I may be a bit ahead of myself here but now that I'm tearin down the truck I noticed it has a cast iron bellhousing between the small block and 3spd. Future plans call for a 4spd. It's a Chevy after all but am I going to need to look for a specific trans or will most any do? If these cast iron bells are rare or some shit like that maybe I'll just sell that stuff and look for more updated items. Will any car 4spd work? Like I said I may be a bit premature with these ??s. Any help's appreciated. Any of you GMBs got any 4spds you're tripping over? I don't need anything ultra trick, just as long as it shifts 4 times. Thanks.
a little more info about what you're tearing apart would help....like what year is it? Chevy used iron bellhousings on trucks from 55-72, they had mounting ears at the bottom so the bellhousing sat on a crossmember. The bottom holes for the trans are not threaded, so if you put a car 4 speed in it you need to use bolts and nuts on the bottom holes (truck transmissions have the bottom bolts go in from the front, the trans is threaded). Also the center hole size changed in about 1968, it got a bit bigger when they switched from the SM420 to the SM465 granny 4 speed trans. Some of the 3 speed truck transmissions had a bigger bearing retainer to fit the new design bellhousing. So, you need to see how big that hole is, make sure it matches the trans you want to install, if the bellhousing is from a 68-72 truck. Other than that, you can put a car 4 speed on there no problemo.
I don't remember exactly but it is a 54 or 55 Series One that he had for sale a while back. I think it was running a 305 in a pretty stock frame and set up. He's finally going to make it a runner instead of looking at it out of his dining room window. Or at least thats what he's telling folks!
So, its OK to put a tranny with a smaller bearing retainer in a bellhousing that has the bigger hole?
I've been runing an iron bellhousing for ever that does not have the mounting pads on it and all 4 holes are threaded. It accepts the big flywheel (168 teeth and 11" clutch) and uses a 3 bolt iron nose starter. Has had everything bolted to it from an early non sync 1st gear 3 speed to a Doug Nash 5 speed. Have also used the early flat forged steel release fork and also the later stamped steel bent release fork. It is an incredibly vesatile bell housing. Having said that ,I must mention ,I have not tried the small diameter flywheel in it.I expect that would require a different starter,but not certain.
There were some car manual trans bellhousings made in the late 50s-early 60s that used the 3 bolt starter, they were iron, and did not have the mounting ears at the bottom. Putting a car trans in a large hole truck bellhousing may work ok, or it may cause the trans to jump out of high gear....depending on your luck. Mine has been bad.
Anybody have any Idea what car hydro slave bellhousing will work with a saginaw 4spd on a 327? Or I could use an internal slave on my car bellhousing...hmmm
Ok kids, here's what I got: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/Highlander809/truck_project040.jpg Here's what it's in: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/Highlander809/truck_project045.jpg and it will most certainly be finished out like this one day: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/Highlander809/truck_project015.jpg The last one is the deck from the GTO I'm doin at work. Yeah squirrel it's the truck stuff. Currently a 3spd. Need one more gear, huh?
You mean THIS smart assed reply, Jocko? I don't know what the 307 truck has for a clutch set up but it will have a bell housing one of us might want. Good to see you've pushed it inside and gotten busy on it. Let me know when you're popping the cab and I'll be there to help. I'm here until about the 20th then back about the 3rd or so.
Thanks bro, you rock. I love 307s. I never met one I didn't like. Yeah hard at it for a bit. Gotta get it on it's back and build a floor. Can't very well host a HAMB chop if it ain't ready. Gotta have a stick trans in it. With the body off that's a good time to start sortin shit out. They're moving our whole division in Feb or Mar and I need to scarf up as much structural and sheet steel as possible during the clear out. Sure feels good to be at it for meself again. Back on topic, later model 4spds ok in any of the later iron bells? Indexing hole seems to be the deciding factor, mounting bolts need consideration. May be later truck afterall. Once I sweep up tomorrow I'll jack it up and try to de-code some of it.
have gone both ways here...cut down bearing retainer to fit early/small bellhousing and made spacer to bush up to late/large bellhousing...never had a problem either way..just find a buddy with a lathe and get busy !!
gone both ways here...turned down bearing retainer to fit early small bellhousing and bushed up to fit big late bellhousing..never had ant problem either way..we do some pretty weird stuff to get the final ratio we want for our dirt track cars.. so find a buddy with a lathe and get busy !! p.s high, do myou have an adjustable pivot in there?? i cant tell by the pics...LOL
JUST USE THE SPEEDWAY MOTORS HYD THROW OUT BEARING. WORKS LIKE A CHAMP AND USE A SMALL TILSON MASTER CYLINDER ON THE CLUTCH PETAL.
"p.s high, do myou have an adjustable pivot in there?? i cant tell by the pics...LOL " If you look real close...
looks to me like you have a 55-65ish car 3 speed trans on a 55-67ish truck bellhousing...from what I can see here. should not have any problems putting a muncie, saginaw, or T-10 (from a chevy) 4 speed on it. Driveshaft yoke splines will most likely be different, and if you have the short version of the 3 speed you'd need the driveshaft shortened to put in a 4 speed.
why not go for a t-5? tons of swap info on those conversions,millions of t-5's around. what kind of rearend gears are you running. with the t-5 you could run some gears that would wake up that 307 and still pull down some respectable gas milage.
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