hey all, need to overhaul a '57 turbo glide. long story, but trans was slow to go into gear, or not at all at times, and looks to have ingested some water/moisture. pulled pan, had what looked to be a small amount of clutch material in it and fluid looked 'too pink', not milk shake, but funny just the same. i have experience with newer GM ******'s, but was wondering what needs to be specifically looked at, by that, i mean other than an obvious point of failure. the one mistake i did make was to not do a pressure test before removal, but the car did/would move when it felt like it. any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks, tbill
My uncle worked for chevrolet in the 50s .he did those transmissions i remenber him telling me they had 75 updates in one year they were junk .to make a long story short they were nothing but nightmares . Find a good powerglide
It must be a very rare one! To my knowledge, the turboglide first came out in 1958 not 1957. Might have been made in 1957 for a 1958 Chevy.
Unless you're a purist and it's going into a 100% resto, don't bother. Find a newer trans and be much happier. Spend the money you will save on beer or parts. Give the turboglide to a buddy that has a boat, and say "Here's your new anchor!!!"
Garbage. I put a TH350 in my '57 Chevy and was MUCH happier. Same length as the Turboglide too. I think I just had to change the yoke. Very easy swap with parts from Danchuk
lol other than the obvious choice of chucking it, i really gotta fix this thing. it's in a 57 rag top with a 2x4 283, mostly original, and it still sports that huge *** UFO looking air filter ***embly. i don't think a ****** swap is on the list for this one so, on a serious note, can anyone add some comments? i already figure it's going to be a twice in and out before i get it right [lol], so any help really would be appreciated on a side note, if i owned it, it'd be a 572 BB with a 4 speed and a 12 bolt, but hey, what do i know, hahaha... thanks again for any insight you can offer, tbill
if its a factory turboglide car it never came with the 2x4bbl engine... only made with the 2bbl and 4bbl engines when new. Chevy knew the turboglide could not handle the extra power the hi-performance engines made and never offered the turboglide as an option with these engines...
i never gave that a thought to be honest, i guess i'd better do some research to see what is what. although thus far all the engine stuff seems 'spot on' for what it's in, and what's bolted on the engine. i haven't looked at the case closely, but did they stamp vin info and the like on these older ******'s?
Guess most people that bought a 57 were smart enough not to get the turboglide! I have only seen them in 58's... But like they say "live and learn each day" Thanks for the info.
OK, here goes! The Turboglide wasn't one of GM's better transmissions, especially the 57 models. The main problem with the 57 Turboglides were the cone clutches used for the forward, neutral and reverse clutches. The HR (hill retarder) or GR (grade retarder) clutches were disc paks. The cone clutches were fine as long as they were applied with no movement of the car. If they were applied with the car moving even slightly, the clutches could not hold properly. In 1958 models GM eliminated two of the cone clutches and replaced with disc clutch paks. The remaining cone clutch still gave problems, so in 1959 all clutches were disc clutch paks. The transmission from 59 to 61 was now pretty reliable, but still did not have the efficiency of step gear type transmissions such as Powerglides. Therefore they were discontinued in 62. You might try a new vacuum modulator and see if that helps too. Try this link, even though it is for 58-60: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/trans/60tg/index.htm
There was a rebuild kit on that auction site we all know and love, I was surprised. Had a friend in high school (66-69) that had a 57 210 Del Ray 283 4 barrel with a Turbo glide. His parents bought the car new, and when they finally gave it to him, the first thing he did, was convert it to a 3-speed manual. I bought the car from him for the engine and trans after I blew the 265 in my second 56. I knew a lot of people that converted to Powerglides that had Turbo Glides, but if you need to keep that trans for an original car, you gotta do what you gotta do. I thought the torque converters on those things were what made the cars with Turbo Glides "shift", not there was any noticeable shifting. Butch/56sedandelivery.
well, after some research, this car did infact come with a 2x4 set up and the turbo glide. to my suprise, after some discussion, we are going to convert this over to a th350. looks like the turbo glide will become a home for dust bunnies under a bench. will let you all know how it turns out. thanks again for all your input, tbill
About the only good thing with TurboGlide cars was that they had block mounted starters. By the way....They are called TurkeyGlides, around here.
Turboglide and Flightpitch had a good idea, but lacked in the p***ing and hard acceleration areas. Nowadays the CVT's do have the ability to downshift to a lower gear for the p***ing and takeoff requirements, but they behave quite weird. If GM had incorporated a governor and a way of releasing the 3rd turbine from output shaft when p***ing ability was needed they may have been successful. My Flightpitch works well, because of the high torque of the nailhead engine. 283 Chevys don't have much in low end torque, therefore not much in the way of acceleration.
Having the 1st generation Turboglide might be someone's collectors item, or restoration item. Remember, these beasts have cone clutches and someone out there might need internal parts for a rebuild.
I had a friend of mine who had a 58 Impala, 348 4 barrel and turboglide, bought it off the original owner in 65, car was beautiful,had 35,000 miles on it, always garaged, trans lasted exactly 1 month, converted it to a 3 speed manual, never looked back.
well, the th350 is in. had some issues with the brackets/mounts, but got it sorted out. NOW the issue i have is the tv cable. as the car is a 2x4 set up, i got no way to hook the tv cable up. it has dual carters on it with the stock mechanical linkage for throttle. as we all know, the tv cable bracket puts the cable end in the middle of the intake where it would be for a single carb. i don't have enough room to try to move it further back as the motor is pretty close to the firewall. going to do some surfing for possible bracketry solutions, but has anyone run into this before? and if so, what'd ya use to make it work? thanks again, tbill
get a longer cable for a straight 6 cyl car (nova/camaro from the 70s), and hook it up to the front carb?
There is not a TV cable on a TH350. There is a detent cable that will force a 2-1 or 3-2 downshift. It is not necessary to hook it up.
That's funny, same thing my Uncle JR said in 80 when I did my first 57 Chev, Hell, I thought I had a rare thing, He was the head guy at the Chevrolet Dealership in Oxford, Ohio...I did what he siad...never looked back!
Press and go as we use to call them when I was a kid. Had 75,000 on mine back then. No shift between gears, just press ond go.
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