Fairmont with i6 trans?

[DRAGTOP89]

What automatic trans came in the early Monts and zephyrs with the Inline 6s?

[81coupe]

I think it would have been C4's. Not 100% sure though.

[JACook]

C4, but they use a different bell, and fewer clutches in the packs than a V8 C4.

[DRAGTOP89]

Great thanks! So if I get a v8 bell and have a shop put more clutches in I should. E good to go?

[JACook]

Yep, and torque converter of course. The internals are otherwise the same, though you
might also want to move up to a larger intermediate servo.

[289Falcon]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but the early four eyes were also factory equipped with the weak suck C-3's. For even the mildest of performance work these are completely unsuitable. The easiest way to identify which is which is that the C-3 has the modulator located on the right side, while the C-4's modulator is located on the right rear of the trans.

[xctasy]

My 1982 Mustang 3.3 L has a high mount starter with the C3. In my case, it's a lovely, reliable transmission, but Your Results Might Vary and Actual Reliable Mileage is Often Lower.

It's the third C3 I've driven behind. One was our long suffering 98 hp/112 lb-ft Pinto 2000 engined 1975 Cortina we put 80 000 miles on from 1980 to 1994, one in a 114 hp/130 lb-ft Cologne V6 1982 Cortina 2.3 V6 which had 125 000 miles on it. The first was rebuilt in 1985, as we used the car for towing tons of coal, fire wood, manure and horse sh!+ in the weekends. Standard practice down here in the Southern Hemisphere. The second was standard, and the car saw 120 mph with it on a number of ocassions. It was replaced with a Mustang II 2800 C4.

I've got another bunch of the C3's under my house.

Probably less than a third of all blue Fox I6's had C3's, most were C4's or C5's. All Powder grey I6's had C4's or C5's. There is speculation that they were a DSO order thing, but I don't know the real reason.

Not quite sure why, but plenty of Mustangs and Fairmonts and other Foxes with the blue T, B and X code engines had high mount starter bellhousing C3's. The trans code is V for it, and its indeed the weak kneed French Bordeux C3. The automatic Pinto, Capris and Mustang II's in 2300 and 2800 usually came standard with it, but on occasion, Ford used domestic C4's on some. The C4 was interchanged on some models, not sure why. Since the Cologne V6 was imported, the C3 was imported too. It was most probably a US Ford trade balance thing...Ford's Dearborn engineers did a great job mating the C3 to the old US 200 3.3 six, it ran the 138 teeth flywheel found behind the Cologne V6.

The C3 is not totally hopeless, its just that its embeded into a separte case which requires a brand new pump and better quality bits when its rebuilt, and its limit was the 155 to 161 odd lb-ft of torque the 3.3 I6 and Cologne 2.8 Port Injection 2.8i regularly put out. It begat the A4LD and A4LDe, which also was a bit of a lottery reliability wise. It was only in the 1994 to 1996 period when it went through the 4R44/4R55/5R55 transitions behind the Ranger and Explorer that it got some proper internal upgrades. Those split case items were the last ones that could be matted to the 3.3 I6, the 2300 and 2500 Lima OHC's.

Low mount I6 blocks with mandatory C4's were interspersed with the blue high mount blocks sometime in 1981; these are powder grey , but blue engines came in either C3 or c4 high starter mount. Engine codes were the same as the blue engines, but the engine emissions decal had another three didgit number (and I guess the trans code on the buck code) depending on the trans.

[Jax Rhapsody]

Wow...

[Anlushac11]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but the early four eyes were also factory equipped with the weak suck C-3's. For even the mildest of performance work these are completely unsuitable. The easiest way to identify which is which is that the C-3 has the modulator located on the right side, while the C-4's modulator is located on the right rear of the trans.

Mine is a C4 out of a 1981 Mustang with 3.3L inline six. Yes I checked the part numbers.

Nice to see you made your way here xctasy! Another inliner joins the ranks

[xctasy]

Hey man, great to see you here, been following this site "for forever", and these rides are my favorite I6's ever, really crazy the way they swapped the home town Fairmont stuff without the bigger 7.5 diff and C4 auto into these little Mus'tings'. Even when they were given TUV (West Germany), Type Aproval (United Kingdom) and Group 2 race approval, Fords specifications for diffs, engines and transmissions were wacked out with heaps of European bits. Like BDA Ford Escort/Taunus Atlas diffs behind 5.0 liter V8's. Totally international.

The other funny thing is this now ya see it now ya don't C3 appearance without ryme or reason from 1979 to 1982.

The last 1983 Fairmont X -code engine was sometimes Powder Grey, and coded CJ 232 AB, and was sometimes a low mount C5



Here's my engine code, IJ 204 AA, 1.12B, O and 26 with J, 1 and 6 punched out



I haven't been able to find my Dearborn buck, door post or build sheet codes due to the fact that my Mustang has been touring the Pacific Rim of fire from the New World to the Orient and now to the Neatherworld. Japan motoring being the car jam fest of the world, I'm not quite sure whats happened to the body since 1982.

Engine and body details differ, engine is
2 (large centre stamp)
2123 (small sub code)
O116Y (date code)
BR101037 (engine no)

Hope you guys save up all those 6.75/6.875" diffs, C3 flexplates, block plates and bellhousings for me.

[PonyboysV6]

FWIW:
My 1979 Fairmont 200 CID Six as well as my 1980 Mustang 200 CID Six both had the C-4. And I became intimately familiar with the C4 in my Fairmont... after it burned up a band from dragging a Jartran trailer across country. There was a TSB about that transmission...