Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train Which trans for a 37 Master

hello all-
I have a 37 Master Sedan 4dr. I am planning to install a late 55 235. I also want to swap out the closed drive/rear axle. I want an open drive.
I understand the rear end swap, gear ratios and driveline. The trans is a different story.

Items I have are (1) 53 bellhousing, (1) 55 bellhousing, flywheels for both, and (1) open drive 3-speed, I believe, I am not sure about the trans, it came with the engine. It has two bolts on the driver side of the case, like if the shifter linkage hooks up to these ???? sorry, not familiar. I would love to use this trans, but i have been told I can't, I don't rememeber the reason why just that I can't use it.

a) What tranny should I be looking for??
I would love to keep it manual. I want to hear the rap between shifts.

b) can I use any of the stuff I have, I know I've been told no on the trans by one person who "knows", any different opinions??


I want to use the car for an occasional drive around town and maybe neighboring cities. I'm looking to re-build the 235 block/head stock and add a dual offy and fentons...maybe HEI if I can.

Many thanks in advance. I seem to have everything in line/planned except for this piece of the project. I am not familiar transmissions and this my first venture into an old chevy. Thanks!

Assuming that what you have is a three speed trans with side shift levers there is no real reason that it wouldn't work. That is also assuming that it is from a 53 and later chevy. You will need to find a three speed shifter and cut up the floor board to accept the shifter. Ibelieve the 53 bellhousing is the right one to use as it should be drilled for the bellhousing side mounts that the 37 car uses. You will have to do a little trimming on the rear cross member to clear the 235 oil pan and maybe also the front cross member to clear the vibration dampener.

In my opinoin a better trans to use is the T5 five speed from S10 V6 pickup or a camaro. If you use the pickup trans the shifter is in a better location. If you use the camaro trans the low gear ratio is more usable. Or the best of both is use a camaro trans and swap out an S10 tail housing to it which gets the shifter farther forward. The 5 speed will keep the engine in its good usable torque and rpm range at highway cruzin speed.

I run this combo in a 37 sedan with 3.73 rear end , p225-75-15 tires. 65MPH= 2200 rpm and 21 mpg

Good luck with your swap. Gael

To use an open driveline, you must be using a '55 or newer tranny, and a 55-62 car or 48-62 truck bellhousing.

'54 and earlier trannies are for tourque tube applications only.

If you want to stay with a foot operated starter, then you will need to go with a 48-59 truck bellhousing.

6 and 12 volt starters and flywheels can't be mixed, as the number of teeth is different. But, either setup can be used on 12 volts. 55-59 trucks are the only place where you would find a 12 volt foot starter, should you want to go that route.

You need to identify what you have for parts before you go any further. Casting numbers should be useful with a Hollander interchange manual. If you don't have access to one, post the numbers here and somebody will try to look them up for you.

I got info for the bellhousings and trans.

Bellhousing 1:
cast numbers- "C133" and then just a number "2" by itself not related to the C133 numbers.

Bellhousing 2:
all cast numbers- "E45" "GM 3702831"

Trans that was on Bellhousing 2 with the two bolts on the driver side:
Cast numbers- "T89B-1C W.G. DIV." and then stamped below "Q1"
then smaller cast numbers "2-11"

Thanks guys I appreciate the help.

Bellhousing #1: Not enough info, but if C133 is a date code, then it is for a '53, but car or truck?
If its for a truck, the lower 2 tranny bolt holes would not be threaded. Does the tranny bolt up ok?

Bellhousing #2: Couldn't find that number, but if E45 is a date code, then it would be for a '55. Should be fine, either car or truck.

Tranny: T89B is a heavy duty 3spd for trucks '54-60 according to Hollander. Are the lower 2 bolt holes tapped or are all 4 holes not tapped? Does it have a typical rubber lip seal on the end of the tailshaft, or does it have a tailshaft housing similar to what's under your '37, for bolting up the tourque tube collar?

What is the engine out of? if a '55 truck, 1st or 2nd series? they are different engines.

Posting or emailing pictures would clinch it, but I'm pretty sure everything you have is usable. It's just that you would need to get a floor shifter setup like Gael was saying.

Thanks! I know the tranny, yes the lower two bolt holes are tapped and it has an universal on it so it's not torque tube. I will post pictures as soon as I my buddy lends me his digicam.

The 235 I have is the late version. Sure turned out to be a difficult find (a few doors down from me, took me a few weeks to find, haha)

The way the shifter would hook up is what is confusing the heck out of me. Is there nice after market shifters that would allow me to keep an original look??

Thanks again

If it has the two lower bolt holes threaded, it is from a pickup. If your bellhousing lower holes are threaded, you will either have to drill out the holes on the trans or the lower holes on the bellhousing to 1/2". It will work then. When you say it has 2 bolts on the driver's side, are you talking about the shifter shafts?? All the old non-synchronized 3spd's have 2 shafts sticking out. They are about 5/8 or 3/4" in diameter and are two different lengths, but i think they are Muncies. Your BW Gear Div. is Borg Warner. I am not familiar with those. All the fully synchronized Muncies have 2 short shafts with bolts holding the shift levers on. As to not being able to use it, I can't think of any reason except the shift linkage might interfere with your brake master cylinder. If this didn't confuse you too much, maybe it will help. Joe

Hurst Indy floor shifter for trucks. I think they retail for about $80. Try Jegs, Summit, JC Whitney, etc....

well thanks guys I have grown more familiar with this project thanks to all of you.

I have decided to run the T5 out of an 87 S-10.
nothing has been installed yet, I'm still working on the necessary mods to get it to slide in and bolt up.

I've read the posted T5 articles about ten, probably more, times each but have a couple of questions-

On the throw out bearing collar- Do I trim this back to the 3-speed length or just take it back about one inch?

With the trans and clutch disc bolted up, no pressure plate, What clearance am I looking to have the clutch disc slide back? about 3/16ths of an inch??


Thanks again.