37 Packard Trans??

Anyone know anything about them?
I was reading an old Car Craft from 1958 and there was a 235 powered 54 Chevy that held 6 quarter mile records in Oregon. It had a 37 Packard "floor shift box" I've been looking for a trans for my 261 and had all but settled on a T5, but if a Packard trans is good (and I can find one) I'd rather keep the whole car "period correct"

 

I had one behind a flathead in 1959. A simple flat adapter was used. Flat motor couldn't break it. Might be hard to find today?......OLDBEET

 

i'll bet! was it a 3 speed? good gearing? I'm building a pretty hot 261

All I know is that 35-38 had a floor shift.

 

3 speed with tall first gear.........OLDBEET

 

I have a couple of Packard ******s. They are indeed 3 spd. Mine are all side shifts though, BUT when Packard went to side shift, they are very easy to convert to toploader. I haven't tried it yet, but supposedly you can use a top cover and pieces from an early Ford and make it work.

 

interesting. do you know what years you have? what year fords?

 

I'm not sure what year one is, but one's a '50. I read about the toploader conversion in one of them old magazines, but I don't think it even said which yrs would work, but I'm guessing it was a '39 car or -'38 truck one due to the swan shaped shifter. I haven't even looked into that stuff b/c they're not going in the car I'm working on at the moment.

 

The Packard can be converted to floorshift by merely finding another rare and expensive box, '36-38 Packard...The HRM transmission book says the earlier trans had a weak case, hence the swap of top covers.
When HRM publicized the Packard as a possible LaSalle (already scarce and expensive) replacement way back when they got some sniping in the letters column. If I remember correctly, a reader reported that one gear (The input/clutch gear??) was prone to failure, and some dimensional peculiarity I can't remember made it difficult to adapt the Packard output or U-joint to any other sort of driveshaft.
Also, if I remember correctly, there were two different sizes of Packard trans, as with Buick.

 

I am going to use a Packard Trans behind a Cadillac motor in my Model A project. I have 2 1937 boxes, one 1937 shift lid, and a complete 1939-up complete side shift trans. I have not ever run of these yet, but so far I like everything I've seen. Best thing is there size, very compact. The gear ratios are almost identical to the Lincoln Zephyr and Cad-LaSalle ratios. I have some literature that states that the Packard gears are actually stouter than the Cad-LaSalle gear. 1936-38 are non synchro 1st gear, but I believe that the the 1940 and up have a 1st gear synchro, very unusual for a 3 speed trans of any era. I have read the weaker case issues as well in early articals. Externally the cases look almost identical, but I have not really paid too much attention yet. Another nice feature is that the Packard had an open drive line, not a torque tube. I need to do some more in depth research but I believe that there is a common conversion U-joint that works on the Packard yoke. The early lid may bolt on a later case, but I know for a fact that the shifter forks are different, which leads me to believe that there are modifications or parts interchanges that need to take place in order to convert a side shifter over to a top shift. I'm sure that you could make a Hurst style 3spd shifter work as well, you would just have to get the length of the arms correct and make sure that the linkage will line up correctly. Just not "period correct" for a 40-50s style car. These were a popular trans to modify and run behind a GMC 6 cyl. I have a tech artical that covers all that is required to put behind a GMC. I am going to be pretty busy in the evenings for the next week, but if I get a chance I'll try and get a few pictures and scans posted if anyone is interested.

Brock

 

I've got one behind the stovebolt six in my A Coupe!!!

I haven't got a pic of it though, but to put it behind the six was "relatively" easy.

10mm steel plate will do it, but a better one is a 12mm plate, bored for the Packard bearing retainer, and one side turned down forming a step to suit your bellhousing, provided that your hole is smaller than the packard. Packard is 4 13/16", Chev is 4 11/16".

The only other thng to do to suit an open tailshaft setup is grind the tabs off the bearing retainer, and maybe machine the thrust race to suit your thrust bearing, otherwise Packard is the same diameter as Ford.

Ratios are 1st - 2.43
2nd 1.53
3rd 1:1

Strong? - you bet. In a previous life mine was run an a 427 BBF Funny car in the seventies!!!

