Modding a 1965 Landau

[mitch0537]

Last fall I decided to put aluminum heads and an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 multiport sequential fuel injection on my 390 in a '65 Landau. When I pulled the heads the cylinders looked bad so I pulled the 390 and am doing what I always dreamed of for this car. I bought an Eagle 431 stroker kit, Crane .533 lift, HV oil pump, Edelbrock aluminum heads with 2.09 intake valves, aluminum water pump and radiator, all ARP bolts, windage tray, electronic ignition. I already had the Sanderson headers with 2 3/4 exhaust. I'm replacing the Cruise-O with a C6 because I don't think the Cruise-O could handle it. The C6 has a shift kit, racing clutches, CK performance 4 pinion planetary with a lower first and second, it also has torrington bearings instead of thrust washers and bearings on the park pawl. Both of which reduce internal drag of the C6. I have the transmission ready. The motor is ready with some problems I had with rod to cam clearance issues but not they're resolved and ready. the problem I'm dealing with now is that even though the COM and the C6 are the same lengths, the mount is 2 1/2 inches aft of the COM. The supports where the rear crossmember mounts in the tunnel are different, the COM is 2 1/2 inches forward of a 66 with a C6. I've seen where people have modified the crossmember but that seems it will create stress where it bolts onto the tunnel. I've thought about putting in a steel 2 inch L bracket on each side of the tunnel using the existing reinforcement and the other end bolted on the tunnel after I reinforce that spot. Then I could bolt the crossmember to the L bracket. Any thoughts?

[Privateer]

Sounds like a cool project. Would be great to see some pics of what you've done and are putting together.
I found this thread which goes into installing a C6 into a 64. I didn't realize there was such a difference in the fitting of the two different transmissions.

https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/ ... 25&t=14000

[mitch0537]

I saw that and most of it looks good. The part I don't like is that he extended the whole mount back so when the transmission rests on it, it creates a downward twisting on the mount.

[stubbie]

Use the com bracket and modify were and how it attaches to the C6 might be easier.

[mitch0537]

I looked at that option this morning. I don't know how I could do that. The pan is immediately forward of the mount. I pulled the seats to put reinforcements in the tunnel wow they're heavy. Going with the current plan of putting my bird on a diet, I'm looking at putting seats from an '02 to '05 bird. has anyone done anything like this?

[sseebart]

Don't know if anyone has swapped out seats like that, but it should be pretty simple.

Others have tried reducing weight, but with the unibody construction, there are not a lot of options: https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/ ... =25&t=7209

~Steve

[mitch0537]

Wow, that link looked like an unrealistic goal, 3300 pounds for a bird? My goal is to get it down to about 4000 pounds. So far aluminum heads, aluminum intake, aluminum water pump and radiator, replace the Tecumseh compressor with an R-134A upgrade, replace the condenser to the lightweight one from a '66. I want to replace the seats which are very heavy with the ones out of the latest bird a 02 to 05. The expected horsepower from the engine mod is expected to be about 525HP. If I can get the weight to 4000 lbs that would give me a power to weight ratio of about 7.6:1. That's what I'm shooting for.

[stubbie]

Front bumper brackets way a ton. You could maybe make up some aluminum ones.

[gravelman]

Last fall I decided to put aluminum heads and an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 multiport sequential fuel injection on my 390 in a '65 Landau. When I pulled the heads the cylinders looked bad so I pulled the 390 and am doing what I always dreamed of for this car. I bought an Eagle 431 stroker kit, Crane .533 lift, HV oil pump, Edelbrock aluminum heads with 2.09 intake valves, aluminum water pump and radiator, all ARP bolts, windage tray, electronic ignition. I already had the Sanderson headers with 2 3/4 exhaust. I'm replacing the Cruise-O with a C6 because I don't think the Cruise-O could handle it. The C6 has a shift kit, racing clutches, CK performance 4 pinion planetary with a lower first and second, it also has torrington bearings instead of thrust washers and bearings on the park pawl. Both of which reduce internal drag of the C6. I have the transmission ready. The motor is ready with some problems I had with rod to cam clearance issues but not they're resolved and ready. the problem I'm dealing with now is that even though the COM and the C6 are the same lengths, the mount is 2 1/2 inches aft of the COM. The supports where the rear crossmember mounts in the tunnel are different, the COM is 2 1/2 inches forward of a 66 with a C6. I've seen where people have modified the crossmember but that seems it will create stress where it bolts onto the tunnel. I've thought about putting in a steel 2 inch L bracket on each side of the tunnel using the existing reinforcement and the other end bolted on the tunnel after I reinforce that spot. Then I could bolt the crossmember to the L bracket. Any thoughts?

