1955 Ford stationwagon

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poolplayer1

Senior Member
I was just wondering if any of you that have the 55 ford wagon like me or even just a 55 ford customline or mainline car that have the after market instrument cluster. I still have the oem cluster in mine but would like to replace it with a 12 volt cluster since mine is converted to a 12 v system. I have been looking around but so far nothing that will fit in there. I don't mind making a few modifications to make one fit as long as its not too drastic of a change. I found a nice one that has 5 gauges but they are for a 55 ford truck. I don't know how the 55 ford truck cluster looks like to see if I can maybe make it fit. If any of you have an after market cluster on your 55 ford car or know where I can get one,please let me know. PS, I was looking around the net a few minutes ago and looked at a 1955/56 Thunderbird and it looks like it uses the same cluster that mine does.So,if any of you have a 55 t-bird with an after market cluster,maybe you can tell me where you were able to get it. Thanks to all for your response.
 
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You should be able to use the 55 gauges using a Ford gauge voltage drop as used in 57 and up Fords. These are usually available at a parts store
 
You do not have to change the gauges to something else unless you want to, or they are broken.

"The fuel and temp gauges will work on 6 or 12 V and are not polarity sensitive."
"If the 6 volt gauges do not work when the 12 volt conversion is made install a 10 ohm 10 watt wire wound resistor between the gauges and the power supply to gauges. .If the gauges still do not work it may be necessary to replace the gauges and the sending units..."
(quoted from this 6v to 12v conversion page / link) https://www.ctci.org/gilsgarage/6to12.php

If your senders & gauges don't work at all they can be replaced with the 12v reproduction '55 style gauge and sender pair sets available from the various T-Bird parts supply houses.

If your car has an oem clock it is voltage & polarity sensitive and could easily fry on 12v negative ground.
The Ignition Coil is also +/- polarity sensitive.
.
 

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yes, the 55 & 56 Thunderbird cluster pods are the same as the 55 full size Ford. But as mentioned earlier the gauges are pretty much the same gauges. However. If you need to order any parts you can get them from the Thunderbird suppliers.
 
I’ve dealt with several aftermarket gauge panels on my friends OT cars, and one of my own. In all the looking around, I’ve never seen anything for the bird/pass car unit.

I’ve got a friend with very high fabricating and finishing skills, and we looked at building one. By the time you cut up the dash on the lower part, you’re into a lot of work to end up with something that kind of looks like a 57 bird dash. And you really don’t add anything but oil pressure and a voltmeter. Those are easier to do under the dash, and retain the warning lights to get your attention. So we passed on that. Near the end of a list of “someday” projects is a shorter cable to move the mechanical tach over to the clock opening.
 
I'm doing a modification on my dash. I do not plan on using the clock or the tach. I bought a couple of dual gauges to mount in the holes. I will "black out" the portion of the dash pod that has the Fuel, Water and OIL & GEN lights. My clock in the car will be in the aftermarket radio I will be installing.
 

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I'm doing a modification on my dash. I do not plan on using the clock or the tach. I bought a couple of dual gauges to mount in the holes. I will "black out" the portion of the dash pod that has the Fuel, Water and OIL & GEN lights. My clock in the car will be in the aftermarket radio I will be installing.
Fuel and Oil to the left and Water & Volts to the right. I bought some stainless steel cup holders that fit the openings perfectly and the gauges fit in nicely. I had to modify the cup holders by cutting out the bottom and then modified the gauge clamps to enable tightening them into the cup holder.
 
Ok Guys. Thanks to all for your opinions and suggestions. Guess I'll keep the oem gauges and make sure that I supply the correct voltage to them. Apreciate all the good advice,as usuall.
 
I am rebuilding the 302 engine but I also removed the C4 transmission to degrease and wash it so that I can paint it after I get it all cleaned out. My question is? Is the tailshaft spline ( don't really know its proper name),this is the part where the driveline fits into,is it suppose to have some play in it? I noticed that I can grab the spline and move it up and down some.Don't know if this is normal or maybe a bushing that is worn out. Hoping one of you guys knows about transmissions and may be able to tell me if this play is normal or not.If there is a bushing there that might be bad,I want to replace it now that I have the ****** out. Thanks for your help.
 
there will always be some play in the output shaft of a c4. but when the driveshaft is inserted into the transmission, it rides in the bushing in the extension housing. there will be very little play , unless the extension housing bushing is worn out. I would at least replace the extension housing drive shaft seal before installing the transmission.
 
My reply is in no way meant to over-ride 39deluxecp's reply to this post ... ;)

poolplayer1 said:
I am rebuilding the 302 engine but I also removed the C4 transmission to degrease and wash it so that I can paint it after I get it all cleaned out.
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The C4 came through in it's natural finish if applicable. Do you have an I.D. TAG NO. to identify the C4 model?

