C4 neutral safety switch interchange?

416Ford

416Ford

Senior Member
Not finding this one in the searches so here goes.
I have a 77 or 78 Monarch c4 trans in my streetrod and need to put a neutral safety switch on the trans. Can I use any year since the connection will get cut and modified to match my plug? Or do I need to spend the bigger dollars to get the extra plug and reverse lights? I do not have reverse lights on my 46.
Thanks, Dave
 
Exactly why I am asking the question. I can buy a different year for $30.00 or the 78 Monarch one for $80.00.
I am cheap and want to buy the $30 one for a 68 Mustang.
I know what those 4 wires are for and which ones I need and don't need. What I do not know is... are they all the same except the plugs?
 
When I went looking for a neutral safety switch for the C4 I put in my 56 Bird, I was told that there are differences in them over the years so I bought the one that was for the year of the C4. But I needed all the wires.

I have no idea what the differences are.
 
Dave, let me check with my son. He has a C4 out of his '76 F100 but I don't know if the switch is still there. I will try & get over there this weekend & see what he's got. Will let you know.
 
I believe the only thing on the switch is the center ring rotates when it is shifted. This tells me that the slots in the shifter shaft would be the thing that would matter?
If I do a search for C4 trans on Car-Part it list anywhere from 74 - 85 but I know how easy it is to get the Hollander #'s wrong.

Thank Ron but don't go out of your way, I will buy a new one if can get by with the cheaper one.
 
I put a Lokar shifter on the c-4 in my truck and it came with a neutral saftey switch .Don't know for sure the year of my c-4 .Just sayin'
 
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Running a 93 Cadillac shifter and console in mine. No N.S. switch on that.

DSC01911.jpg
 
Nice use of a '55 Radio. Curious, what made you pick that radio. Nothing wrong with that just wondering because it is the old tube type and 6 volt.
 
I think all have the wires for back up lights unless the earlier versions when back up lights were optional did not,just find the cheapest on that will bolt to the side of the trans. I used one from a 78 F150 on my 55 but I had back up lights I needed to keep working.
 
junkyardjeff said:
I used one from a 78 F150 on my 55 but I had back up lights I needed to keep working.
Click to expand...

This is what I have been trying to find out. The only question I have is. Was it a 78 F150 transmission you used? and that is why you used that switch?

Y-Blockhead said:
Nice use of a '55 Radio. Curious, what made you pick that radio. Nothing wrong with that just wondering because it is the old tube type and 6 volt.
Click to expand...

That is the width and height that I had to work with. 46 Radio is 1/2" to wide. I found a good shape radio that did NOT work, passed on some really nice ones that did work. I use the radio to control my Ipod. Volumn control is re-wired with a potentiometer (variable rotary resistor).
 
The first trans came out of a early 70s van and the present trans came from a 73-9 truck,used the same switch on a C-4 that came out of a car in a friends 56 merc so it does not matter what the trans came out of. If you have a place for two bolts near the shifting lever that type of switch will work,I dont know what year that type of switch was first used so the early C-4s might not use that type of switch.
 
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The C-4 in '55 RanchWagon in out of a'74 Granada, the NS/BUL switch is from an earlier ('68??) core trans that I was using for mock up. I just cut the ends off the wires and added my own to connect to my wiring.

I have a LOKAR shifter but the NS switch on it didn't have provisions for BU Lights so I went with the C-4 switch.

If you don't have BU Lights then simply remove the wires you don't need (or tape them up).

Of course I don't have a picture of the OTHER side!!
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I looked in my manual to see if it had any info if any difference in NS Switches. Doesn't mention it.

Here's a procedure how to adjust it I scanned out of my manual, if you need it.

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Thanks junkyardjeff and Y-Blockhead. That is the information I was looking for on interchange.

Y-Blockhead, that engine looks great. Put it in the car where it belongs if it's not there already.

Ford in Ford the way it was meant to be.
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Getting very frustrated with this one. Received the switch today and tried to install it. Not happening. All the photos I have seen show the switch on top and shifter on the bottom.
Mine the shifter is on top and there is not enough room to put the switch one. Tried to put it on the bottom but it will not slide on the shaft.
Any thought? I did see a part number on the shifter of D5OA## I believe this tells me its a 75 trans but thats all I get out of it. It I could see the case number I would get it but this is a tight fit.
Photos.
 

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The difference may be whether the trans came out of a floor shift car or column shift car. The shift arm coming out of the trans is different, and if I remember correctly, the floor shift cars had the shift arm pointing up while the column shift cars had it pointing down.

I put a C4 in my 56 Bird, and I was told to get a floor shift trans so the shift arm was positioned correctly - and it was because the particular trans I got has both a lower arm and a upper arm..

This was one of the reasons I previously mentioned that I thought the switches were different.

With the D5 number, its probably a 75 or later.



416Ford said:
Getting very frustrated with this one. Received the switch today and tried to install it. Not happening. All the photos I have seen show the switch on top and shifter on the bottom.
Mine the shifter is on top and there is not enough room to put the switch one. Tried to put it on the bottom but it will not slide on the shaft.
Any thought? I did see a part number on the shifter of D5OA## I believe this tells me its a 75 trans but thats all I get out of it. It I could see the case number I would get it but this is a tight fit.
Photos.
Click to expand...
 
It appears to me that your shift arm was rotated (done internally) at some point to accommodate your shift cable. The arm you have should be pointing down. There is another shift arm that is flatter and jogs toward the trans that is used to point up and fits behind the NSS, similar to the one in the drawing I posted above showing how to adjust the NNS.

The shift arm can be changed with the trans in the car by dropping the pan and valve body in order to slide the shaft out (I'm over simplifying of course).
 
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