Air-cooled Cruiseomatic behind a 223

peeeot

Well-known member
My 1960 Fairlane 500 has an air cooled 3-speed dual-range cruiseomatic behind its 223, along with a 3.10 final drive. The data plate in the door jamb is coded for this combination, but I have found no reference to this drivetrain combo ever being offered. Even the factory manual only provides info for the six in the 2-speed Fordomatic section, and there is no reference anywhere to the air-cooled torque converter.

I know the six was offered with an air cooled cast iron fordomatic, the cruiseo's immediate predecessor. I suspect the same bellhousing and torque converter from that combo was used on my car.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of this being done on a factory car?
 
The dual range Cruise-O-Matic design was made in the very late 1950's back then Ford usually introduced the new versions or upgrades at first in the more expensive car models like the Thunderbirds, Galxie 500, and Lincoln's, etc. then the next year or two into the standard Fords and Mercury's. I don't think it was an original option in your 1960 Fairlane 500 however if it was a very late 1960 year model build then it is possible, as they started doing change overs to the newer parts as the old stock was used up. But it was also very easy to swap them in place of the older Two speeds too since interchangeability is very good between both those trans versions, and so it was sometimes done during repairs. There were 3 different versions a FX, MX, and LX the last was only used with the bigger engines like the 390 FE, yours would likely be the FX version if original. Good luck :nod: Edited
 
peeeot":2dippaz9 said:
My 1960 Fairlane 500 has an air cooled 3-speed dual-range cruiseomatic behind its 223, along with a 3.10 final drive. The data plate in the door jamb is coded for this combination, but I have found no reference to this drivetrain combo ever being offered. Even the factory manual only provides info for the six in the 2-speed Fordomatic section, and there is no reference anywhere to the air-cooled torque converter.

I know the six was offered with an air cooled cast iron fordomatic, the cruiseo's immediate predecessor. I suspect the same bellhousing and torque converter from that combo was used on my car.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of this being done on a factory car?

As far as I know,1956 was the last year the air-cooled FOM's were used,and in late 56 Ford started using the water-cooled FOM's.

Also,I suspect the engine in your 60 Fairlane is more likely to be a 170 or 200 than a 223. AFAIK,the 223's were only used in the full-sized cars and pu's. Also,if it is a 170 or 200 engine,chances are your FOM is one of the true 2 speed transmissions,and not the old,original 3 speed FOM. Check to see if it has an aluminum case. If it does,you have the 2 speed FOM.
 
It is true that the air-cooled converters were discontinued in 1956 (FOR THE V8 ENGINES), however, Ford never produced a water-cooled converter for the 6 cyl 223 engine, regardless of whether a fordomatic was used or a cruisomatic. The air-cooled converter was used with 223's that had automatics until the engine was discontinued in 1964.
 
Not that it affects you, just an interesting thing to note; the air-cooled converters for the '55 and later 223 cu in 6 cyl have all the same parts that were used on the '52 thru '54 model 215 cu in engines, except that the 215 converter had a large round paper gasket sandwiched between the converter housing flange and the flywheel plate. On the '55 and later models, they machined out a chamfered surface around the inside of the converter housing opening. A large O-ring was stretched around the back of the flywheel plate, so that when the two pieces were bolted together, the O-ring would be smashed into that little chamfered area. And of course, the large round paper gasket was omitted on these. So, if you ever run across a converter for a 6-cyl that has that paper gasket instead of the O-ring, it came off a '52-'54 model 215 I-block 6-cyl.

BTW, 3.10:1 rearend ratio for a 223 sounds drastically high-output ratio'd. It would probably max out a 223 vacuum advance (assuming engine still has load-o-matic distrib) at every start from dead stop or possibly any attempt to accelerate. I have a 223 with Ford-o-matic and 3.25 ratio. It is tough to get it going. Most folks I talked to wouldn't go less than 3.5:1 rearend ratio with a 223.
 
