Can an overdrive trans be installed in a 56 Thunderbird? Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Chuck ,  Yes  , standard with O/D  is a bolt in ,   automatic O/D  ,  might have to raise the trans tunnel and use an adaptor to the y-block  ....................Sam

56 victoria

I have a local friend with a 3sp Tbird and he asked. I just couldn't remember seeing one. No clearance problems at all? Just add the unit and overdrive cable? Any drive shaft modifications required? Thanks, Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

He would need the 3 spd overdrive transmission and shorten the driveshaft. In the truck I had to shorten mine 13"

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Chuck:

A lot of the '50s Ford products had overdrives that were the same length as the standards.  They would interchange without driveshaft modification.  I put a T85 with OD in my '56 Bird that originally came with a standard light duty trans.  I just had to change the yoke on the driveshaft to make it fit.  No frame or tunnel clearance issues.  Birds were available with overdrives when they were new.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Chuck, my 56 tbird came from the factory with a t-85 3-speed overdrive. I will always keep it with the t-bird just in case I ever want to go back original.

-Gary Burnette-

Thanks to everyone for the answers. I'll let him know. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Hi Chuck,

The T 85 will fit T birds with no problem and the shifter will work.  But there was something a little weird about the early Birds which may go back to the 55's also. It seems to have been a running change because the OD's used in the 239 256 and 272 pass cars were not holding up.  So Ford started buying them from BW even before BW had cast the tailshaft housing to match the standard Ford setup.  Hence you can see in the '56 shop manual a T 85 with a heavy plate mount that bolts to the tailshaft housing rather than the cast mount.  None of this makes a dime's worth of difference unless your buddy wants an exactly correct '56.  Then it was probably a running change that ties into his car's serial number. If this interests him he should contact Gil Baumgartner (SP?) of CTCI who knows this stuff cold.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.