My question is? Is the tailshaft spline ( don't really know its proper name),this is the part where the driveline fits into,is it suppose to have some play in it?
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The driveshaft yoke (4841) slides into the trans extension housing and onto the trans output shaft. A trans extension bushing (7A011) centers the yoke and output shaft. If the trans is out, it may be a good idea to replace the bushing and most certainly the extension housing seal (7052) (well actually, the front pump seal should also be replaced if the trans is out - also check shift lever seals). A new pan filter and a thorough service.

The yoke surface has to be fairly smooth with no major wear signs.
 
I, for one, like the looks of the '55 dash. Here is a picture of the dash in my '55 Ranchwagon.


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To my knowledge, no one offers a digital replacement of the '55 car instrument cluster, but there are a variety of F100 pickup truck instrument cluster conversions available. No the truck conversion will not fit in the car dash.
I converted my '55 Ford Courier wagon to 12-volt system during the restoration process, mainly by using all '56 Ford parts (generator, starter, light bulbs, voltage regulator, etc.) For the instruments, I was able to find a '56 station wagon fuel sending unit and matching '56 fuel guage. For the temperature, I was forced to settle with a '57 and later temp sending unit because the engine I elected to use was a 1958 Ford 223 I-block 6-cyl (which has the smaller pipe thread in the head for the sender). I matched it with a '57 Ford temperature guage. I removed both faceplates and needles from the '56 and '57 gauges and put '55 fuel and temp faceplates and needles on them. For the '57 temperature guage, I added the constant voltage regulator ahead of the incoming power circuit so that it would operate like the system originally did in the '57 model year. The temperature works fairly accurate. The fuel seems to need quite a bit of adjustment at the guage, since adding two gallons of gas from empty moves the needle to 3/4 full. But that is another matter. For the oil and generator idiot lights, all I needed was the 12-volt bulbs.
I sent my original electric clock to an instrument repair company for a 12-volt negative ground quartz conversion.
Some places offer an am/fm conversion that fits in the '55 dash but I don't think it is worth the money. I bought a cheap $17.00 am/fm/cassette car stereo new at the time when I was close to finishing the project. I installed the radio in the face of the cargo area divider behind the front seat. Obviously you can't change stations when your on the road, because you can't reach it. But, I couldn't put it under the dash because all that room was taken up by a homemade auxillary dash extension that I have installed controls for my 12-volt power antennae, rear window defroster, 12-volt electric windshield washer and map light.
 
Thanks guys for all your good advice and help. I have a friend here in town that has a brother in phoenix that works for a transmission repair shop.I talked to him this morning and he said it would be a good idea to do a Re-Seal job on this C4. He also mentioned the extension housing bushing. He said he could do it all later this week.
He gave me a really good price so I told him to go ahead and do it. I am pretty sure I could of replaced the tailshaft seal and the o ring seal in the gear shifter but not the bushing so I'll just let the pro guy do it. Y-Blockhead,yes I have the same dash as you have other than the dash in my wagon is a light blue.Once I get it all done,I will take a pix of the wagon and posted here.
 
poolplayer1 said:
Y-Blockhead,yes I have the same dash as you have other than the dash in my wagon is a light blue.
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Well, not exactly. Y-Blockhead had a T-bird instrument cluster in his wagon. Notice the speedo goes up to 150 mph. The full size cars all had a 120 mph speedo. Other than the different color, yes, they are identical.
 
Hey Y-Blockhead, did you notice that somebody painted your "H" on the back of the speedo lens for your temperature guage ORANGE instead of white (like the other letters and numbers on the lens)? I'd really get after them for playing that trick on you!
 
Daves55Sedan said:
Well, not exactly. Y-Blockhead had a T-bird instrument cluster in his wagon. Notice the speedo goes up to 150 mph. The full size cars all had a 120 mph speedo. Other than the different color, yes, they are identical.
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Daves55Sedan said:
Hey Y-Blockhead, did you notice that somebody painted your "H" on the back of the speedo lens for your temperature guage ORANGE instead of white (like the other letters and numbers on the lens)? I'd really get after them for playing that trick on you!
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Haha, Good eye Dave. You caught both of my little "modifications"...

You mentioned remote radios. I use the stock radio's on/off switch only to turn on a receiver under the seat and a Blue Tooth device to play music of off my iPhone.
 
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Yes, u are correct Daves55sedan that the speedos are different.Mine only registers to 120mph where his is 150mph.Does that mean that his car is faster than mine? ha,ha.
 
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