hey guys! So A few of us are trying to help a friend out with his motor swap. 1949 Chevy fleetline. Pulled the 216 and three speed and we are about half way to sticking in the 1954 235 and three speed. So what's the hang up? Well turns out our friend in need left the flat plate that mounts the trans to the crossmember on his old trans and it has disappeared into the ether. Great right? Well eBay has sent us all sorts of "not it" pieces so while he makes a few more phone calls I thought I'd ask you guys. The mount is shapped like this and has four holes in it. If you have one of these cars your probably familiar with it. There should be four holes in this. Two on either side. What I need is measurements for these holes so we can just make a new one and get this jalopy back on the road and out of the driveway. We got what we thought was the correct plate but apparently it's the right shape but all the holes are to far apart from each other so we figure it's just easier to get some measurements and don't by chance more money waisted on "not it" Any help would reaaallllly be appreciated. At this point the other option looks like sitting the trans lose in the car, bolting it to the torque tube, pulling the trans forward with the hogs head bolts until the torque tube is in the right position and then make a cardboard template and then make a new metal mount. So you'd be saving us a few afternoons of laying in the dirt at minimum. Thanks in advance for any help you might have to offer.
If it's in the car the measurement I ***ume we most need is how far the two sets of holes are away from each other from the center lines. From the back set of holes that bolt to the crossmember to the holes that bolt into the transmission. I figure we have a cross member, we have a trans, we don't know how far apart they are supposed to be from each other
If you want the actual plate, I have one; yours for the postage. Just sent me a PM with a name and address. It's a bit rusty/greasy/dirty, but what do you expect for a 67 year old part? I am Butch/56sedandelivery. PS, You do know the 54 trans does not have the mount holes on it like the 49 has? The mount setup was changed in 53-54; who knows why. If you use the 49 trans, no problem.
That would explain a few things lol. What are the differences between the two years mounts? How does the 53/4 mount differently? This might answer a few questions for us
Also thank you! That's awesome, but with the revelation of trans differences I want to hold off so I don't have you send us something that won't work any how
The 49-52 trans has a boss cast into it that the trans mount bolts into. This was deleted in the 53-54 trans, and the boss was then cast into the short "extension housing/adapter" between the trans and the torquetube bell swivel. You could make a longer plate to bolt to the 53-54 trans, and bolt the 49-52 trans mount to that. I only have the 49-52 plate, and what's left of the trans mount (rubber broke down and fell away). There are actually seven holes in that plate; the three towards the front are for the trans mount and measure 3 inches C/C (the middle one isn't used). then the rearmost are 5 1/2 inches C/C, the next set forward are 6 1/2 inches C/C, and 2 5/8 inches between those two sets of holes. Hope all that makes sense. Is't the 49-52 trans any good? If it is, use it and the stock plate/mount. The 53-54 will require some adapting, and I don't know the measurements of the 53-54 trans mounting areas. I also don't know if the 53-54 trans mount/plate would bolt to the 49-54 crossmember, and work how you need it to. Good luck with your project. I had sold my 51 Chevrolet Bus Coupe a few months ago, and the guys over on ChevyTalk.Org were complaining there was't a floor shifter available any longer for the 49-54 cars. You might want to check in there, and see if anyone has dealt with your issues and how they dealt with it. The recent shifters were offshore, POS, and are't available any longer, from any source. Even the National Chevy ***ociation's floor shifter is't available any longer. So, I made a floor shifter using a 55-57 Chevrolet, Hurst Synchro-Loc. I modified the side-mount plate, added a support bracket setup, got some different levers and rods, and it works pretty darn good. I had borrowed a friends trans (49-52 style) for the mock up, but it had sat outside for many years, and was full of water; pretty much locked up. That's the trans this plate came from. The engine/trans from my 51 I gave away when I pulled it 6 years ago for the V-8/automatic/56 rear end swap. Now I have a 49-54 floor shifter, and no car to install it into. It'll be for sale after I paint the pieces, and clean/re-lube the shifter tower mechanism. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
That actually explains a lot. The trans that came with the engine had two extension housings with it, one has the bolt holes and the other does not. I think what will happen is that the torque tube will just get bolted up and the rest of the mounts built from that location.
Thanks for all the info guys! This helps a bunch. None of us really mess with older stock Chevy stuff so it was hard to even see what puzzle piece was missing.
Do you have the 54 ball adapter? On a 54 trans, it would have the trans mount bosses the earlier trans did not have. The trans are all one piece, and don't have a separate extension housing. I'm told by a ChevyTalk.Org member, that 49-51 are the same, and 52-54 are the same. They, the 49-51 and 52-54 take a different plate, and therefore, a different trans mount. Let us know what you wind up doing. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
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