c6 into 64

[JimmyW]

Hi guys i am new here so i suppose G'day is in order, I live in australia and have had my 64 Bird for about 2 years






This is how it currently looks after a unfortunate mishap with the bonnet coming open at hi way speed insurance covered the repairs that included a door closed respray and i had my panel guy remove all the thunderbird scripts and i removed overriders from front bumper( going for a mild custom look) future cosmetic changes include wheels (chrome stock rims) and maybe a little lowering



So the reason I'm posting is that i want to swap out the tired, erratic shifting, leaky COM for a C6, main reasons being that com parts are super hard to find here in Australia, C6 are a proven super tough box (future plans include stroking my engine to 430ci+) and i have a friend that will sell me a C6 for less than the postage from us to aus for the rebuild kit to suit com.

as far as i have read on this forum and others to do the conversion i will need to shorten tail shaft, change speedo cable to 66, convert shift and kick down linkage to cable (or find 66 ones) get 66 trans crossmember and maybe 66 body braces? has anyone here done this conversion and have pics, or measurements of what needed changing?

an help will be greatly apreciated

cheers
Jimmy

[ozbird]

Hi Jimmy,

I know of someone here in Victoria that has converted his 65' or '6 to use a C6, I can give you his details if that helps you - PM me if so? Located in Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.

I also have a C6 to put into my 62 one of these days, I have all the parts to convert, just need to rebuild the C6 and purchase a converter for it.

The parts and information that I know are:

- tailshaft will bolt right up
- have to modify the trans mount - done
- modify the brace between the 'U' area under the transmission - done
- possibly modify the exhaust a little
- shifter is managed by a cable or could use LOKAR?
- kickdown - replace with a LOKAR type cable setup

Not sure about the other bits you mentioned but if you do a search here there are some good suggestions to locate.

Nice car by the way too.

cheers Graeme

[JimmyW]

Hi Jimmy,

I know of someone here in Victoria that has converted his 65' or '6 to use a C6, I can give you his details if that helps you - PM me if so? Located in Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.

I also have a C6 to put into my 62 one of these days, I have all the parts to convert, just need to rebuild the C6 and purchase a converter for it.

The parts and information that I know are:

- tailshaft will bolt right up
- have to modify the trans mount - done
- modify the brace between the 'U' area under the transmission - done
- possibly modify the exhaust a little
- shifter is managed by a cable or could use LOKAR?
- kickdown - replace with a LOKAR type cable setup

Not sure about the other bits you mentioned but if you do a search here there are some good suggestions to locate.

Nice car by the way too.

cheers Graeme

Hi Graeme

thanks for the reply, thats positive news about the tailshaft fitting, i have done a 5 speed into eh holden in the past that i made all my own crossmember for so modifying trans mount shouldn't be too hard if you had a pic you could post here that would help alot. ill pm you about the contact details for your mate.

cheers
Jimmy

[ozbird]

Hi Jimmy,

here are some images of the cross-member and the trans mount - if you are good at cutting and welding then should be easy and don't need to source parts?







graeme

[jtschug]

When I did this swap, I had a 1966 Thunderbird parts car with a C6 so I could transfer stuff over:

* The thick metal brace which bolts to the firewall and loops under the trans (without touching it) has corners added to it to clear the C6.
* The kickdown linkage from the carb, attached to the firewall, and then connected to the lever on the trans.
* The C6 transmission tunnel cross member is shorter, and mounts a couple inches further rearward in the car (requires some adapter fabrication)
* Shifter linkage from steering column to transmission

Also I added some new parts:

* Transmission oil cooler lines (for a '66 with a C6)
* Engine mount rubber (for a '66 with a C6)
* Transmission mount rubber (for a '66 with a C6)
* Speedo Cable (for a '66 with a C6)

Recently, somebody told me that a much simpler solution to the transmission kickdown linkage can be found in newer (1970's) Ford's with a C6, so perhaps you could adapt something more simply.

The C6 was standard equipment in '66 T-birds built after December 1965. It is mostly a bolt-in part, presuming you get a passenger car C6 (not a truck) with an FE engine (360, 390, 410, 428) bellhousing. The only fabrication required is needed to get the C6 crossmember to bolt up to the COM location. Looking at these two side by side, I see that the three bolts on each side of the tunnel are a couple inches forward in T-birds with a COM -- there is no getting around it, some fabrication is required here.

I expected the driveshaft would need to be changed, but both driveshafts were exactly the same length and were interchangeable.

[JimmyW]

Small update

got my c6 today it looks to be in ok condition but will be getting a full rebuild anyway. ID tag is PGB-BC which I have decoded to be C6, 360, 390 from 1973 F250/350 — 8 tooth speedo. drive gear. hopefully the fact its from a truck is of little significance, i will be trial fitting it this week and will update with pics then.

Cheers

Jimmy

[arizman2]

WHERE ARE THE PICS?

[jtschug]

I can see the pics. Are you looking for different pics?

[stubbie]

Hi Jimmy. Did you ever get this done? If so could you post any pics you may have. Just picked up a C6 with a FE block so may look at fitting to my 64.

[mitch0537]

To be honest, I think the crossmember you made will have some leverage problems. Let me know how it works out. I went a different rout to overcome the different location of the rear transmission mount.

[Julian with a Tbird]

Hi Jimmy,

here are some images of the cross-member and the trans mount - if you are good at cutting and welding then should be easy and don't need to source parts?







graeme

I need this. But I have no clue how to do it or how to find someone to do it for me.