Yes, the cast iron bellhousing and air-cooled converter for a Ford-O-Matic would have been used with a Cruise-O. There was no need to design a special converter for the Cruise-O. The Ford-O-Matic and Cruise-O are bolt-up interchangeable.
 
Arthur138":1dsynw71 said:
peeeot":1dsynw71 said:
My 1960 Fairlane 500 has an air cooled 3-speed dual-range cruiseomatic behind its 223, along with a 3.10 final drive. The data plate in the door jamb is coded for this combination, but I have found no reference to this drivetrain combo ever being offered. Even the factory manual only provides info for the six in the 2-speed Fordomatic section, and there is no reference anywhere to the air-cooled torque converter.

I know the six was offered with an air cooled cast iron fordomatic, the cruiseo's immediate predecessor. I suspect the same bellhousing and torque converter from that combo was used on my car.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of this being done on a factory car?

As far as I know,1956 was the last year the air-cooled FOM's were used,and in late 56 Ford started using the water-cooled FOM's.

Also,I suspect the engine in your 60 Fairlane is more likely to be a 170 or 200 than a 223. AFAIK,the 223's were only used in the full-sized cars and pu's. Also,if it is a 170 or 200 engine,chances are your FOM is one of the true 2 speed transmissions,and not the old,original 3 speed FOM. Check to see if it has an aluminum case. If it does,you have the 2 speed FOM.

Arthur138, the 1960 Fairlane's were still based on the full size Ford's and used the 223 six as its base engine. The full size Ford Fairlane's (a trim model) it's first three generations where built from 1955 to 1961. The first year of the smaller intermediate size Fairlane (forth generation) was also when it became its own seperate Ford model line and began using the 170 small six as its base engine in 1962. The 200 six'es didn't show up in the Fairlanes until later in about 1964. Good luck :nod:
 
Yep, gonna have to side with bubba about this. In fact, the 1960 and 61 Fairlanes were actually the same full-sized car as the Galaxie. About the only way you could tell the Fairlane from the Galaxie is that the Fairlane was a more "stripped down" version. The Galaxie had a side trim strip and the washboard covering the rear quarter. Yes they would have had the 223 if they were equipped with a 6 cyl engine.
It wasn't till 1962, Ford turned the Fairlane into a MID-Sized family car (about the same size as the Ford Falcon) and they did have smaller, newer design 170 engine up through about 1965 I think.
I believe '61 was the last year for the 223 in cars, but they kept using them in F100 pickup trucks through 1964.
 
Thanks Dave, X2 the great old 223 six's were used all the way up until 1964 in both the pickup trucks and the big Ford cars. F100 to F350 pickups also had the option of the bigger 262 cu. in. Six for one year in 1964 though in the bigger trucks it was available from 1961 to 1964. Than in 1965 Ford went with the all new 240 cu. in. Six in the big cars and the trucks had a choice of the 240 or 300 Six. Good luck :nod:
 
Daves55courier, I have never seen nor heard of another inline-six powered ford with the 3-speed cast-iron cruiseomatic nor a 3.10 final drive ratio, but then my experience is pretty narrow. When the weather warms up I want to get under the car and record the data plate numbers on the transmission to fully ID it.

I started this thread because I thought the drivetrain was unusual; it was actually a deciding factor when I purchased the car. Whoever originally ordered it and I are like-minded: the 3 gears paired with the 3.10 ratio make for greater drivetrain flexibility than any other combo available. I can assure you that the low first gear of the cruiso makes for pretty eager acceleration even with the 3.10 axle. Consider that the 2-speed fordo, with a 1.75:1 first and 3.25 final drive has a total multiplication of 5.69 (excluding converter), while my cruiso setup has a 2.40:1 first which gives a total multiplication with 3.10 axle of 7.44.

I am guessing that this drivetrain was not endorsed by ford either because the cruiso was never engineered light-duty for the 6 and was too much of a power robber, or because it was too expensive an option to justify offering it to people opting for the base engine. But my car was ordered this way, as the door jamb plate codes correspond to what is installed.

And you and Bubba are both correct, this is definitely a full-size fairlane!
 
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