I found a volvo overdrive unit that replaces the stock driveshaft ***embly. Heard any good or bad about it? What's the percentage overdrive? Thanks alot JP
I think Bluto runs one in his ~38 GMC. You might PM him about this. He's away from home so he might not reply in a couple of days.
Ratio will be about 0.7:1 either a D type or J type Lay**** unit, J type is stronger and identified by the internal operating solenoid. Artiki has used a Vlovo box on the back of his banger not sure if it's an Overdrive though.
I just recently sold my namesake Red Sled- a 1965 Volvo 122s 2dr. It had the M41 4spd + O.D. The OD unit is made by Lay****-DeNormanville (British), J-type. Provides about 27% overdrive. My car had 175,000 miles on it when I bought it from the original owner in 1977. It had 400,000 miles on it when I sold it to a buddy this past Spring. He got 34mpg on the trip home(why did I sell it?). It looks a little like a '54 Chevy. The OD unit looks a lot like a Gearvendors piece (actually vice-versa). Has a very common Ford spline. I know of a source for repair/service parts if needed. Should work great with a 'banger! Keep us posted.
Lay****-DeNormanville overdive units were also used on amc t-150 transmissions (tremec built 3-speed manuals in the same family as ford 3-speed top loaders) in the 1976-'81 era. a late friend of mine often touted the strength virtues of the Lay****-DeNormanville unit.
I had one built in the middle of the torque tube, with solenoid for my banger. Car is still not running, but its pretty cool and sneaky, simple set-up, and heard some people get $2500. for this
Bluto has a ford F150 3 speed+overdrive in his truck -but is replacing it with a Volvo overdrive 'box soon. The Volvo will not stand up to the power of the 302, so he's replacing it with a 248 or a 228. The 302 has too much power to get traction on Poland's roads
Hmm...interesting thread! I've got overdrive in the Volvo wagon that is out back, and I'm cutting up next weekend. I've never had a problem in my Volvo Turbowagons with the overdrive. They're great units. I may try to adapt this unit, also... Thanks for the idea.
Sawracer...go onto Ahooga.com and ask around on there. Loads of guys are running Volvo OD's inthe middle of their torque tubes, it's a cool conversion. There's a company called Mitchell that manufacture brand-new OD's for banger and they're about $2k, I believe the Volvo conversion waaay undercuts that. A lot of the guys prefer the Volvo unit to the Mitchell. Not 100% sure but I think Jim Brierley runs a Volvo OD on one of his cars, he'd be a good fella to ask.
I put one of those in my volvo 144 when i was young. It holded up for the 2,2 lit motor realy good. If you just connect the solenoid straight to a switch you can run it on all gears, even in reverse.
i have done this before my dad and i restore model a's and we did an install for a guy a while back the "kit" ****ed it was a good thing that we are both machinest it fits in the torque tube and it is held in by flanges after we remachined all the stuff to keep it concentric it worked awsome tk on a side note you could buy a mitchel and have a specificly designed unit that bolts in perfectly and performes the same way as the volvo for just a bit more $$$$
I was going to build a track-style '27 roadster using as many early Volvo components as possible. The Swede T. Would weigh 1200-1300lbs with about 200HP. But, I'm going the truck route instead. Go figure...
Whatever you do, don't run one of these units in reverse! Chances are it'll just jam up and not actually break anything, but the safest thing to do is run a backup switch that will disable the OD relay circuit when you engage reverse. Running this OD as a splitter can work.
Are they up to a V8 flathead? Or just bangers? LOL Seriously, any chance of PM or emailing some pics and details of your setup? Cheers.
I heard somebody in the east bay was doing a conversion to put the Volvo 740 era (the turbo 4's of that era were fairly powerful) OD ****** behind the Mopar flat 6's, but I don't have any details.
Is that on his Speedster, John? I was just wondering if the Volvo one would be up to the weight of my Tudor?
Not to highjack, but ... this could turn out to be another great tech post if someone with the knowledge in this subject were interessted in sharing .....please...anyone !? / primerkid
sawracer, there's a guy in the 4 ever 4 club name Larry McKinney. I remember back in the early 90's he did a volvo unit on his banger. It's a really cool way to go, just flip a swicth and go. He did it in the tourque tube, looked real nice and if I remember right he did a tech series of articles either in secrets of speed or the F.A.S.T. newsletter back then. I can get you his number if you want. He's in O.C.
Rem...I did a tech post about the Volvo swap earlier this year. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=168654 It would've been nice to use an OD trans but that would've meant severe ch***is work, the OD unit on the back of the trans would foul the centre x-member on an A and I wasn't prepared to get into that at that point. Chris uses a Volvo trans with OD in his grey roadster though that used to have the speedster engine in it, and it was more than up to the job. They are a very strong 'box.
Ok I have a unit like above mentioned ==gearvenders actually uses the same overdrive setup with their own adapters ==Not much hi tech just position it in the torque tube machine a shaft from pinion bearing to accept a sleeve to adapt to unit fab up the adapters n install it=works the same way with borg warner overdrives==Hope this helps out on the confusion, also it is not recommended to back up with overdrive engaged thanks Ken
Thanks Arti, I misread KoppaK's original post and thought you were using the T/Tube mounted overdrive. I fancied something to give me a bit more top end in the '34, without sacrificing low-speed usability.
John, is that like a Merc one? What make is the o/d unit? Is it integral with the box, or bolted on the rear? I want to keep my torque tube driveline, but wanted some more top end - doubt I could afford a Columbia rear or one of the Mitchell o/d units, so a DIY solution would be good! Cheers, Andy
I had one in a late 80's 940 turbo wagon. That unit was a Borgwarner design planetary deal with 65% over deal. It was behind a 4 speed with a push ****on on the shift lever. The enigne was hotted up a bit with a vacuum adjustment on the blow off valve that held it closed for more boost. I believe the stock motor was 160 HP with the mods 180 to 190. Engine rpm at 75 in OD was 2800 or so. Never a lick of trouble, didn't need to clutch it just let off the gas a bit push the ****on feel the engagement then nail it again. This one had a lockout that provided only 4th gear engagement but its just a switch. Basically a heavy duty clutch like for an AC compressor. If you're running a irs, some simple bracketry might let you mount right in front of the diffy.
I have one in the "Stupid Car" and love it. It has about a 27% o.d. Mine was build by some guys in Bakersfield who are at some of the swap meets. It mounts in the torque tube and is controlled by a electric push/pull switch I have mounted on the dash. My T body does not have a drivers door, so I didn't want to crawl out over yet another lever sticking out of the floor as the Mitchel would have required.
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