I purchased a 1950 Olds trans for the purpose of installing in my 51 Buick for elimination of the torque tube. I have a spare Buick 3 speed and planned to swap internals. Both are 5 bolt top cover. My main question is how is an Olds trans tail shaft supported in an Olds of this year? Now that I have the animal in front of me there seems to be no place to secure the tail shaft of the Olds trans to the existing trans cross member on the Buick frame. The Olds tail shaft shows no signs of a mount of any kind and the pictures that I have tried to find have been of no help. Did the trans just hang off the engine? In some picture I have seen where it looks as though the Olds engines have an engine mount closer to the rear which may help the weight of the trans but I find it hard to believe that the bolts securing the trans to the engine are all that it needs. Ultimately I realize I may need to fabricate something but knowing what was original may give me an idea of a starting point. Any insight you Olds or Buick guys who have pulled this off can give me would be appreciated.
There is no transmission cross member on an Olds or Pontiac from that era. Like a '55- 57 Chevrolet the Transmission hangs off the bellhousing. My '57 Pontiac is a three speed stick and it just hangs off the bellhousing. KK
Olds engines of that era had bell housing motor mounts. I would think you could fabricate a mounting plate that bolts to the trans using the tailhousing bolts to attach it. Ray
^^^^agreed. 50 Olds had two tranny crossmembers, one for std and one for hydramatic. The 2 tranny mounts were at an angle and attached to the lower part of the bell housing. Crossmembers show up often on Ebay. I have built my own crossmembers and attached the tranny at the rear of the case where the tail stock attaches much like the Hurst mount did back in the day. I used a Turbo350 tranny mount at the crossmember.
Here are both animals that I have side by side. Buick on the left. What I think to be a 1950 Olds on the right. They are identical other than the tail shaft and input shaft. Again both are 5 bolt top covers and all the holes measure up. If I recall correctly from all the reading I have done the 3 speed manual transmissions from Olds, Pontiac, and Buicks from 49-52 are the same except for the tail shaft on the Buicks. My understanding is that I can take the internals of the Olds or Pontiac and place them in the Buick housing or vice versa along with the Olds or Pontiac tail shaft and the Buick input shaft to allow me the open drive. I was unaware that the Pontiac and Olds transmissions did not have the same mounting point or system. Knowing that the straight 8 needs to be support at the rear when removing the transmission it seems that the easiest solution would be to fabricate bracketry by welding to the tail shaft of the Olds/Pontiac and utilizing the Buick mount and member support assuming that the heights allow for it. Would love your thoughts on it. Anyone out there made this adaptation or pictures?
Can you post better pictures with both transmissions in the same orientation, top, bottom and sides? That is deffinately not a 1950 Oldsmobile transmission which would not work even if it was.
I agree with Paul's comments regarding that not being a '50 Olds transmssion. It could be either earlier than, or later than a '50, as the '50, to the best of my knowledge is a one year only gearbox in Olds. I am no authority on these, but I bought a '55 Olds tranny a few years ago, a 6 bolt top cover that was behind a 324 V8. I suspect your gearbox, being 5 bolt, came from a 6 cylinder model. That works in your favor in the sense that it will bolt to your Buick bell housing as is. Does not work that way with a 6 bolt trans to five bolt equipped car as the there are several dimensional differences, including the pattern where it bolts to the bell. One thing I have not researched is, whether a bell housing from a Buick 320 straight eight (which used 6 bolt cover trannies) will fit a 248/263 block. If it would, that would go a long way toward swapping to the heavier duty 6 bolt cover trans. As for swapping parts to eliminate the torque tube, I am in the same camp. I have two elderly Buicks, a '38 and a '41. The '38 runs fine, the '41 has a undiagnosed serious driveline problem. But the greater issue is the ridiculously low rear end gearing.....4.40/1. I acquired a '41 Pontiac trans with the idea that I could do what you are considering. Swapping whatever bits are necessary to end up with an open drive and replacing the rear axle with a more driveable gear ratio. But that has been a back burner project on both cars and my current thinking is to replace both the trans and read ends in both cars. Looking forward to seeing your progress on this project. Oh, I would recommend fully exploring using a bolt on mount bracket at the back of the main case where the tail housing attaches rather than welding. Welding on the cast iron is certainly doable, but you will have to fabricate the mount bracket either way. Ray
I cleaned up the pic a bit to help out. Not a 50 Olds V8 for sure but I would have grabbed that yoke from it while there. 50 Olds was a one year tranny, had a short tail stock. It's internals and it's tail was often used with a 37 Lasalle transmission to get later internals and a short tail stock. 51+ went to the selector tranny with BOP and to my knowledge were all 6 bolt covers. Buick input shaft was a bit longer if I recall correctly. The gut and tail stock from the 51+ Olds/Pont selector can be used in a 37 Buick 6 bolt tranny to get a floor shift and open drive line with stouter gears etc. some mods to the tail stock required for fitment.
