hi...im hoping someone can help me??

i am restoring my fathers ford fairmont. he has owned since new...its a 289 windsor 2v engine with an existing e35 borgwarner colum shift cruisomatic gearbox...original 109000miles!!

i am restoring the car and was given a C4 gearbox from a friend...which i have heard are a much better and stronger gearbox

is it worth putting in if im rebuilding the engine....?? i mean the engine will have more power(not sure how much though) as im going to put a mild cam and 4 barrel carby and inlet manifold with twin exhaust system...not sure if the 35 will handle it as well as the C4...i have heard the e35's are crap and only came out in the early fords before they changed to the C4's ?? is this true??

also i can see that the linkage for the C4 is on the opposite side ( left hand side) as opposed to the E35 borgwarner which is on the right hand side of the gear box.... so where do i source the shift linkage kit from the column to the gear box??

any information would be much appreciated...and i have lots more questions to come

cheers andrew

If you want to keep the auto authentic looking ( BW tranny ), you could see if a BW51 fits. These are from the EA's, and are a stronger box than the BW35's.
Or go the C4 auto.

First comment, I am very surprised that a 289 has a BW35 in it. The cruisomatic usually referred to the C4 boxes - but I have been surprised before.

BW35 is a heap of s**t. I am surprised it lasted that long. Usually 50-60k miles and they are stuffed.

Yes the linkages are different. Wreckers would be the only place to find them. You will also need to change the kickdown mechanism. Its different.

yeh alot of mechanics have been surprised that the 289 windsor came with the bw35...but i have since discovered they were only on the early xr's....the later xr's came with C4's, so i am told!! so i was just unlucky with the 35...anyway im going ahead i have sourced a linkage kit for my new C4...got it from a wreckers near me for $100...

FYI...the 35 has not lasted 40 years its actually been out twice my father tells me

thanks for your help

According to my old w/shop manual ( covering XR to XA V8's ), XR's with 289's had BW35's. The 302's and 351's had the C4's.