56' ford 223 I6, are there tranny adapters for this motor?

hello my name is mike and im new to this site... im building my first hot rod. and im using a 1956 223 ford inline 6 that came out of my 56' mainline, i want to run an automatic transmission, i have a fordomatic but im missing the bellhousing. does anyone have a bell housing for this or know where i can get one? or does anyone know if someone makes an adapter kit for a C4? thanks hope to hear from people.

Any bellhousing and flywheel that fits the 272,292,312 v8 will fit your 223. Be carefull, there were 3 types of the old style fordo thransmissions used on these. The first was an air cooled type with a finned aluminum torque converter and air flow inlets on the bell housing. Second was a bolt together steel converter and the trans was cooled by running the fluid through the radiator bottom. Third was a welded together converter cooled like the second type. There was a difference in the splines on the front of the trans between the air cooled and water cooled transmissions. The flex plates were different too. Early (1952 and 1953) bell housings were drilled for different starter mountings than the later ones which used the three bolt starters. There are adapters available to mount a c4 behind your engine. Check the other posts in this section. These adapters could possibly be used to mount an AOD trans giving you a four speed overdrive trans. Nice, Good luck and please post your results.

I want to correct my previous post. The bell housings for y block ford V8s and the 215/223 Ford six do NOT interchange. The bolt patterns are NOT the same. My apology if this misled anyone. Richard

According to a fellow poster on another board (The HAMB) the 223 is the same belhousing as the 8BA flathead V8 ('49-'53). Therefor you have many options... including the following options....

http://www.flat-o.com/carproducts/flatomatic.htm This is a C4 adaptation

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/1953,70 ... n-Kit.html Deluxe and basic kits available.

http://www.flat-o.com/carproducts/5speedflato.htm Fits S-10 5spds and all Mustang (V8 and I4) T5's

and any of the many other flathead to 4 spd adapters that exist.

Speedway Motors also has adapters to mount Chevy manual transmissions if that is your preference.

And here's another option....though not cheap

http://www.transmissionadapters.com/fordflathead.htm adapts to a Chevy 700R4/4L80E/200R4/TH350/TH400/or Powerglide transmission.

Bell housings that fit Ford flathead V8s DO NOT fit or interchange with the 223 Ford 6. The v8 uses more bell housing bolts, and the bottom bolts are about straight across on either side of the crankshaft. The 223 uses a four bolt bell housing mount and the bottom bolts are about 2 inches below the center of the crankshaft on either side like a y block v8. There is a pickup or truck bell housing for the 223 from about 1952 and 1953 that allows the mounting of the round 8 bolt old style Ford stick transmissions to these engines. It requires a different starter than the later ones because the starter is mounted by the starter through bolts like a flathead v8 and one additional bolt that sticks out the side if I remember right. This could allow the use of part of the adaption stuff to mount a later trans such as the t-5. It is probably of no use for the c 4. No room for the converter.

flatford6":b5rk79z5 said:

There is a pickup or truck bell housing for the 223 from about 1952 and 1953 that allows the mounting of the round 8 bolt old style Ford stick transmissions to these engines. It requires a different starter than the later ones because the starter is mounted by the starter through bolts like a flathead v8 and one additional bolt that sticks out the side if I remember right. This could allow the use of part of the adaption stuff to mount a later trans such as the t-5. It is probably of no use for the c 4. No room for the converter.

Click to expand...

You are correct. I went back and reread the info I was looking at and it said the same thing you did about the truck bellhousing. I misunderstood what was written.

As far a stick shifts are concerned....do the(any?) car and later 223 bellhousings permit the use of any tranny that has the common toploader transmission's tranny to bellhousing bolt pattern?

Yes, the Ford 223 6 stick car bell housings have the same pattern for mounting the transmission as do the y blocks, the earlier FE and some early small block 289s. I am referring to the small 4 bolt pattern. Ford changed to a bigger 4 bolt pattern about 1965 I think. Some toploader transmissions had both patterns, some early ones had only the small pattern, and some have only the large pattern. These cases can be redrilled to fit the smaller pattern. There are 2 lengths of input shafts, small blocks have the longer one. These can be cut to the shorter big block/earlier length. There are differences in the size of the part of the throwout bearing collar that engages and centers the transmission in the bell housing. Everything must be measured before starting this kind of swap. Some early pickups use the same small bolt pattern, but use a longer and larger input shaft. Good luck.

Better Late Than... Well You Get THE idea. Anyway there is a stock ford bell housing for 223 that allows you to use c4 automatic transmission. It was made the last year of the 223 and first year of the c4. 1964. Part # C4AP7976C.

Ford-y-block.com sells a 223 to C4 adapter for $650. http://www.willcap.com sells a Y-block to Chevy adapter that looks like it would fit a 223. Hope this help,