I believe the 6 cyl Olds, last made in '50 or '51 (model 76) used the 5 bolt cover trans as did 6 cyl Pontiac in the early '50s which were, of course, open drive line. Buick continued the TT 5 bolt cover trans on 248/263 straight 8 thru '53 and 264 V8 in '54/'55 and maybe even longer, although I thought they switched to 6 bolt with the larger (322 up cu in and up) engines. I suppose it MAY be possible that the trans represented as '50 Olds is what is claimed, though from a 6 cyl car. I am thinking the '50 Olds V8 model is the one year only version that used the Cad/LaS compatible gearbox. Ray
I stand corrected, the transmission with the open driveline tail in the picture above does look like the Olds 6 cylinder syncromesh from 1950. This based on 1950-1951 Oldsmobile shop manual.
Here are some more and hopefully better pics of the transmissions. Whatever it is...it looks like it will work.
That's a GM selector transmission, came on the small series Buicks and other GM cars. Not very strong. Hard to find a floor shift for it, and when you do they are expensive. Do a search on here on how to make a shifter for it. Lots of info here on the Hamb about it.
My goal is to keep the three on the tree. I like the novelty and nostalgia of it. I just want to eliminate the leaky torque tube and put in an open drive to allow me a more highway friendly gear somewhere in the 3:2 or 3:4 range. I was surprised to find that right now I have a 3:6 rear end which my understanding was a rare option (most were 3:9 or 4:1 I think per the manual) OR the rear end was changed and some point. I have a rear end out of an S-10 that is a 3:42 which I am contemplating. I do not have trailing arms for it though. I have heard that the Caprice rear ends out of the police packages of the late 80's and early 90's have the eight width and the gearing I am looking for. If I am not mistaken both would allow me to use my stock wheels. Late 70's El Camino springs to lower it is my hope. Lots of geometry and physics. Hope it comes together. BJR what are you running in your Buick? What part of WI are you in?
FWIW, I recently ran into a running driving 55 Buick Special 2 door post car with a late model Nailhead ( not sure if it was a 401or 425), 700R4 transmission and an open drive rear end. Probably could be bought in the 10K range. Body and trim in decent shape but needs work and paint to finish. Any interest let me know.
This is a '49 to '54 "Pontiac'' transmission ! It has a longer input shaft than your Buick so you 'will' need to change that; everything else should be identical except perhaps the external shift levers which can be swapped. -- As far as the mounting ( see other comments here ) ''you'' need to determine a strategy; to either fabricate a rear mounting that is as sufficient as the original -or- completely re-design your mounting system. ( You have 2 engine mounts on the sides & 1 mount on the tranny. Pontiac ( & Olds )- like a '55-'57 Chevy- had 2 rear engine mounts on the bell housing; eliminating the need for a mount on the tranny.
Some of the Pontiac input shafts are shorter than the Olds. The Olds selectors input shaft is 8 inches measured from the front of the case, Buicks and many Pontiacs are shorter at 6 + inches. There is an active thread here that discloses all of this https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...iac-gears-tail-housing.1095970/#post-12439080
SIXHUNDRED SIXTEEN, & VTWHEAD thanks for the info! This will be very beneficial. My current thought is to fabricate a bracket to bolt to the tailshaft and integrate it with the Buick trans support member suggested by Ray. Just got my hands on a early 90's Roadmaster rear end with drums, e-brake, driveshaft, sway bar and control arms. Still processing the Geometry lesson.
@Skankin' Rat Fink has a shifter for that tranny that he is not using and is selling. Very rare and hard to find. It is an Ansen that has been modified over the years. He ran it in his 54 Pontiac but is switching to a 37 Buick box at the moment FWIW. And to add to the fodder I have this home engineered unit that works on the bench but has not been used in an actual application if you are into something unique. Would have a reversed shift H pattern but in high the shifter would be away from the seat and towards the dash.......how neat is that for leg room!
I'm wondering how this ended? I have a 54 nailhead and buick 3 speed 5 bolt that I'm trying to convert to fit a normal drive shaft for my model A project. The chassis I built has a dana 44 from a 56 ford. Has anyone made the torque ball work with a modern drive shaft?
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