I would certainly enjoy a 5 speed in this car. Nothing is certain at this point, but I have been leaning toward an Auto.
You mention being "fast" with an AOD is hard. And again I have to say...I'm not trying to be fast with this one. But yeah...a 5 speed would be cool.
And if having an AOD built suitably for this combo truly turns out to be more expensive than buying a T5, then that will certainly be a no-brainer. I've just been assuming that it won't be that expensive to have my guy put an AOD together for it.
I've been avoiding taking this car apart because...well...it runs and I've had all these non-runners around that seemed like they needed attention.
But here lately the Wagon didn't want to start and run for me. I narrowed it down to a fuel supply issue (pump or something further back in the fuel system). So used the opportunity to back the Wagon into the barn (using a little test tank hanging from the hood) so I can start removing the Straight Six and start getting it ready for a V8.
I go through phases on projects. I get excited about one and focus a lot of attention on it for a while until I hit a stumbling block or progress on another project overshadows it. Right now...I've got some pretty high enthusiasm for the Wagon (and the 2 door Futura at the same time, actually).
I'm lovin' the roof rack. It's like they meant for me to store the hood up here for the next 6-12 months!
A particularly unflattering angle:
In for foxbody wagon v8 swap. You doing the K member swap or trimming the i6 one?
I have a couple of V8/4Cyl K-members so while the engine is out I'll swap one of those in and redo all the front suspension while I'm at it.
ClemSparks said:
I have a couple of V8/4Cyl K-members so while the engine is out I'll swap one of those in and redo all the front suspension while I'm at it.
I was too lazy to swap the k but sadly it made for shifter problems. Now I just need to convert my front brakes.
dropstep said:
ClemSparks said:
I have a couple of V8/4Cyl K-members so while the engine is out I'll swap one of those in and redo all the front suspension while I'm at it.
I was too lazy to swap the k but sadly it made for shifter problems. Now I just need to convert my front brakes.
I'm going to have to go comb through your thread again. It dawned on me the last day or two that I could just use the C4 that's in the car for now (until now I've only considered an AOD or T5). I know you went through some issues getting the right bellhousing.
ClemSparks said:
dropstep said:
ClemSparks said:
I have a couple of V8/4Cyl K-members so while the engine is out I'll swap one of those in and redo all the front suspension while I'm at it.
I was too lazy to swap the k but sadly it made for shifter problems. Now I just need to convert my front brakes.
I'm going to have to go comb through your thread again. It dawned on me the last day or two that I could just use the C4 that's in the car for now (until now I've only considered an AOD or T5). I know you went through some issues getting the right belhousing.
You need a pump bolt small bell off a case fill c4 with matching block plate, torque converter and depending on year of your engine the proper weight flex plate with 157teeth. The 164 stuff won't clear the bellhousing. My parts are all 66-70 mustang now. This is assuming your stock c4 is case fill like mine.
Thanks for that info!
That sounds like a lot of stuff from 50 year old cars to try to round up. Not saying I won't do it or be able to do it...but it makes a T5 sound appealing ;)
I know nothing of Ford Automatic Transmissions. Not sure I want to learn now. ;)
(But I totally will learn now. I'm going to research this into the ground at the expense of progress, lol)
I have (at Dad's, under the house in god-knows what corner) a '60s C4 and all the bits to bolt it to a 200ci inline. Ran when I pulled it, but I know that I ran it low on fluid once or twice in high school.
I can ask him to dig for it if you want, maybe head up and visit him sometime in the next couple weeks to pull it out?
Or are you swapping away from the 200? I've lost track
I appreciate that offer. However, I'm needing the bits to bolt a C4 to a Small Block V8 (289, 302, 5.0).
That is...I'm looking to see what bits are needed IN CASE I decide to continue to use this original C4 as opposed to my original plan of using something with overdrive.
Again, I really appreciate it.
Gotcha.
In that case, the bellhousing from the 240 or 300ci I6 is the same pattern as the SBF. The flywheel on those is 0 balanced, so you'd have to swap that out, but I believe everything else will work.
