51 Fordamatic

[sunshine]

What are the opinions of the barners who own and drive the 51 fords with this transmission. Are they causing problems . Is it possible to replace with a later transmission or 3 speed overdrive . Sunshine

[Newc]

Hi; First year for that transmission. My rebuilder had me find a '53 merc core, Also there is a service letter on the linkage adj. Newc

[rotorwrench]

They were as good as any other in their day. Once you get one working properly, they are a joy to drive but you have to respect their limitations. They don't work like the modern ones and can be damaged easily if mistreated. They were air cooled until 1955. They were upgraded and improved on just about every year model that Ford used the basic design. The FMX was the last of the design & was in production right up to 1980. It was the most reliable one of all. The Ford C6 came out in 1966 and slowly replaced the Borg Warner design since it was even more reliable but there were still a lot of the B&W design transmissions running around back then.

[TJ]

They can be replaced with a C-4 using the Speedway kit or the Flat-O-Matic kit.

[RalphG]

Mine in the 52 Merc has stood up well to 60+ years of use and abuse. I don't know if it has ever had any repairs or adjustments to it but it seems to work just fine. The car shows over 80,000 miles on the odometer but that quit working years ago.

[rotorwrench]

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What seems to be the most damaging thing you can do is rocking them fore & aft under certain conditions. Getting stuck is never fun and attempts at getting unstuck has killed more of the cast iron case transmissions than anything else. The cases like to crack in one weak spot in there and if they do, it takes a while to find another good case.

[sunshine]

Thanks for info on the 1st yr. Fordamatic trans. I am looking at a 51 with it .Being 1st. Year anything scares me.THANKS Sunshine.

[CarlG]

When I was a kid, a friend of my Dad's had a '49 with a Ford-O-Matic. I drove it several times.

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by sunshine

Thanks for info on the 1st yr. Fordamatic trans. I am looking at a 51 with it .Being 1st. Year anything scares me.THANKS Sunshine.

When I was contemplating buying the '51 Merc. I now have, the Merc-O-matic (same as Ford-O-matic) concerned me.
I contacted my next door neighbor who happened to run the service department for a Lincoln/Mercury dealership in the 1951 time frame.
I asked him for his opinion of the tranny and of any known problems.
His answer, "don't worry about it".
I bought the car and have put over 40K miles on it.
The only service that has been done is oil and filter changes.
The only problem is if it sits for any length of time oil drains back from the torque converter and leaks out of the shift shaft.
Periodic starting helps to alleviate the problem.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by 51 MERC-CT

...The only problem is if it sits for any length of time oil drains back from the torque converter and leaks out of the shift shaft.
Periodic starting helps to alleviate the problem.

I had this happen to me on an E250 van with a C-6 one time.

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by CarlG

When I was a kid, a friend of my Dad's had a '49 with a Ford-O-Matic. I drove it several times.

That would have been a conversion done in 1951 or later. '51 was the first year for the Ford-O-Matic (unless the '49 was a super rare prototype that somehow escaped the crusher and got sold to the public-rather unlikely).

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by 40 Deluxe

That would have been a conversion done in 1951 or later. '51 was the first year for the Ford-O-Matic (unless the '49 was a super rare prototype that somehow escaped the crusher and got sold to the public-rather unlikely).

Maybe a 'Foot-O-matic'

[Drbrown]

Normally the Ford and Merc units are very durable. I had a '53 Merc and it wouldn't surrender from my terrible teenage abuse.

A few have converted to standard tranny's but its a very involved project and some parts are now hard to find (i.e. shift column, carb linkage, differential unit).

You can purchase tranny rebuilding kits for them. I understand the current problem is that the pumps are not being manufactured and they are usually hard to find because they have been slowly being bought-up. Its worth browsing the internet re such issues and at least being familiar the status.

[rotorwrench]

The Ford-Os and the Cruise-Os have some stuff that can be changed around between cases is you know which case can be robbed and what will fit what. There are some specialists out there that do the ones for Thunderbirds and others. Someone should write a book about these transmissions for the restorers. Ford made these things for a long time and had a plant dedicated to them. They aren't the strongest units out there but they are very smooth shifters when everything is right. Mine always had to be fully warmed up to work properly but they warm up pretty quick.