Trying to help out Father in Law

Hello Y’all, my father in law has a 56 Ford f100 that he is trying to restore. He has an inline 6 223 that he recently had rebuilt but now we are trying to find a transmission to put in it because we recently found out the one he had is garbage. I am not a car guy but really wanting to help him restore it and learn along the way. I am helping with the rebuild financially but I also just thought it would be a fun project. According to the vin tag originally it had a 3 STD but the tranny that was in it was a Ford-O-Matic 2 speed automatic and the previous owner installed a floor shifter for it. I’m thinking he should probably go with a manual because I’ve heard the automatics are more difficult to find and they lose a lot of power and speed. I could be totally wrong and please correct me at any point. What transmission would be a good one to mate up to this and where would I even be able to find one? I know there will be a lot more to do once we get the engine and transmission but starting at the major points. Thanks for any help you guys can give.
 

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There are several choices for transmissions that would work. The stock three speed or four speed truck transmissions and you can also adapt a T5 5 speed with overdrive. For automatic’s the early Cruise O Matic and late FMX can be fitted in place of the old Ford O Matic almost a bolt in. Then also the great C4 trans can also be adapted as well as the AOD or AODE with some work. 56 pickups are a big favorite of mine as I learned to drive in one. Good luck (y) :nod:
 
Qiucksilver,
If you wish to go with a more modern transmission,look to Advance Adapters.
If you're wanting to stay with with what might have come in it,join every forum that mentions your year truck and engine.Most will have a for sale section or classified.Lately,I have had great success on HAMB classified for some of the older stuff.I've even gotten parts from facebook groups.
Read,study your options(are all the manual parts still there?).Above all get your hands dirty,or where's the fun?Go to swap meets,car shows,ask questions.If you see a truck like yours,ask if he has any leftover parts.Get a shop manual if possible.
It is important to know what you have to start with.Write down the numbers on your block and head and decode them so that you can answer questions without guessing.Don't just go from vin numbers,if who ever had it changed one thing,he might have done more.
and have fun with it,I mean some people do jigsaw puzzles,this is just larger.
 
Three speeds with overdrive are somewhat harder to find but they are still out there. As Chero stated above you need to put the word out in different places, such as down at the bottom of the forums is a for sale and wanted sections. Also search eBay this is were I found my 3 speed with OD, then there are the junk yards and craigslist etc. The best ones are the late 1960’s early 70’s based on the Ford 3.03 trans these have a sinc. in first gear too. In the Borg Warner trans there was a heavy duty with stinger OD unit starting in 1956 generally it’s better to stay away from the pre 1956 units since they are 6 volt. Good luck in the hunt. (y) :nod:
 
Is there anything I should look for specifically. The gentleman I spoke to is a retired mechanic and used to rebuild them and has a 3 spd with od that he says will work. But he is in southern Washington and I have to figure out how to get there from central CA.
 
The trans casting ID numbers would be helpful along with the Overdrive units casting numbers. Plus Some pictures would also help (y) :nod:
 
I have a complete 3-spd manual transmission with bell-housing,flywheel and has a new clutch that came off of a '58 Ford 223 but it was in a car. The truck bellhousings had tabs cast into the bellhousing that attached the transmission to the truck frames. The car bellhousings do not have those tabs. I don't know if you can get away with using a car transmission or not. The one I have is for sale for $50.00. It does work but I was told that the gearbox needed to be rebuilt. I am in the St Louis metro area.
 
Here's what you need to watch out for:
If you go with a stock 3-speed, you need to get one that has the TRUCK bellhousing. The car bellhousing does not have the truck frame mounting tabs cast into the bottom of the bellhousing. I believe any 1953 thru 1956 should work, maybe later years.
The Borg gearbox on those 3-speeds is practically the same and interchangeable (in both cars and truck) from at least '53 to who knows when, late '50's, early '60's?
Watch out for what year the rear extension housing comes from. The pre-1957 extension housings had the speedo driven gear below the drive gear, but '57 and later the driven gear was above the drive gear. That means that the speedo cable rotated in the opposite direction. If you get the wrong extension housing, your original speedometer will not work because it will think you are going in reverse when you are going forward.
Is your seller also offering the starter plate? If he is not and you don't have the starter plate, what you gonna do?
Don't get a starter plate for a 215. Everything's the same except the 215 had a one-hole starter.
If you go with Ford-o-Matic, same stuff with bellhousing and extension housing, but Ford-O-matic case itself is interchangeable for scads of years.
 
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