Good info, Thanks.
And [sarcasm mode] I can't figure out how anyone could be confused about my plans for two different Fairmonts [/sarcasm] ;)
If I had to do it over again based on the time and money I would put an AOD in my car. Unless you can find a deal on a complete car small block c4 it gets exspensive quick. Don't be like me and end up with a truck c4, the original c4 minus bellhousing laying in your garage with a totally different c4 in the car.
I appreciate that.
After taking my Futura a few miles down the interstate last night I'm probably going to stick with my original plan of putting an overdrive transmission of some sort in this wagon. With the C4 and 1:1 top gear it had the little 200 wrapped up pretty tight. I want to be able to do road trips in this Wagon and still have it be entertaining from a stoplight. That basically leads me to an overdrive transmission and a lower-than-stock gear ratio in the rear end (I assume it probably has 2.73:1 in it now).
Let's see which I come up with first, an AOD or a T5.
ClemSparks said:
I appreciate that.
After taking my Futura a few miles down the interstate last night I'm probably going to stick with putting an overdrive transmission of some sort in this wagon. With the C4 and 1:1 top gear it had the little 200 wrapped up pretty tight. I want to be able to do road trips in this Wagon and still have it be entertaining from a stoplight. That basically leads me to an overdrive transmission and a lower-than-stock gear ratio in the rear end (I assume it probably has 2.73:1 in it now).
Let's see which I come up with first, an AOD or a T5.
With a c4, 3.08 gears and a 27.2 inch tall rear tire I'm revving 2200ish at 60. It's not the best highway car at all. If your not in a rush I would add overdrive
Today I spent some time prepping the engine bay for a scrub-down.
I took out the Washer Fluid reservoir (which is also the cooling system reservoir), horn, cruise control, Duraspark module, voltage regulator, starter solenoid...all that stuff. I used the vintage skid loader to get the old engine out of the way.
Then I used Grandpa's old Sears 10XL garden tractor to tow it out of the barn.
The engine compartment when I started scrubbing:
After a few minutes of scrubbing:
I'm going to spend more time scrubbing on it and spraying some Phosphoric acid on the rusty spots. It was nice to see a layer or two scrub off, though!
Oh...and I should probably mention that the K-member is coming out so it's not going to get much attention from Mr. Scrub Brush.
That's a nice improvement. I like the Gunk heavy duty gel spray for engine bays, what were you using?
That was actually just generic blue dish soap diluted in water in a spray bottle (that I keep on the tire machine for bead lube and bubbly tire leak finding action).
I'll probably use SuperClean when I get back at it tomorrow. I don't expect to see much more improvement, but every little bit helps.
Purple power is my go to grease and grime remover!
dropstep said:
Purple power is my go to grease and grime remover!
Try SuperClean next time. Supposedly if you mix SuperClean 1 to 1 with water, you have the same strength as Purple Power. Granted, that's from the marketing folks...but I work for the company that makes it so...you know.
Today was a good day at the barn. I spent some time and got the K-member dropped from the Wagon.
I managed to get to the car wash with the K-member and control arms that are going into the car. These came out of the '85 GT Convertible parts car seen earlier in the thread. The SuperClean and/or the Pressure Washer took most of the red paint right off the K-member. The Control arms were just kinda rusty. Afterwards here they are after a dousing with Phosphoric Acid...letting it do its magic at the Sparks Manure and Rust Generation Facility:
ClemSparks said:
Try SuperClean next time. Supposedly if you mix SuperClean 1 to 1 with water, you have the same strength as Purple Power. Granted, that's from the marketing folks...but I work for the company that makes it so...you know.
I find Purple Power and Super Clean to be generally interchangeable in cost and effectiveness, but now I will forever choose Super Clean just for this post.
Ha! Well...I hope your results match up with what I said.
I've not used Purple Power before, personally.
I'll say that with SuperClean, I have learned not to use it full strength with bare hands. It will also etch aluminum so you need to use caution when aluminum is involved.
