HELP with an overdrive that just don't do...!

Hi, I am in desperate need of some help with an unidentified overdrive.

I am the proud owner of a '46 Merc imported from USA recently and have just started work on it to get it road legal in this country (UK). The manual three speed tranny jumps in second gear and as I wanted to change seals and generally check the Caddy 365 fit into the bird, I decided to pull the lot out in one go, seperate the box and have the gears checked out. Trouble is there is an overdrive attached to the back which wasn't functional when I bought the car and had somehow been disabled at some point in its previous life.

The question is does anyone know anything about these overdrives, has anyone got any literature on them, does anyone know how to seperate them from the tranny (I am buggered if I can work it out!), or can give any advice at all really! I know it is a big ask as I havent provided much detail really, but the folloewing is as much as I know;

The motor is a '56 365 Cadillac mated to the original(?) '46 manual 3 speed tranny.
The overdrive is operated by cable to the side of the box (this is damaged and not connected).

Anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

does it look sort of like this?



or different somehow?

 

Squirrel thanks for response, it does look similar but also different! The front of the overdrive where it mates to the tranny is very similar but from there back is different and something I forgot to mention which may or may not give a clue to its origins is that the car has a torque tube not open drive.

Any clues?

I will post a snap later cos as they say 'a picture paints a thousand words'!

 

If it has torque tube, has the bellhousing integral with transmission as in that picture, and looks like that picture except for the aft few inches of the overdrive, it's a 1940's Lincoln transmission. Uses a mix of cable and electric controls for automatic overdrive.
Check for a switch under the gas pedal, a mystery wire on your coil, an extra relay...should also have a cable control...if the OD had normal workings. It could also be a modified circuit employing a manual switch and a cable. Over drive will have R-10 cast into it I think.

 

Bruce, thanks for that, definitely has R10 cast into it.

 

Bruce
Photos now added if thats any help....thanks
ticks most of the boxes in what you are saying but there is no trace of any electrical controls anymore

 

Log on to the TOCMP website and search out the Borg-Warner Overdrive Manual. You can download it and read all about the assembly/disassembly and electrical controls for them. If you need more info than that, PM me...

Dan

 

OK...Is Lincoln. Full mechanical details are in the trans overhaul book, available in repro, and electric setup is detailed in also available Service bulletins...would be same electrically as any '40-60 US car with OD.
Hotrodded controls are in Petersen's old trans book, too...trans has govrernor and solenoid to control automatic function, you need a generic cable for mechanical on/off of system, and about a hatful of pushbuttons and relays, which can be modern generic stuff I think. By the way, your trans contains probably $700 worth of gears...

 

True enough Bruce.....provided that they are in ok condition. I do have a few sets of used Borg OD planetary and sun gears left. He needs to read that B-W service manual. It should help him with the disassembly.

 

Electric stuff you have: Protruding can pointed down is solenoid, and probably required some frame modifications to go in there. Aft is an upward pointed can, the governor, and somewhere I believe there will be a small switch I can see on the Merc trans but not the Lincoln pictures. All this plus a kickdown switch under gas pedal, and a relay with ignition interruptor, make overdrive a sort of automatic two-speed when engaged. A cable to the lever locks it out. All electric bits and wiring will be closely similar on all BW overdrive applications.