The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954

52Allard · 01-24-2024, 12:55 PM

Another project I'm working on is the transmission for the car - perhaps you guys can give me some advice...
Other guys said that English built cars had the serial number stamped on a tag on the firewall and not the transmission. OK no problem, after a year of searching, paying too much and driving 600 miles, I found a no serial number 1939 Ford transmission that was used but in really nice shape. I also found a NOS set of LZ gears and was ready for the swap. I really wanted the transmission to be rebuilt correctly so I sent it to a well known early Ford transmission repair shop for the repairs, talked with the owner and he said he understood what needed to be done and said it was no problem and he could credit my job with any useable parts from the core transmission. So boxed up the trans, new LZ gears and other parts and sent it off to be rebuilt.
When the shop received the transmission, they said it was an early ’39 transmission so needed some additional parts. I didn’t really know the difference between an early and late transmission so said fine, go ahead and rebuild the transmission.
I got a call from the shop owner a month later saying that the transmission was done and none of the parts inside were any good so no credit value for the old parts but I asked to return them anyhow because you never know…
When the transmission was returned, the rebuild shop had swapped my transmission case with someone else’s transmission so now the core that I paid top dollar was gone I and got a common transmission with a big 18-48XXXXX serial number very conspicuously stamped on the top. Also, my very nice '39 shifter lever wasn’t returned and only the old cluster gear was returned. I did call the shop and ask why they rebuilt and sent me someone else’s transmission and I got a page long email that basically said they aren’t going to do anything to make things right.
So after $3,500 in cost plus another $250 that I need to spend to buy a shift lever and 600 miles to pick up the correct core part for my car, I have a regular old Ford transmission. The rebuilt transmission seems OK so I don’t have any complaints about that but it’s just the wrong transmission which really annoys me.

What would you guys do?

01-24-2024, 12:55 PM	#92
52Allard Member Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 49	Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956 Another project I'm working on is the transmission for the car - perhaps you guys can give me some advice... Other guys said that English built cars had the serial number stamped on a tag on the firewall and not the transmission. OK no problem, after a year of searching, paying too much and driving 600 miles, I found a no serial number 1939 Ford transmission that was used but in really nice shape. I also found a NOS set of LZ gears and was ready for the swap. I really wanted the transmission to be rebuilt correctly so I sent it to a well known early Ford transmission repair shop for the repairs, talked with the owner and he said he understood what needed to be done and said it was no problem and he could credit my job with any useable parts from the core transmission. So boxed up the trans, new LZ gears and other parts and sent it off to be rebuilt. When the shop received the transmission, they said it was an early ’39 transmission so needed some additional parts. I didn’t really know the difference between an early and late transmission so said fine, go ahead and rebuild the transmission. I got a call from the shop owner a month later saying that the transmission was done and none of the parts inside were any good so no credit value for the old parts but I asked to return them anyhow because you never know… When the transmission was returned, the rebuild shop had swapped my transmission case with someone else’s transmission so now the core that I paid top dollar was gone I and got a common transmission with a big 18-48XXXXX serial number very conspicuously stamped on the top. Also, my very nice '39 shifter lever wasn’t returned and only the old cluster gear was returned. I did call the shop and ask why they rebuilt and sent me someone else’s transmission and I got a page long email that basically said they aren’t going to do anything to make things right. So after $3,500 in cost plus another $250 that I need to spend to buy a shift lever and 600 miles to pick up the correct core part for my car, I have a regular old Ford transmission. The rebuilt transmission seems OK so I don’t have any complaints about that but it’s just the wrong transmission which really annoys me. What would you guys do?