Talked to a guy with a T Bucket for sale. It had a old school 283 Chevy with a Power Glide. What is the good, the bad and the ugly on a Power Glide?
Assuming it is an aluminum model: Pro, light, simple, rugged. Con, two speeds. All in all, a decent choice for a light weight car with plenty of torque.
not enough information....could be cast iron, could be aluminum, could be all stock, could be modified, who knows? But as much as you're likely going to drive a T bucket, it probably doesn't matter much.
Friend had a 57 convertible when I was in HS, and he ran the hell out of it all the time. Wound out 1st to ungodly RPMs, and hit 2nd hard every time he drove it, never missed a lick. We got used to hearing that little 283 screaming in 1st, never was a problem. In a car as light as a T, I don't think it'll matter only having 2 speeds.
The aluminum Powerglide is a darned good transmission. The only "problem" is that they are only two speed. However, Chevrolet sold millions of cars with Powerglides and most people didn't mind the two speed thing. When I taught automatic transmission rebuilding, I always started with the Powerglide as it is a very simple transmission.
When I was bracket racing, the rumor was a car under 3000 pounds was quicker with a Glide than with a 3 speed automatic.
Isn't that something. I heard the opposite. What the heck. Rumor has it I've been wrong before. All those who pulled out a perfectly good transmission to get an extra gear that you didn't need, or fully understand at the time what it was doing for you, or not, raise a hand. Talk about brain washing. It was turbo 350 or nothing. Hot rodding 101 was upgrade. Glides were scrap metal. It sold the 1/4 mile business model of seconds counting. And they do. But that's where the lines crossed. Not so much these days. There is really no good bad or ugly. But good, It works or it don't. The bad, compared to a modern transmission, extra gears and expense when fixing. But if there is an ugly, it's hammering on the gas pedal looking for speed, there is nothing to kick down to for gears, and the 283 wasn't built with the high reving balls to pass that semi while driving up the grade they call a hill.
The reason a PG is faster in a <3000 lb car is because one less shift and also less blowing off the tires at the line. With modern high stall torque converters being very effective at torque multiplication a lower 1st gear is not required. Back to original question. A light T bucket will do fine with a PG. Just hope it's the aluminum version, not the old cast iron.
The old cast iron version will work fine, too, until it doesn't, and then it'll be "fun" to get it fixed. It's not real difficult, just kind of strange, the way it's built. Did my first at age 16, it worked better when I got done with it (second gear went away, as the drum bushing wore out, and it needed a new valve body to fix it)
We had a Super Gas car in the 80s that ran a 440 Mopar backed by a Powerglide. Good set up in that capacity. It got "stressed" regularly and was vary reliable.
Ran glides in all my tbuckets, pretty much idiot proof(that means it survived me). Even ran a trick one in my Supermodified, minus torque converter. Nice weight saver.
The over under 3000 lb thing was due to available gearing at the time. Glides had a 1.76 low gear, iirc, later aftermarket lower first gear ratios became available, so heavier cars started using them.
V8 PG used 1.76 first gear. 6 cyl PG used 1.82 first gear. Otherwise essentially the same. But agree aftermarket lower gear are available as well. In my OT drag car ( no longer have) i ran 1.82 PG with a BBC. Hardened 300M input shaft and turbo spline since i had THM converter. Also went to trans brake in PG. Replaced T350 since i was breaking them. Never broke the PG.
I drove a ‘62 Nova with a 6 and PG a few times back in the early ‘80’s. It was a dog compared to my OT Ford with a 200 6 and C4.
I know this might be off topic,but Jim Hall of Chaparral fame ran a few in his race cars,don't remember trans failure.
I have aluminum glide in my 36 and I can spin my tires whenever I want.. With a manual shift I can hit 90 in first gear...I run 3:73 gears. I'd recommend that as well.
Poor man's Lenco I'm running the 6-cylinder cast iron Slide and Glide in my I6 FED, as a shorty version. The only downside is that no-one makes an aftermarket input shaft for the 6-cylinder version (uprated aftermarket V8 internals otherwise fit). It has a short length of input spline (most of the shaft length is covered up in convertor boss). It should be good for around 400-500 ponies, but above that will run the risk of stripping those splines. Cheers, Harv
Dooley, I had a 64 corvette coupe, it weighed 3,075 lbs. It was a stout 300 327 with a glide and 3.73's. It also would run 90 in low if you manually held it in and when you shifted it it would run like hell above a hundred mph I saw 130 on it many times. That's when it got front end light. lol. It had a B&M shift kit in it but was stock otherwise. Never got outrun by the muscle cars back in 72. Lippy
A aluminum 2 speed power glide is great for drag racing, the 2 speed seems to lack something ,, that extra gear. HRP
I considered one for the Whatever project, but then was given a T10 and a T5. Then I got T10 parts from Alaska, and another T5 local. But I'm still thinking that a 1.75 low pg might be a solution to space problems. Good to see some opinions...
I made a T bucket friend at a show in Reno. He told me how he had become happy ( after trying other combos ) with a Pglide, 2500 stall converter, and cheater slicks. That is why I keep a Pglide in my garage. Some day... The real question here is when do you plan to test drive it?
My left nut still remembers the old iron units. I had the aluminum ones in more than a few cars and I liked them. The latest was in a '68 Impala that worked well.
Probably more drag races have been won with a PG trans than any other model. My Model A pickup has a 283 & PG w/ 3.23 rear gears; it runs damn good on the street, I don't miss a low gear at all. The pickup only weighs 2160 lbs.
A lightweight car like a bucket T is probably the only place I'd be OK with a Powerglide for a street car. I disliked those Powerglides back when I owned my first '57 Chevy in 1967, and was tickled when they came out with the TH350 and TH400 trans!
That. And nine-inch Ford rear ends. I use PGs in my three drag roadsters. They can be made bulletproof. The best thing to ever happen to the Powerglide is the advancement of high stall speed torque converters. They will perk up the response of a PG when driven hard or will be very docile when driven relatively gently on the street. If I were to use one on a street car I recommend a stall speed of around 3000 RPM.
I have a crazy idea of putting one behind a 500 Cadillac engine in my slingshot. Your ideas and input would be highly appreciated.
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