I'll email people a copy of the May 1955 Hot Rod Tech article if you want.

Cheers

 

I had a Packard trans around here a year ago, hope it is still around, looked awfully small compaired to a Caddy-LaSalle.

 

Small but ****** strong!!!

 

and just how many do you want @ $250.00 each? (antiquer going rate)

I am in Jacksonville, Florida.

oldcarfart@aol.com

 

I have done the floor shift conversion on the side shift using the 37 top. All the old guys I talked to said....It just bolts up.....yes the top will bolt up but THAT'S ONLY THE BEGINING!!!!!!!! I had to bend the forks a bunch and grind a new detent slot in one of the shift rails to get it to work correctly. Once done the trans worked well but shifted slowly. This was an R-12 Packard overdrive trans. Perhaps the prewar conversion is made with less effort but beware and get ready for a lot of work if not!!!!!!

1937 6 cyl u-joints are smaller than 8 cyl........really

I had a Packard Hot Rod for 15 years

 

According to the info I've got on these transmission adapters, the Packard ******s all use the same bolt pattern, from '35 to '54. Still have one for a Chrysler or Desoto motor.
Dan

 

i used a sideshift box behind a 235 years ago. put a 37 top shifter on without any mods . worked great.

 

Seymor is right. There were 3 trans used behind hi-torque motors, Cad/LaSalle, Buick & Packard. They all were strong and had close ratios with 1st a little tall, somewhat like Zephyrs. The advantage Packard had was they were available with overdrive on them. I happen to have one with OD for sale, $300. jimb@earthlink.net

 

Curious...

Overdrive equals side shift doesn't it?

Are the rear of these gearboxes the same as the non-overdrive earlier ones?

 

Well I scanned about 8 pages of info from 2 different articals, but I can't get them from a tif file(2.3 + MB) into a jpeg format that is still readable at 83.0 KB which is the max upload size. I'll keep trying to get something. It was good to go back and read some of this though, too bad I can't share.

 

Can you email me a copy?
Cheers

 

"Curious...

Overdrive equals side shift doesn't it?

Are the rear of these gearboxes the same as the non-overdrive earlier ones?"
__________________
If I remember correctly, these are all toploaders, with the side shift junk sticking through cast bungs like on a Ford four speed, and like the Ford, they can be converted to true floor shifts by just removing and plugging the side stuff and bolting on the right lid.
I was last near one of these things, behind a hemi project, in about 1962, but I'm sure someone will say if I'm wrong.

 

me too!

 

Mark, I tried to e-mail you but it came back, try me at jimb3@earthlink.net

 

I've received your second email, and returned it.

Cheers

 

Cool, found the post.

Bruce, on the HEMI project that you saw in 62', Did it have chrome carbs and was fuel injected? Just curious. I may know where one is at.

Chris Nelson
Kansas

 

It was a very heavy lump of grease and filth! It's entirely possible there was a carb in there...

 

I had one behind a 364 Buick with cam and tri-power;the box was a 48 Packard with overdrive and a 37 top cover.I had to weld on the overdrive kickout pad on the low/reverse shift fork to have the overdrive kick out when selecting reverse.It was a strong box and never gave any trouble with all that power.

 

I hope the following will clear up some confusion.

Packard used 2 different trannies for 35-39.

One was for the 6 (110 series)and Standard (120 Series) eight; used 35-38 as a floor shift.

The bigger one was used on the Super 8 (160 Series) and the V12's (180 series). Used 35-38 on the Super 8 and 35-39 on the V12 as floor shifters.

The 39-54 column shifters were the same for the 6 thru the Super 8. The last 6 was 1947 and the last straight 8's were 1954.

Back in the 50's the prewar Packards were all over the boneyards including the gas hog 12's. Nobody bothered with the small ****** as it was as weak as the small Buick.

 

I have a 47 topload w/OD,,is that still a canidate for the conversion or were to many things changed by 47 ??

 

I have a side shift Packard trans fo sale in the cl***ifieds right now. I hope someone can put it in something cool.