. Another would be to look for a 256 Mercury engine with Merc-O-Matic and a better carburetor. 292 and 312 engines could also be found if a person wants a Y-block. Those early 239 engines were not in the same category as a later 292 or 312.
 
Last edited:
In my case I thought about changing over to a 4 speed, or a 5 speed. I hate to start on another big project. My tri-power was a ton of work, and I didn't need to spend days/hours under the thing. Paying the money - sure. However, ever thing I try to hire out comes back half-a$$ed, or costs about 3 times more than it should have, and later than promised. Heck I had one guy (supposed to be a retractable specialist I found through the club magazine) asked me to come pick up my car after 10 months. It wasn't fixed, and I paid a big bill just to get my car back.
 
paul2748 said:
Not your question, but is the engine the intake is going on an early 54 239 and is the intake designed for that engine ? While there is an intake designed for the early 239 most tri-carb intakes I see are designed for the 55 and up engines and there can be a very serious port mismatch resulting a vacuum leaks.
. . .
Click to expand...
Comparison photo of early and later intake gasket sizes.
.
 

Attachments

  • 239 vs later intake gasket, port size comparison.jpg
    239 vs later intake gasket, port size comparison.jpg
    27.7 KB · Views: 12
Last edited:
Heres photos of original '55, 272 Y-block with Ford EBU carb (or Holley 2100) and Fordomatic kickdown linkage.
To adjust the linkage for proper transmission shifting, see the3 Fordomatic shop Manual
carblink1.JPG

carblink5.JPG

carblink6.JPG

carblink8.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top