I bid and won a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria several years ago. I am in the process of installing a new radiator and have several issues to address. The transmission is a water cooled Fordomatic, however the radiator on the car did not have the transmission cooler. The transmission cooler tubes were cut about 6-8 inches from the radiator. The previous owner had a flexible rubber tube connected to the inlet and outlet so that the transmission fluid was just circulating. I installed a small cooling condenser in front of the radiator and connected the transmission cooling inlet and outlet with rubber tubing. Sometime in the near future I want to add AC and have to remove the small condenser.

I have ordered a new radiator with transmission cooler (rerproduction of the original). I searched my shop manual for info on the transmission cooler lines and found nothing. I went to inlinetube.com and found 2 options for 1956 Ford transmission cooler lines. The first option is a two peice which is stainless steel tubing directly from the transmission to the radiator. The second option is a four peice with flex hoses in line ( I assume its two stanless tubes and two rubber tubes to connect at the radiator).

My first impression is to go with the 2 peice tube because of less chance of leaking. My question is which is better? What was the original setup?

Go to your favorite parts house and get regular steel tubing and make your own. You have the old ones for a pattern.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I thought all the '56 Fordomatic transmissions were air cooled. My '56 doesn't have any lines.

~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles

After late March of 56 all FOMs were water-cooled.This happened at the same time 312s became available as an option on full-size cars.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

If you are looking for original style replacment lines Tee-Bird.com lists a replacement set for $50.00.Part# 7A032B.