I was told a transmission out of a 1960 and up 235 chev ingine would bolt right on my 235 1955 I guess what i really want to do is get rid of my granny low 4 speed and find out what if any thing would bolt right on to my existing 1955 235 floor shift pickup set up. and thanks for any input. I am getting ready to put patricks 355.1 rearend in .
Hi Ron. I have high hopes of a T5 from a early S-10 pickup. This may cost more than the rearend but with the proper overdrive you could acheive the 3.55-1 and have the speed you want with a much nicer sycronized aluminum transmission.
Saginaw bolts right in I put in a Saginaw 4 speed. It bolts right in to your bell housing. Some people buy the adapter kit to retain your torque tube or change to an open shaft rearend. With the 3:55 rearend you will lose some power but your highway speed is much improved. Engine RPM's are much lower at cruising speed. I am going to put in a Muncie 3 speed with Overdrive on my present project out of a 55' sedan. Stay tuned.
... then don't waste your money on the Patrick's 3.55 The '60 transmission might "bolt right on my 235", but the torque tube leading to your rear gears won't bolt onto the '60 transmission's output shaft. If you "upgrade" to the '60 transmission you'll need a different rear axle with a u-joint on the input shaft.
Bill, I'm confused (as usual) by your last note. You can use a Saginaw tranny and it bolts right up to the bell housing of the 235..correct? You can use your torque tube if you buy patrick's tailpiece adapter for the Saginaw...correct? Or...you can just put on the Saginaw and find an open end drive shaft for a different rear end of your choosing. The different rear-end is the subject of many threads. I am still not sure of the best all round rearend to scavenge. If you find a later chevy open shaft rear end, you may still want to put in a lower (3.55 or 3.38) ring/pinion. They are available from many vendors. I for one would love for somebody to tell me a good rearend to scavenge for general highway use. That way I wouldn't have to change gears or worry about clearances. I've been reading a lot of threads and still don't have a clue. Flashlight
I used to run a ferd 8.8 from a 90 town car. Fit nice and hd a 3.27 gear. Course you can't use sstock rims with that.
I didn't realize that Patrick sold a tailpiece adapter to fit between the Saginaw and the torque tube. Guess that would work.
trans and rearend swap this is what i just did to my 52 i put in a 1970 k5 blazer rearend with 3.73 gears six lug. A 1960s three speed trans kept column shift. Drive shaft out of a 1990s chevy police car perfect length all the parts cost me around $300 total instead of $450 patricks my speedometer not working well at this time but was able to drive on the freeway with out getting run over to bad avrage speed in so california seems to be 80 mph anyway.and i still have a 216 engine. Hope any of this helps robert
Bill, Patrick does make an adapter. It is not an easy transition. Consists of a shortened mainshaft and custom cast tailpiece. I was rebuilding a Saginaw anyway so it was not too much extra work. The saginaw in the stock torque tube makes great harmony togather! Flashlight
GM Corporate Rear End Robert : How did you mate this axle to the rear springs ? there's LOADS of these rear ends brandy new in crates , war surplus , with the brakes and park brake cables even . Please be detailed in your how-to . Thanx ! .
Mate Springs I cut off old axle perches. My neighbor picked up new ones at Pomona swapmeet, laser cut and drilled for stock torque tube position. Bought new longer u-bolts, measured out the rearend for the proper width. Set up the proper pinion angle. Tack weld the perches onto the axle. Bolted it down and finished welding up the perches to the axle. I was able to use the stock u-bolt for the shock mount, no welding required. I took the backing plates off the 70 blazer put the stock 52 backing plates on. I bolted up the stock emergency brake cable to it. I had to redrill 2 holes for the backing plate and that's it, it bolted right up and was able to use stock brakes and emergency brake setup. The driveshaft out of the 1990's chevy police car, Caprice, measured perfect length and bought new universal joints. Put the driveshaft in. Had to do some modification on the transmission linkage arms since they don't have shafts like the old torque tube transmission. Had to do minor adjustments on the linkage to get the gears to shift properly. Stock rims and tires fit fine underneath the fenders. I have no plans of running any other type of rim. Maybe a thinner tire down the road. And that's where I'm at and it's running fine just too hot to drive right now. Robert
Thank you robert ! This typ of How -To should be fleshed out a little bit then made into a ' sticky ' as it is exactly what most people ask me about .
?? What Happened ?? To this post by Bruce Jr. : Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 55 has the open driveline, and would use the 3:38 to 1 gear set, which works very well in my 55 1st. Being an open driveline, there would be no torque tube to have to deal with. *************** ?? where did it go ? Anyway , IIRC (rare but it happens) the '54.2 introduction of the open Hotchkiss drivshaft also came with a standard 3.90 ratio final drive except in Colorado trucks , those continued with the 4.11 gearset as it's advantageous in higher altitudes where the engine has less power in spite of re-jetted (leaner) carbys .
