ive got a 55 chevy first series pickup with a 235 with 3 speed manual transmission floor mounted and want to change to an automatic, where do i begin?
decide what tranny you want. with a 6 cyl im presuming you want a powerglide or a turbo 350. youll need to remove your stick tranny. remove the pilot bearing in the crankshaft. find a transmission/torque converter/automatic flywheel bolt it up, buy/make a rear transmission mount have your driveshaft lengthened/shortened to compensate for the different tranny youll need a front driveshaft yoke for your selected transmission you will need a shifter and it would be easiest to take a new one out of the box and bolt it up, floor mounted. does that early 55 have an enclosed driveshaft? If so, you will need to put a different rear axle in. thats a general gist.
If you go with a modern trans, an adapter to the 235 is needed. And that gives you a place to bolt the starter to.
is it an swb or an lwb? It might be tough to find, but it would be easiest to find a whole pu with an OG powerglide setup--then you would have everything.
btw, this is very basic knowledge but if the OP doesnt know, a powerglide has 2 forward gears and a th350 has 3. they BOTH only have one reverse though