Tranny Question - a restorer misled me

[Jerry]

I think this restorer I was working with has misled me. I have a 56 with an air cooled Fordomatic tranny. The tranny shifted fine before it was removed (for an engine rebuild). The restorer said I should replace it with a liquid cooled unit and sold me a used tranny from a 312 mercury. The case is shorter and the drive shaft must be lengthen and I don't think the cross member will line up correctly. Is this the right thing to do? I know liquid cooled units are better than air cooled but my air cooled tranny has a T-bird data plate on it. I think the air cooled unit was rebuilt before. The flex plate looks like a liquid cooled flex plate from what I can see in ford diagrams. Is it OK to reinstall that flex plate? or should I order a $150 air cooled flex plate if I put the air cooled unit back in? :confused:

[Paul Johnson]

this all depends on what you want the car to turn out like. my ransmission went in my 65 convertible and oddly enough I took it to aamco - the owner of this one really liked old cars - I told him to just put a replacement in - he said no way - he wanted to keep all the numbers matching - he pulled it out and order every part to completely rebuild it to factory spec. It cosy $1000 - it is perfect now. :p

[Harley Eaton]

Paul Johnson: I guess your AAMCO dealer was interested in making more money than he could with a straight overhaul. Usually AAMCO takes short-cuts and charges a high price for their work.