1990 Town Car Vs. 1989 Colony Park transmission

[Lord Iffy]

Hi,

I believe that transmission in 1990 Town Car is little bit longer than transmission in 1989 Colony Park. Would it be possible to replace the transmission in Colony Park with one from Town Car, provided that I can take any part from Town Car? If so, what would I need from Town Car?

Thank you, O.

[gadget73]

The Lincoln transmission is longer. You can put it in your 89 Mercury, but you will need to have the 89 driveshaft cut to fit. The Towncar drive shaft should be even longer than whats in the Colony Park. Measure to confirm though, I could be wrong on that point. Station wagon driveshaft lengths are not something I've been forced to learn about. Also, you may need to change the shift lever over. The 1990 should be cable shift, and the 89 is rod linkage. its not that bad to swap the levers, but its something to be aware of.

[Southern_Pride]

The lever must be swapped. May have to pull the pan to do it.

[pantera77]

The lever must be swapped. May have to pull the pan to do it.

You have to pull the pan to do it. Also, be smart and do it before you put the tranny in the car, unlike me who decided to do it after.

[1987cp]

Station wagon driveshaft lengths are not something I've been forced to learn about.

They interchange with like model of transmission, Vic AOD to wagon AOD, Vic C4 to wagon C4. C4 'shaft is a bit longer, just enough that I didn't like the look of it when I test-fitted it with an AOD.

[gadget73]

So you're saying the sedan driveshaft is the same length as the wagon one? Kinda what I figured but it seemed to me that the wheelbase was longer on the wagon, so I wasn't totally sure.

[1987cp]

There have been urban legends of wagons being longer in the wheelbase, but they seem to be unfounded. I can't measure to double-check ATM since my wagon's been on jacks with the front suspension dangling since I stole its tie rods in Dec. '09! Though, conventional wisdom is that the rear doors are identical except for the rear of the window frame ... I should measure some rear doors and make sure.

But, the material point would probably be that I ran my wagon C4 driveshaft in my two-door behind the same C4 and it fit great. And come to think of it, I currently have two AOD driveshafts, one from the wagon and one from the sedan, that I could set side by side and measure just to triple-check.

[Lord Iffy]

Thank you for answers. So I will not try experiments with TC transmission, especially with respect to the fact that it is a used one and there is no guarantee it will break in few miles.