Greetings. A lot to unpack here. Short story is I don't know what to do about my transmission problem. My kids and I bought a '64 Tbird as our first family project car for almost nothing. Previous owner knows little history other than it ran fine but the trans went out on him, so he gave up. It only went in reverse by the time we bought it. Besides being a rusty car with bad weatherstripping, the engine sounded amazing, power windows, locks, wipers, lights, radio all worked, headliner is perfect, seats need work, ...so we had hope. So far we have replaced floor panels, stopped all other
rust best we could on the body, rebuilt the fuel system from tank to pump, front suspension and brakes, then we pulled the engine and trans. Turns out the engine was VERY recently rebuilt and bored to .040. Wish I knew that before I sent the heads to be redone. Then the trans came back from a reputable shop in 5 boxes. We were told there were only two salvageable
parts in it, a pump and something else. The fluid was a nice metal slurry. We were told well over $2k to rebuild, maybe $3k. So I've been hunting for a solution. It won't be a show car, it only needs to run safely. I don't know to trust another used cruisomatic online and be in the same boat, try making mods to another type of trans to get it fit, etc. The trans lingo is foreign to me right now. Then again, so was all the other stuff we've accomplished so far, so we aren't afraid. We just need help finding that starting point. 64
hardtop, 390 v8, cruiseomatic PCE AT 1. Thanks for anything, Erik
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Hi Erik, You didn’t mention a budget for the trans. There are lots of options if you are not concerned about sourcing a numbers matching trans. The cruiseomatic you have is fine but I recommend you look for a C6 which came out in 1966. Make sure it has an FE bell housing. Measure the distance between the top two bolt holes in your bell housing. It’s likely 6”. Other engines using that trans have different spacing. Anyway another option is to speak to the folks at Summit Racing. They supply an equivalent Aftermarket trans. No core needed and you get a new trans for about $1,400. They are great to work with. I am using them for my ‘67 Mustang GT. Anyway good luck. Dennis
Greetings. A lot to unpack here. Short story is I don't know what to do about my transmission problem. My kids and I bought a '64 Tbird as our first family project car for almost nothing. Previous owner knows little history other than it ran fine but the trans went out on him, so he gave up. It only went in reverse by the time we bought it. Besides being a rusty car with bad weatherstripping, the engine sounded amazing, power windows, locks, wipers, lights, radio all worked, headliner is perfect, seats need work, ...so we had hope. So far we have replaced floor panels, stopped all other
rust best we could on the body, rebuilt the fuel system from tank to pump, front suspension and brakes, then we pulled the engine and trans. Turns out the engine was VERY recently rebuilt and bored to .040. Wish I knew that before I sent the heads to be redone. Then the trans came back from a reputable shop in 5 boxes. We were told there were only two salvageable
parts in it, a pump and something else. The fluid was a nice metal slurry. We were told well over $2k to rebuild, maybe $3k. So I've been hunting for a solution. It won't be a show car, it only needs to run safely. I don't know to trust another used cruisomatic online and be in the same boat, try making mods to another type of trans to get it fit, etc. The trans lingo is foreign to me right now. Then again, so was all the other stuff we've accomplished so far, so we aren't afraid. We just need help finding that starting point. 64
hardtop, 390 v8, cruiseomatic PCE AT 1. Thanks for anything, Erik
View attachment 13144