Hmmm, with a name like Mitch and a hot rod T-Bird you must be alright... I have a C6 in my '65' Landau, right now it's out of the car, but I'll be under there PDQ and see if I can shed any light on your question I'll report back. Have you thought about a different torque converter with a higher stall. I just replaced mine with a 2,500 stall that I got from Phoenix Transmission in Weatherford, Texas. If you tell Greg what you're running he will tell you the correct stall for your engine. They are well thought of by the racing community. If you want more info, sent me a PM...

What do you figure your HP is...

Mitch

[stubbie]

I haven't really looked but is it possible to do away with the clutch fan and move the engine forward that 2.5 inches and use thinner electric fans? Or would that put to much weight over the front end? Mitch I like that serpentine pulley set up looks good.

[gravelman]

Last fall I decided to put aluminum heads and an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 multiport sequential fuel injection on my 390 in a '65 Landau. When I pulled the heads the cylinders looked bad so I pulled the 390 and am doing what I always dreamed of for this car. I bought an Eagle 431 stroker kit, Crane .533 lift, HV oil pump, Edelbrock aluminum heads with 2.09 intake valves, aluminum water pump and radiator, all ARP bolts, windage tray, electronic ignition. I already had the Sanderson headers with 2 3/4 exhaust. I'm replacing the Cruise-O with a C6 because I don't think the Cruise-O could handle it. The C6 has a shift kit, racing clutches, CK performance 4 pinion planetary with a lower first and second, it also has torrington bearings instead of thrust washers and bearings on the park pawl. Both of which reduce internal drag of the C6. I have the transmission ready. The motor is ready with some problems I had with rod to cam clearance issues but not they're resolved and ready. the problem I'm dealing with now is that even though the COM and the C6 are the same lengths, the mount is 2 1/2 inches aft of the COM. The supports where the rear crossmember mounts in the tunnel are different, the COM is 2 1/2 inches forward of a 66 with a C6. I've seen where people have modified the crossmember but that seems it will create stress where it bolts onto the tunnel. I've thought about putting in a steel 2 inch L bracket on each side of the tunnel using the existing reinforcement and the other end bolted on the tunnel after I reinforce that spot. Then I could bolt the crossmember to the L bracket. Any thoughts?

Mitch, Here's some pics, I didn't do the trans mod, the car came to me with the C6. If I had a worry it would be the 'L' brackets on either side of the tunnel. The angle iron bracket are 1/4" thick, plenty stout. It doesn't appear that the 'L' brackets are through bolted, I'm not sure how the bolt is attached... Are the 'L' brackets the factory mount for the C4 trans?

[mitch0537]

After careful thought I wanted a bracket to be straight across and not an extension of the cross member which will cause some twisting with the leverage of the extension. So the only option was to move the cross member mounts 2 1/2 inches back. I got a piece of 3/16 in. steel 9 inches long and put a 10 degree bend on the rear side of it to match the tunnel. I welded the cross member mounts to it, match drilled the hols in the tunnel reinforcement and two in the aft to bolt through the tunnel. I riveted some 22 gauge steel on the inside and on the outside to reinforce where I wanted to bolt through the tunnel. Then I bolted everything in place and it is very solid. Put the cross member in and it lined up perfect. Will be mounting the engine and C-6 very soon.