51 buick straight 8 help needed

I have a 51 buick 263 motor with a dyna flow trans I Have purchased a 263 motor that had a manual trans on it. I have changed the bell housing with no isssues but I have a issue with the crank center is smaller than torque converters center.is there a different converter that will work or any other fixes?

 

I'm pretty sure you will have to use the crank from the dynaflo motor. There are no easy fixes that I know of.

 

If the engine is not in the car take to a machine shop and have it drilled out.
Had to do that on an AMC engine to install the torqueflite tranny in it.

 

Just another though is there still a pilot bearing or bushing in the end of the crank that needs to be removed?

 

It does have a bearing in but still looks small

 

You will soon discover that the flywheel for the manual transmission does not fit the Dynaflow crank flange. Different bolt pattern if I recall. You can get it all machined to work, but will probably end up taking the crank out to have it done. At that point, if the crank in the manual trans motor is serviceable, you should consider using it instead of going to the expense of the machine work. I have a pair of DynaFlow cranks hanging on the rack, took me three tries to get one from a manual trans car.

 

maybe there is a forum for that kind of car. they were not part of the traditional hotrod world

 

http://www.teambuick.com/forums/content.php

 

Lots of good info here for future reference when I go to build my '52 special. If I had known back when how beautiful the early'50s Buicks are my first car probably would have been a '52 Buick instead of the '55 Chevy.

 

Lemme see, this forum is full of threads about Hudsons, Nashes, Packards, DeSotos and even one about a Bugatti with a Deuce body but straight eight Buicks aren't trad. BTW, lots of guys were running them back then. Some guy named Sam Barris chopped one in the fifties, but maybe it had a SBC in it

 

http://www.teambuick.com/forums/sho...nces-auto-vs-manual-with-pics&highlight=crank
cranks are different. I know there are threads on team buick about machining.

 

I would look closely to see if there is a bushing AND a bearing in the manual crank. When I swapped the manual from a 1956 322 V8 to a 1954 264 V8 that originally came mated with a Dynaflow I had to swap over the bushing and bearing from the manual crank and put them in the auto crank but it did not require any machining. Also the flywheel bolted up fine too. I would THINK the straight 8 would use the same crank bolt pattern as the V8 as from what I heard the 264 V8 was meant to be a direct replacement for the straight 8 but that is purely an educated guess.

Ryland

EDIT: Also, looking at the picture in the link posted by LONG that further supports my guess the crank is the same between the 263 and the 264.

 

Been there, done that, bought the T shirt. The cranks are different. The Dynaflow crank has no provision for a pilot bushing. I don't know if the bolt pattern is the same or not. When I did mine, I called Hank The Crank to see if he could machine the crank for me. He had a stick shift Buick crank in back that the owner never picked up. I got it for the cost of the regrind

 

Can I just swap the cranks

 

Yes

 

Thanks guys

 

Short answer is yes. If they are both in fact 263s.

Ben