Transmission change

Habusailor

Habusailor

Senior Member
If I go from automatic to 3 or 4 speed manual what is an easy fit for a newer ****** that will volt up to a 312 on my 57?


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Go over to 57fordsforever, there are a bunch of folks that have done that swap there. Don't need to be a member to look and see the pictures that some have posted.

But generally speaking you will need the bell, fly wheel etc. and early (60s & 70s) three and four speeds have the narrow bolt pattern on the bell.
 
Most of the Ford top loader full syncro 3 speeds and 4 speed trans as well that I've seen were drilled with both the narrow and wide Ford pattern. When I was in HS I had a T-10 4 speed that I installed in a '65 Falcon that was drilled with both patterns as well.
 
If you truly enjoy driving the old car, and plan to put on some miles, step up to a five speed. Yes. they cost more, and require an adaptor, well worth the cost and work when you row through the gears and run 70 at 2200 rpms.
 
The transmissions will likely be the easy part to find. The clutch & bell housing may be more work and a person will have to decide whether they want column shift or a floor shift. An electric overdrive set up was still available up into the 60s like the T85 with the R11 overdrive. This will give 4-speeds forward and 5 or 6-speeds if a person split shifts. I like the overdrives but some prefer the floor shift 4-speed for more off the line performance. Any of them should be relatively easy to find but the bell housing and clutch will take you a while.
 
Y block standard bell housing are relatively easy to find. If you don't already belong to Y-blocks forever you might join and look for it. The flywheel may be the hardest to find. Go for one with a 11 inch clutch.



I put an early top loader (single, old pattern) in my 54 behind a 312. It went fairly easy but does require some mods. Look for a falcon tailshaft as it has the shifter way up front for seat clearance. A good source for info and parts on a toploader is David Key.
 
I hear hanging that 3rd pedal in there is no fun.

I'd think it would be cool in my 57, but don't want my car torn down for a year to do it (Retired but went back to work). Every time I hire something done I need to do it over again it seems like. I'd opt for the 5-speed since my car has the factory optional taller gear in it. At 70 MPH my car is turning like 3,000 RPM.
 
The under dash work is tough and that assist spring is a fun job. Look on eBay, you can probably find a set of pedals. I almost went 5-speed on mine but would have had to do some floor work on it.
 
bobss396 said:
The under dash work is tough and that assist spring is a fun job. Look on eBay, you can probably find a set of pedals. I almost went 5-speed on mine but would have had to do some floor work on it.
Click to expand...
Don't know about the assist spring in a '57 but when I was in HS I changed my '65 Falcon from an automatic to a stick. The assist spring install took me the best 2 out of 3 falls. But I somehow was able to get it hooked up with only a minimal amount of blood shed and ample amount of 4 letter words. Fast forward 10 years or so and a mentor and boss did the same conversion on a '65 Ranchero. He stretched the spring on the bench by inserting washers between the coils. When he stretched it sufficiently he hooked it up and started removing the washers. I drove it several months later and was surprised when I pushed in the clutch and a washer dropped from under the dash.
 
You might want to change out the
Habusailor said:
If I go from automatic to 3 or 4 speed manual what is an easy fit for a newer ****** that will volt up to a 312 on my 57?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...




I did this swap (many years ago) and found it to be quite easy and straight forward. I bought a parts car and simply swapped over all the needed parts, and scrapped the remains......clutch pedal,linkage, etc. I used a floor shift rather than fiddle with the steering column, but I could have swapped that also. You might want to change out the rear gears for a bit easier driving.
 
First car I bought was a 57 Fairlane. Came with auto but said the hell with that and got a change over from a wrecking yard. They were plentiful then. Was easy swap other then getting the auto out. But hey for a 19 year old good experience. Problem then way immediately went to performance modding it. When I stuck the Hay clutch in started blowing the three speed all the time. Too much grab I guess. Anyway got reeeeel good at rebuilding three speeds. Lol Great times
 
The four speed that I installed went in an automatic car. I got all the stick parts (Z bar, pedals,linkage, etc) from a guy that went the other way. I found out that the only things you need to change as far as the pedal was adding the pedal itself and changing the bolt that holds the two pedals to the brace, so I didn't have to change the brace. The hard things to find are the standard shift plates that go around the steering column. I don't remember any particular problem with the spring, but I did this 15 years ago.


When working under the dash on this kind of job, remove the front seat
 
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