This is a really old post but figured I should bump this one instead of making a new thread... 54 chevy with a powerglide trans has a open driveline?? So I will not need to change the rearend in mine when I do the air ride? Will also work with the 200-4r conversion I will be doing?
if your running a 235 you will need a adaptor $$$ to run the 200R4 and thee days the s10 4x4 rear seems to be the most plentiful choice as the wrecking yards are full of them. the guys a www.chevytalk.com can give you all the info you need on the swap. good luck!
1954 cars have a torque tube, the first open drive Chevy passenger car was the 1955. Trucks it's older, '47 I think, but they usually have rediculous gears in them (4.11 or more) so you might want to swap that out just the same. 55-57 Chevy rearends are virtually identical, as far as swap purposes go. Question: If the Nova II rearend at 58" wide works well, is the S10 2WD rear still narrower than that? I thought I read in some of the umpteen thousand posts on this swap that they are too narrow because they're only 58" drum to drum. I probably should ask because I decided to scrap one of my S10s the other day (and it turned out the frame on it was shot anyways, it damn near broke in half) and it's sitting waiting for my buddy to make a trip in the direction of the scrapyard. I know with my '50, if a stock rear is just shy of 61" over the drums, it doesn't give a lot of clearance to the wheelhouses. Then again it would help if I sawed out the shitty homemade lips on the wheel arches, too, the bodywork on this car has to be seen to be believed. But even without that it looks to me like your typical 75-series tire is going to be a tight fit versus the stock skinny bias plies.
By accident I found another rearend that will swap into 49-57 Chevy cars - on another list I'm on a guy mentioned he bought a '65 Fury for parts and the seller only had a '55 Chevy rearend to use to make it a roller - and it bolted in. 1965-1968 Fury and Dodge Polara/Monaco I believe all share the same body platform and the same rearend. How it is width wise I don't know, but it should fit the 49-54 the same as 55-57 rearends do, just drill a new locator hole. If a guy was putting say a Volare front end into one of these, it would make having matching wheel bolt patterns all around real simple.
are powerglide rear ends desirable??? my 52 has one i am going to remove to convert to open driveline... any one wanna trade for a good 350 trans?
S10 is 7.5 Ring Gear. 7os and earlier 80s camaros shouldn't be very hard to find and they are definatly larger units. and exact fit as I personal experience with this set up in a 50 Bel Air. Vintage chevy stuff would probably be harder to find that smogger camaro stuff
PG rearend has a more favorable closed ratio, but I think it's the 53-54 that's the best of the closed rearends.
Can someone tell me if the 1951 chevy manual torque tube is the same length as automatic? I want to put the complete automatic torque tube and rearend from a 54 chevy in my 51 manual chevy. Need all the help i can get. thanks
Torque tube/rear ends are the same except for the gear ratios. Just swap the torque tube/third member, and leave the housing in the car, along with the brakes; just pull the axles out far enough to do the swap. The ENTIRE torque tube/third member/rear end housing don't have to be swapped. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I read the original poster used a 9" ford in his 51 but for the other guys reading this post...........I used a G-body [78 to 87 GM malibu, gran prix, buick regal and Olds gutlass] 7.5". 10 bolt in my 50 with the original sedan delivery springs. It was too narrrow for a no-offset wheel but worked great with my 8.5" Americans with a 1.5" positive offsett. I was able to sue a 285/70R15 under mine but even with some lip cutting, inner fender massaging the tires would rub a little around sharp corners or over dips with a full tank. I beat on this car [406 sbc with a 4 speed] and never broke the puny axle but the next owner blew the saginaw 4 speed....rear end still survived somehow.
Can someone tell me if the original 1954 chevy powerglide is a direct fit in the 1951 chevy? I have a 54 chevy parts car with powerglide and would like to put full drive train in a 51 chevy coupe. As of now the coupe has 3spd manual transmission. Want to use 54 stearing column too if possible.
You will need to do some fiddiling to get the steering column all set up. Unlike later cars, the worm gear shaft in the steering box goes all the way to the steering wheel. There is no coupler. Since you will want to use the outer tube/shifter/shift indicator from the P-Glide, you will need to swap that whole deal out. That outer tube is swaged into the steering box. I know of no way of getting it out, so that means swapping the column and box together. Be careful not to destroy your horn wire.
Great info!! Thanks alot. The 54 box is in good shape so i will swap it all at the same time. Thanks again.
To swap the 54 rear end into the 51, just swap out the torque-tube/third member, and not the entire rear end assembly; it will be easier and much faster. It would also be a good time to re-new the "ball" gaskets/shims while you're at it. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
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