ford-o-matic parking pawl

**doghows** · February 15th, 2011, 08:37 AM

I have a spare fordomatic in the 61 donor car. If you talk nice to Roger I am sure we could pull it out and send it back with him if you need it for parts??? Maybe cover his ferry fee for his troubles???

**Skookum61** · March 2nd, 2011, 03:36 PM

Hi everybody,

I really do appreciate the advice. I had to take off on my trip before I had a chance to really fix the "park" issue.

The good news: It hasn't been an issue and thus far the trip has been really amazing.

The bad news: Last night the engine crapped out on me. I'm in Tucson and have a trusted mechanic of a friend down here looking into a rebuild for me, but I'm wondering if any of you might have suggestions. I already emailed the AZ chapter so we'll see what they say. Just putting it out there. Thanks.

From the Grand Canyon State,
Grant

**pbrown** · March 2nd, 2011, 07:40 PM

Hop on Craigslist and find a 200L6/C4 combo that someone pulled from an early Mustang and put it in your Falcon. If you need tranny work AND engine work then you should seriously consider the swap to newer late 60s technology.

**redfalken** · March 2nd, 2011, 10:01 PM

Bummer Grant! What specifically happened? Other than a rebuild I would say craigslist too. Maybe you could also search ebay and see if there's someone near you selling Falcon stuff. You can filter the results by "distance from" your zip code.

Hopefully this will take care of things for the rest of your trip!!

**Skookum61** · March 6th, 2011, 12:06 PM

Hey,

The saga continues. So the guy working on the car here in Tucson says that the car needs a new "flywheel"(flex plate). He showed it to me and it indeed is totalled. This would correspond with the sound and location of the rattle the car was making before it crapped out. He thinks that is the real problem and the crack he saw in the block may be superficial. Of course he can't check the block without first replacing the flex plate and starting the thing up.

I found a whole rebuilt 3-speed Cruise-o-matic transmission from a '61 T-Bird with 0 miles on it that the guy has been sitting on and will get rid of for $100. He swears it will fit my car but when I went to look at it, it looked huge (esp. the bellhousing) in comparison to the 2-speed Ford-o-matic in my Falcon. The price is right, but I don't want to spend a $100 on a transmission I can't use. That said, if it does fit I would probably save the money spent on gas with a 3-speed. I attached some photos of the Cruise-o-matic. The dimensions of it are roughly 35" long, bell housing 20.25" X 17" in diameter (the two measurements account for the flange).

Any advice would be great. Thanks a ton.
Grant

**redfalken** · March 6th, 2011, 03:04 PM

Do you know what engine it was bolted to on the T-bird? I'm guessing a 390 V8. You would need to find a bellhousing for the six. The input shaft may be different as well. I'm also guessing the mount from your current tranny won't work or will need some creative adapting. Sounds like a good deal though if you can get it to work.

Anyone know if the Cruise-o-Matic is just an earlier version of the C4??

I'll try to do some more Google searches and see what I can find. Here's some info on the C4 I put on my `68 200 block and what it took to adapt it.

http://www.redfalken.com/pages/c4.html

**pbrown** · March 6th, 2011, 03:09 PM

Find a C4. You'll be happier in the long run. The tranny in those photos is the what the C4 evolved from.

**jukeman** · May 11th, 2014, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Skookum61

Hey,

The saga continues. So the guy working on the car here in Tucson says that the car needs a new "flywheel"(flex plate). He showed it to me and it indeed is totalled. This would correspond with the sound and location of the rattle the car was making before it crapped out. He thinks that is the real problem and the crack he saw in the block may be superficial. Of course he can't check the block without first replacing the flex plate and starting the thing up.

I found a whole rebuilt 3-speed Cruise-o-matic transmission from a '61 T-Bird with 0 miles on it that the guy has been sitting on and will get rid of for $100. He swears it will fit my car but when I went to look at it, it looked huge (esp. the bellhousing) in comparison to the 2-speed Ford-o-matic in my Falcon. The price is right, but I don't want to spend a $100 on a transmission I can't use. That said, if it does fit I would probably save the money spent on gas with a 3-speed. I attached some photos of the Cruise-o-matic. The dimensions of it are roughly 35" long, bell housing 20.25" X 17" in diameter (the two measurements account for the flange).

Any advice would be great. Thanks a ton.
Grant

i would love to buy that transmission has he still have it?