The Ford Barn

tubman · 02-25-2020, 11:39 AM

I agree with Seth about the current transmission being up to the job, even with a "warmer-over" engine. I think Seth may also be confusing early vs "shoebox" transmissions. While the combo he mentions works well for the earlier cars, the OD (which the O/P has) makes all of that moot. The later car with a working OD and 4.11's will be superior in every way to an early car, even with the mentioned mods.

That being said, I wonder if anyone has ever replaced a stock shoebox transmission with a T85/R11 combination. From what I understand, it should be almost a "bolt-in". Ford sold FE's with this combination behind them in the early sixties so they should be plenty strong. The only problem is availability. I have been looking for one locally for a while with no luck.

It is possible to hurt a stock transmission with a stock engine (even one that doesn't run the best) if you try hard enough. I know I got good at replacing them when i was about 19.

02-25-2020, 11:39 AM	#3
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 11,633	Re: What's Behind Your Flattie? I agree with Seth about the current transmission being up to the job, even with a "warmer-over" engine. I think Seth may also be confusing early vs "shoebox" transmissions. While the combo he mentions works well for the earlier cars, the OD (which the O/P has) makes all of that moot. The later car with a working OD and 4.11's will be superior in every way to an early car, even with the mentioned mods. That being said, I wonder if anyone has ever replaced a stock shoebox transmission with a T85/R11 combination. From what I understand, it should be almost a "bolt-in". Ford sold FE's with this combination behind them in the early sixties so they should be plenty strong. The only problem is availability. I have been looking for one locally for a while with no luck. It is possible to hurt a stock transmission with a stock engine (even one that doesn't run the best) if you try hard enough. I know I got good at replacing them when i was about 19.