Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train 61 235 in 51 Sedan

I just located a 235 from a 61 Biscayne with 3 speed manual. I'm going to put a deposit on motor tomorrow and am wondering if I should get the tranny. I want to change out the torque tube rear & tranny in the 51. The old guy at the bone yard said the original 51 3 speed is pretty weak. I want some form of manual, on the floor would be nice. I understand that 55 - 57 rear end will fit. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
sherman

If you intend to use a manual after changing over to an open driveline, then yes, get the tranny, bellhousing, etc... You can't use the stock 3spd with an open driveline anyway.
Yes, as has been discussed a thousand times, the 55-64 car rearends can be used in the 49-54 cars. The '57 is the best choice, the 55-56 ones use different axle bearings, so I would try to avoid them if possible. The 58-64 ones will need to have the original brackets cut off and new spring perches welded on.
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While you're at it I would shy away from the 61 tranny too. The 2 - 3 slide hub has a habit of letting the brass synchro bushings slip out of the hub if you try to shift it very hard. If you want to stay with a 3 speed then get one from a 65 or later Chevy car, 1/2 ton pick up, or van. They are somewhat stronger and all have a fully synchro first gear. Depending on the year and assembly point of the donor vehicle those 3 speeds are either Muncies or Saginaws and are internally the same as the 4 speeds except for the added gear of course.

Thanks guys. I talked to Buffalo yesterday & he is currently using the 5 speed from a S10 2wd & the rear from a 4x4 S10. Tranny needs to have mechanical speedo output which puts it back into the 80's. Opt for the 3.76 first gear as the 4.03 is a bit too low (1985/1986 vintage). The 3.73 rear is recommended. Need to reuse 216 bellhousing, flywheel & starter as the later bellhousing will put a bind on existing clutch linkage because of the exit angle of the actuator lever (also provides for rear mount). Will need to fab up a tranny mount using 2 pieces of angle & an aluminum spacer. X-Member will need to be torched for this. Before I go off and search for parts, does anyone know if their are any open drive Chevy manuals (3 or 4 speed) that I could use without cutting up the cross member? I pretty sure I can locate a 57 rear. I'm trying to do this swap out as painless as possible. Thanks! Sherman

Are we talking a car or truck, because a '51 car bellhousing will not work with the later tranny because the bolt pattern is different. However, it may be possible to modify it, I'm just not sure what the differences are off the top of my head right now.
You can change the linkage or go to a hydraulic throwout bearing setup and ditch the entire mechanical linkage stuff.
A truck bellhousing will have corner mounts on it, so mounting at the tranny wouldn't be necessary.
Most S10 T5's are 4.03 1st gear. Not many with the lower 1st gears. Good luck...

It's a 2 dr. sedan. The S10 tranny requires an adapter to match up to the 51 bellhousing, which I forgot to mention (Bufallo has them). Also Bufallo has a complete new spring kit for the S10 rear end. I think I'll give Patrick a call and see what he has to say.

I talked to Patrick yesterday. He recommends keeping the torques tube rear although change to 3:55 gears or get one out of a Powerglide. Weak link is the stock 3 speed. With a truck bell housing from a 48-53 & a 3 speed Saginaw from a 66-77 Impala, you will have a good driver. Will need his adapter to convert tranny to torque tube output. Saginaw will allow the column shifter to work. Patrick is not into torch cut & toss, but rather keeping as close to original as possible. So I guess I need to decide which way to go. Sherman

The 1949-54 passenger clutch fork exit the bellhousing at a downward angle. To use any other bellhousing requires modifying the bellhousing.

So the truck bellhousing doesn't have the same clutch lever exit angle? Patrick didn't mention the exit angle so I thought it was no problem. I know Buffalo Steve said to me to maintain original bellhousing because of the exit angle. I have an old Chevy factory manual & it says the 54 manual tranny is stronger than the earlier models and that it has as stanard, taxi cab internals. Maybe I should just locate one of these? Sherman

There is a lot of talk about the strength of different year 3 speed transmissions. From 1940-1962 chev used the same basic transmission with only minor changes mainley in the case. The main cluster gear will fit all these years. These are very good and strong transmissions unless you are very hard on your car/truck.

Well I'd like to make it a driver - a car that could be driven on the road. To do this, I know I need a rear with gears something like a 3:55 in place of the existing granny rear. I'd like to keep it simple & think I'll go for the 66-77 Saginaw 3 speed. I am not opposed to tossing the torque tube rear. What I don't want to do is get involved in cutting up the rear crossmember. I was reading my Chevy shop manual & a number of improvements were made in 1954 to the clutch assembly (also the 3 speed tranny). It sounds like the 54 clutch would be a good choice. I looked at an on-line version of the Chevy Master Parts Book & it appears to me that the flywheel for the 54 car has a different part number than the earlier models. I assume this was done to utilize the new clutch design (maybe for tranny also?). Is anyone familiar with this aspect of the 54?

1954 was the first year to use a 10" pressure plate and flywheel. 9 1/8" was the standard size before. Interestingly the 54 pass used a 9 1/8" disc with a 10" pressure plate and flywheel. Only the truck used a 10" disc.

A 1950-54 Power Glide 3.55 diff will fit right in.