Vintage Thunderbird Club International

... 3. completely removing the welded-on middle bump stop bracket from the frame

#3 is necessary if the brackets are mounted at 45° as the info from Gene Nelson suggests. I actually calculated 50° might be necessary. It can be avoided if the bar is positioned at only a 25° angle or less, but then ...

... posts below:

https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=21566

Post #6 contains some additional tips and instructions from Gene Nelson. There it clearly states:
BarNote.png

Which is precisely what I found out by trial-and-error. However, the article does not mention how ...

... do not want to over-tighten. You do not want to collapse the frame sides.

From my view the tricky part will be aligning those 2 holes. Based on Gene Nelson's document he used the "drill through from one side" technique. That will work if you can keep the bit perpendicular to the frame in 2 planes ...

... do not want to over-tighten. You do not want to collapse the frame sides.

From my view the tricky part will be aligning those 2 holes. Based on Gene Nelson's document he used the "drill through from one side" technique. That will work if you can keep the bit perpendicular to the frame in 2 planes ...

My “best guess” is that there is a long bolt that goes through both walls of the enclosed frame. In the document written by Gene Nelson he notes that you need a log 3/8” drill bit to drill the hole where the bracket mounts.

Maybe I am mis-interpreting his comments. Does your hardware kit include 2 ...

My “best guess” is that there is a long bolt that goes through both walls of the enclosed frame. In the document written by Gene Nelson he notes that you need a log 3/8” drill bit to drill the hole where the bracket mounts.

Maybe I am mis-interpreting his comments. Does your hardware kit include 2 ...

... my images of the cars we owned and where I remember being with him while he worked on them go back to when I was 4 years old or even a little younger.

My hope is that I can continue for many more years.


What Rusty57 said. I inherited the Gearhead Gene from my Dad, and my son inherited it from me.

Good to know, Paul, thanks! The holes in Gene's mount are elongated, so I guess, based on what you said, that it can be moved into alignment with the existing holes in the cross-member.

When I did the conversion in my 56, I did not have to do anything with the cross-member. I had Gene's mount, and everything fell right into the exact location w/o any mods.


SW, you'll need a 67 Mustang C4 transmission mount (not part of the kit); Gene can supply it. New holes will have to be ...

I had a great conversation with Gene and he walked me through all of the details in installing his kit and making everything work in the Thunderbird frame. In fact, the kind gentleman in the big brown truck (UPS) delivered the conversion kit this morning! I am very pleased with the initial quality of ...

SW, you'll need a 67 Mustang C4 transmission mount (not part of the kit); Gene can supply it. New holes will have to be drilled in the frame cross-member to accommodate the mount. I think the 56 cross-member, like the 55, is bolt-in; the 57 cross-member is welded. You might ask Gene if it makes sense ...

UPDATE:

I had an excellent conversation with Gene Benson at Flat-O this morning. What a knowledgeable guy and fun to talk to. TONS of information and insight on accomplishing a successful C4 conversion in our cars. Really appreciate the tip and contact information for him! I have a few details to ...

... very likely). I suppose if I just have to have headers, I could always build them in-house and not worry about it.

Also, I had an excellent conversation with Gene Benson this morning! I am checking on a few details on my car this afternoon and will be ordering a C4 conversion kit from him today!

... as the Sanderson Tbird headers go, the only issue I've found is the necessity to remove the engine oil dip stick tube before installing the passenger-side header, and then reinstalling the tube after the header is installed. My 55 has manual steering and brakes.

Were you able to contact Gene Benson?

I've seen the Tbird shifter on C4, AOD, and even GM conversions. Unless I can determine how the Tbird shifter can be manually shifted in/out of low with the C4, I'll probably use a Lokar shifter. At the time I bought the Flat-O conversion kit, Gene recommended using a Mustang shifter.