first off, hi, my name is josh i've been lurking here for over a year. i have a 63 belair im trying to get running before april so i can drive it to the lonestar roundup. its all original, got it from a friend who's grandpa bought it new. so far ive rebuilt the 283 and now im getting to the trans. i has the stock aluminum powerglide, but im thinking of going to a th350. its a four door so its going to be a family cruiser. what is involved in the swap? save for a different yoke it seems almost direct swap. is it worth the change or should i just have the p/g rebuilt? i have searched a lot on here and a lot of people have different opinions. the th350 seems like a good choice for a big car. i still have other work on the car to do, so i dont want to spend a lot of time fiddling with the swap if it isn't worth it. btw the trans measures rounghly about 26" bell to tail( i didnt have a straightedge handy for a better measurement) opinions? suggestions? sorry for the ignorance, i'm not much of a chevy guy.
I put one in a '65 Impala, and other than the yoke it was a bolt-in. The shifter even worked, but the detents were wrong. Took some getting used to. I made a longer shift arm on the trans. by eyeball, it worked in P,R,N,and D. 1st and 2nd were hard to find. If I'd kept it I'm sure some work with a file on the shifter detents would have fixed it.
Cost wise you'll be better off doing a turbo. Short tailshaft 350. I did my old 63 this away cause the trans guy said it would be much cheaper. Was not sorry after it was on the road again.. IMHO
You'll probably like the 350 much better. My experience with powerglides is they're good for around town, but having an extra gear will help on the highway. here's a chart showing size comparison. Looks like you'll have to shorten your drive shaft. But your transmission mount point is the same.
I've posted this before, but it's probably easier just to type it again. Swapped the p/g out of my 57 bel air to the th350. My 283 came out of a 64-68 p/u so should be almost exact to what you have. The only difference was my p/g was cast iron. Not sure if the alum p/g has a bell housing on it, but the cast iron did not, so there was an adapter to mate them. I had to remove the adapter from the block, replace the flexplate, torque convertor, trans cooler lines, install a tail shaft crossmember, replace the yoke on the driveshaft, and replace the starter. The 57 had front motor mounts, so I had to install side motor mounts. If you have headers you might have to use a 153 tooth flexplate and a mini starter for clearance. I think I ended up removing about 3/4" of driveshaft also, but might not be necessary. It just seemed like it would bind if the axle bottomed out. I also completely removed the p/g mounts, but you might be able to leave them if you have thoughts of reinstalling the p/g someday.
I guess it depends on what you plan to do with it. If it's just going to be a family cruiser, for the sake of simplicity i'd just use the 'glide. Nothing wrong with them to begin with and will probably be cheaper in the long run. Plus your final drive is still 1:1 with either. I had a few stock Impala's with glides that worked fine..One as a daily for a number of years. To upgrade, a shifter will need to be bought, i'm pretty sure the glide is shorter than the 350 ( only a little, about 1/2" or so at the mount for the short 350), so the trans mount may have to be moved/modified and the front half of your driveshaft may have to be shortened as well. unless you have enough room for the yoke to slide into the trans without it binding..the converter will be different as well.. Just my 2 cents or course..but i like thing's simple..I'd just run the glide.
No difference in the power slide and the TH350 on the highway. Both are geared 1 to 1 in high gear. Better take off with lower first gear. I put a 350 in a 62 Impala back in the 70's and loved it. Go for it.
i do like the idea of staying with the glide for simplicity sake. rebuild it and bolt it back in, but i like the idea of the lower first gear. found a guy around here with 350 from a 66 nova rebuilt with 1500 miles, torque converter, shift kit, cooler, and dipstick for $300. add in $125+/- to shorten the drive shaft + a new yoke. doesn't seem like a bad idea.
I can completely understand why the idea is there. Mine both worked great, but i'll admit it would have been nice to be able to move out a little quicker Like what's been said, it's not a big deal to swap.. Especially considering how close they are in size.. And 300 for a trans you know is rebuilt and good, with all the goodies.. Kinda be crazy not to step up..that's a gooood deal.
As stated, a PG to 350 swap is almost a bolt in. The shifter linkage will need work and a new input yoke is required. The 350 is about 3/4" longer than the PG. You "can" use the driveshaft the way it is, but there's a chance it could bottom out and damage the rear seal causing a small leak. On the street, the 350 is a huge improvement over the PG. You wont be disappointed..... But if you really want to get fancy, you could go for a 200r4 swap. The 200 has 4 forward gears, a lower first, and an overdrive, along with a lockup converter. While a 200 swap would be more expensive, it could pay for itself in fuel savings if you drive the car a lot.
Sell the glide to some crazy drag races and get some of your cash back. it's a good swap. You won't regret it.
i think i'm sold on the 350. even with shortening the driveshaft, i'll come out cheaper than building the 'glide, plus i could get some back form selling the 'glide.
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