Thread: engine swap

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The 196 6cyl in my '65 Rambler American is tired, tho every day I drive it, it runs better, but it smokes blue almost all the time, it has a slight valve problem, along with the fact it's hard to get parts for it, it's not very economical ither. I want to upgrade to a 302 Ford/ AOD from a '86-90 Crown Vic/ Grand Marquis to get better MPG. I'd keep the EFI and air conditioning, along with the condensor, evaporator ect ( get a vintage air under dash unit and hook it all up ).. I know the BW transmission is closely related to the FMX trans, but will the factory trans X member work for the AOD?

I'll run the 196 until somthing happens to it, but I don't expect it to last long

Matt, I encountered this trans crossmember problem so many times in my own experience of engine swaps that I developed the following procedure:

You have the crossmember from the recipient car. Get the crossmember from the donor car, along with the driveshaft. Before you pull the motor/trans out of the recipient and with the recipient crossmember still bolted into the car, place a jack and piece of 2x4 under the trans pan to keep the tailshaft from falling on you. (If memory serves, you've had a little experience with this). Use STURDY jackstands at each corner of the car, two on the lower control arms and two on the differential axle tubes close to the rear wheels. Crawl under with a Sawzall and cut the recipient crossmember on each side of the transmission, somewhere in the middle between the trans and the frame rail/crossmember mounting point. Leave the middle piece to come out with the trans and the two side pieces still bolted to the recipient.

When you drop the donor trans in and have it positioned properly, measure from the transmission mount bolt holes in the tailshaft to the edges of the recipient crossmember stubs. Now, transfer these measurments from each side to the donor crossmember and cut the middle section out so that you have a donor middle piece that will somewhat line up with the recipient side pieces. Tack weld. Remove the crossmember as one piece and finish welding, using whatever filler material you need to make a stout member. Run short stitches of weld and alternate positions to prevent excessive heat in any one place that will warp the crossmember and make it difficult to bolt back in.

You want to wait until you get the donor transmission in place before you cut the donor crossmember to allow for any lateral change in engine/trans placement from what was used originally with the recipient engine/trans.

This is a cheap, effective way of making a proper crossmember and it works every time. Been there, done that.

As far as the driveshaft, wait until you can get the car on all four wheels with the weight on the suspension, again, with the four jackstands under the lower control arms and diff tubes. Disassemble the cross and bearings at the front of the donor shaft. Push the yoke onto the trans tailshaft until it bottoms out. Pull it back out 3/4". Now, measure from the centerline of the cross and bearings on the front yoke to the centerline of the cross and bearings on the pinion yoke. That will be the measurement to give the driveline shop to make your new driveshaft to the proper length. Provide him with the front donor yoke and the rear recipient yoke from the recipient driveshaft.

cool thanks. that makes a lot of sense to do it that way. I compleatly forgot about the driveshaft length diffrence too.


also.. I weld with a small 100 amp arc welder, I use 3/32" 6013 rod, is that going to be tough enough for the x member welding?

Don't know a lot about the capability of a 100 A welder, but I would think it would be up to the task. The material used in the construction of crossmembers isn't all that thick.

Shouldn't be a real big deal to change the tranny mount over Matt. If nothing else just fab up a tubular one that mounts in the stock location on the chassis and put the trans mount where it needs to be....

Should wake up that old Nash!!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Shouldn't be a real big deal to change the tranny mount over Matt. If nothing else just fab up a tubular one that mounts in the stock location on the chassis and put the trans mount where it needs to be....

Should wake up that old Nash!!!!

I'm really after better MPG. I know my car weighs less than a Crown Vic which weighs somewhere around 3,900#, mines 2,747#. a friend of the Faimily has a '90 Crown Vic and gets 28- 30 MPG.. I'm hoping for 25 MPG and overall a more drivable, comfortable car. A/C.. Should really do the car good... The only thing that I will add to the engine is chrome valve covers, and clean and possibly polish the intake manifold. with Gas prices right at $4.00 per gallon right now, I don't need a tire burner

Yupper, all yer after is mpg and I'm perfectly happy running a 9.90 car instead of a faster one.............

I take a transmission yoke. tape measure and calipers to the bone yard and go thru the drive shaft rack before i cut--make a new shaft.. several times i have found one that would work...Also i always look for a shaft with no or only a small balance weight... less chance of getting vibration if you have to cut it..

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Yupper, all yer after is mpg and I'm perfectly happy running a 9.90 car instead of a faster one.............

I have the Falcon for a high performance car, after I put it all back togther .

Rambler will have a deffinet HP increase along with the better MPG. the 196 was 120 HP stock using the pre '71 standards, and it's deffinetly worn out.. IIRC the 5.0 EFI engine is 160 HP. should move it along nicely