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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself as a new member to your forum. I have a '57 312 Y-Block and Ford-O-Matic transmission that I will try to learn more about here. Cheers to all,
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By Glen Henderson - 15 Years Ago
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Welcome to the forum and ask away, lots of information here and lots of good car guys. If you don't mine, tell us where you are from and a little about yourself.
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By mctim64 - 15 Years Ago
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Welcome from California!!
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By The Master Cylinder - 15 Years Ago
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Hi Pops, I'm a NOOB here too.
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By GREENBIRD56 - 15 Years Ago
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Welcome aboard my friend!!! - I was hoping you would join up......
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks guys for the welcome. Especially Greenbird56 for pointing out this forum to me. I live in Chambersburg, PA, but work in Cleveland, OH. Once I sell a house I will relocate to the Akron, OH area. I work with tower cranes used on high rise buildings.
I have been looking for a baby bird for several months now. Looked at and considered quite a few, but I settled on and just acquired a '56 Thunderbird (with '57 drive train) which was the very best out of the 7-8 that I was considering.
It is in wonderful shape except for a couple of items. One item is the Ford O Matic up shifts hard (sometimes), but most all the time down shifts with a noticeable clunk. The trans was just rebuilt per the sellers words and I have no reason to doubt him.
Would anyone have some suggestions as to what I may do to smooth this transmission's shifting?
Thanks again for the warm welcome,
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By Oldmics - 15 Years Ago
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Hey Pops See you made it over from the VTCI Forum.  This is the place to really learn from. Enjoy-learn and take care of that T Bird. Oldmics
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By The Master Cylinder - 15 Years Ago
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If memory serves me correctly the Throttle Control Rod (Kickdown) adjustment will cause the symptoms you describe. Easy place to start anyway.
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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The Master Cylinder (11/4/2010)
If memory serves me correctly the Throttle Control Rod (Kickdown) adjustment will cause the symptoms you describe. Easy place to start anyway.Thanks Master Cylinder. I have ordered the Service Manual from Greenbirds suggestion and will dive into it once received.
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By John F - 15 Years Ago
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welcome, always great to have new people.
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By mr4speedford - 15 Years Ago
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Welcome from akron. Thats a nice looking bird.
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By jonnireb - 15 Years Ago
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Hey Pops, Great to have you aboard. You're going to love this site. These guys know their stuff . There is always something interesting cooking,and if your experience is like mine, even when you aren't asking anything, you'll still be learning stuff.
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By slumlord444 - 15 Years Ago
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Nice Bird. Always liked '56 without the continental kit. Almost bought one in '64-65. Ended up with the '57 Bird that I still have. Good group here and a lot of knowledge.
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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slumlord444 (11/4/2010)
Nice Bird. Always liked '56 without the continental kit. Almost bought one in '64-65. Ended up with the '57 Bird that I still have. Good group here and a lot of knowledge.
While looking for my bird, I was bound and determined to get one with a continental kit. This car was sold to me with the original kit un-mounted. But the more I look at this car with the front bumper custom fitted to the rear, I'm inclined to leave it "as is" and enjoy the clean look you mention. The car was missing the bumperettes and I've invested in buying a set (ouch) and do have them in a box. However, I'm torn with putting them on or just placing carriage bolts in the holes that mount them and let that clean look carry over to the front as well.
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By GREENBIRD56 - 15 Years Ago
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Is your rear bumper a "front" - or is it a rear from a '55? Either way - it really cleans things up a lot. I've got a front bumper for mine that has had the bumperette holes welded shut, contour ground to match, and then re-plated. Gets rid of the "bolt collection" you end up with if all of the bumperette holes are just filled with hardware. Keep your eyes open for a straight '55 or '56 bumper that needs a "re-plate" and that way you can save your original. Now that its over with - I kind of wish that I'd had them weld them all up and fit it with studs - so there are no external bolt heads at all.
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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I was told it was a front bumper fitted to the rear. I guess I should be able to confirm this by measuring the center to center distance between the bumperettes as I believe them to be a different spacing from front to rear.
The previous owner had to cut the rear (?) panel below the trunk lid to get the bumper to fit tight to the rear of the car. He did a great job as the panel was not just cut, but it was cut and a rolled edge was formed on it.
How 'bout some more pics or a link to more pics of your car Steve?
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By GREENBIRD56 - 15 Years Ago
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Compared to these guys on here - my project's a beater....(it had over 100,000 hard miles and was going to be more expensive to fix than it is worth)....so now it's my perpetual learning/stress relief project. 
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=2249 I like the "no bumper" nerf bar look for a hot rod roadster - so the stocker parts are now stored in the attic.
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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Steve,
Checked your car out at H.A.M.B. Looks great. Nice looking engine in it as well.
My Wife informed me that there is little to no heat from the heater. You, living in Tucson, are probably smirking right about now.
I've read the vacuum operated system sucks, so I opted for CASCO's manual heater control valve. Have to add that to my list of items to take care of.
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By Jim - 15 Years Ago
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I'll echo the others, welcome to our house! You will find a lot of really great guys on here, come to think of it, we don't have anyone on here that doesn't fit that description! Just jump right in, I know of multiple cars that are on the road today directly because of the knowledge sharing that goes on here.
Enjoy!
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By pops - 15 Years Ago
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Thank you Jim.
I feel a bit like a leech as I have little knowledge about Y-Blocks. (I come to you from the dark side).
If the group doesn't mind, I suspect I will have a lot of questions.
I would like to reciprocate in some way..... Does anyone need to know anything about tower cranes?
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