Granddad's 215

[Fred]

I had forgotten about the bell housing motor mounts! You are correct, that does make transmission swapping much easier. In that case, get a transmission that will fit your bell housing well, has the same shift arm dimentions as the original trans, and is in good shape. Get another drive shaft and have it cut to length. Then assemble it all. flatford6's advise about what will bolt in is very relevant.

The damage I have found in old three speed transmissions is usually first gear damage due to people not being used to a non synchro first. As far as the overdrive the free-wheeling unit in is what I have seen wiped out. I once knocked down a T85 car trans and the cage around the free-wheeling unit was torn open and the ramps were rounded over. It takes some enthusiastic shifting with the lock out cable pushed in to do that.

 

[flatford6]

In looking at the collection of 53 to 56 Ford pickups there is an additional complication. One end of the bell crank which is part of the clutch linkage pivots in a little bearing housing which is mounted on two bosses on the top back of the square bottom side cover. You will need to preserve or provide a mounting for this no matter what kind of trans you use. Fred: That wiped out overrunning clutch you mentioned could have also have been caused by a lack of oil in the od unit. I can't remember if the od unit had its own supply or shared with the trans. I seem to remember a plug on the side of the od unit. A bad rear seal (drive shaft yoke seal) could have emptied it. In either event, both the main trans and the od unit should be filled before using a newly installed trans.

 

[Fred]

If you run an overdrive out of oil you toast the planetary gear set. The overrunning clutch was destroyed by too much force. The planetary gear set from that transmission is in great shape. When refilling some R10 overdrive transmissions you have to fill only using the main transmission fill plug. The outer part of the output shaft that surrounds the free wheeling unit is so close to the fill plug that 90W just runs back out the hole. I don't know how many overdrives fit this description, but the transmission in 1949 and 1950 Ford cars definitly does. The R11 unit in my '66 F100 can be filled through both fill plugs. Overdrives have more options to leak gear oil than other standard transmissions. The most frequent cause of this I have seen is a bad seal in the solinoid hole.

 

[Anonymous]

I did buy an original '53 shop manual. I'll dig into those threads on the overdrive units/transmission too. Is there any particular type of engine oil you men like in the 215 or similar engines?

 

[Anonymous]

New to the forums here, but sounds like I've got an identical situation. Restoring a '53 F100 with 215/3 speed column shift. First general question, are the 215/223/262 the same engine with just different bore and stroke? Along the same line, I need a new exhaust manifold. Will the 223/262 fit?

I, too, would like to ditch the points and add an overdrive. I've can't see that Pertronix even makes this specific application unless the 223/262 overlaps. Is there a better electronic option than the Pertronix? I hadn't heard that they were a problem. I'm all about old school, but points are too twitchy for this daily driver! Also, flatford6 commented that the OD units should be easy to find. Where? I had given up finding one and was resigned to putting a 9" rear with a higher ratio in. (have 3.90 now) Thanks in advance! You guys are clearly the gurus I need!

 

[63redtudor]

Stewards68, the 215/223/262 are of the same family, though the blocks are all different slightly. The main difference between the 215 & 223/262 blocks is the location of the distributor & fuel pumps. I have more info on my site:
http://www.geocities.com/edwins63/
Hopefully that'll help.
Edwin

 

[Anonymous]

I'll check it out! It looks extremely helpful at first glance, thanks much!