Projects '51 Chevy powerglide to t5 swap

I am not a big fan of putting anything in the crankcase that is not motor oil.

That said, tons of old timers have been putting MMO just about everywhere, since it was invented. They leave it in.

My hesitation would be that it would appear to be about 10W-15W, so it is diluting the viscosity of the overall mixture. As far as I remember, the 235 uses SAE30 as its native oil. Diluting that a little should not be a huge problem. I think the '58 truck capacity is 6 quarts total. You have about 17% MMO in there now.

As far as I can tell, it is ATF, in a nicer container.

 

This is the first time I've ever used any additive. I just took it for about a half hour ride, up to 70 mph. I shifted at about 3000 rpm from second gear on up, trying to free the rings up, if that's the problem. I'm going to drive around with it in all weekend and see if it helps. The worst of the smoking was when I started it this morning but it's still smoking now. I really only notice it when I shift in first and second, but that may be because I'm going too fast to see it. If the mmo doesn't work, I'm putting in lucas oil treatment since it won't make it any worse if the motor needs a rebuild anyway. If it works, good. If not, oh well. I'll be putting the old motor back in

 

Ok guys, the thread got a little off track but let me do a quick recap. Really the only parts I HAD to buy, that someone with a factory 3 speed wouldn't are the clutch pedal, the clutch linkage, the master cylinder (I ended up needing a new one anyway so it was perfect), the bellhousing and the flywheel. For a total recap of parts needed, it was:
- the parts listed above (u pull it yard)
- '54 clutch pressure plate (Rockauto)
- '54 throwout bearing (Rockauto)
- pb656hd pilot bushing (fits the PG 235 crank too) (Advanced Auto)
- Astro 9 11/16 clutch disc (Napa)
- Clutch return spring (Chevs of the 40s)
- S10 t5 (U pull it yard)
- Waltons trans crossmember (Waltons)
- front motor mounts (Rockauto)
- bellhousing side mounts (Rockauto)
- Transmission adapter (Hotrod Works)
- Transmission mount (Hotrod Works)
- Rochester bc carb (Chevs of the 40s)
- driveshaft cut to 49" (McGowan Custom)
- two 1310 to 3rl Moog 372 u joints (Carquest)
- s10 rear axle (Newcomers Salvage)
- new brakes for s10 rear (Rockauto)
- custom spring perches (DC Fab)
- custom spring plates from (DC Fab)
- 9/16" u-bolts (some s10 conversion place)
- s10 e-brake cables (Rockauto)
- 2 bottles of rear end gear oil (Advance)
- 2 bottles of syncromesh trans oil (Advance)
- 3 gallons of coolant (Advance)
- a set of cobalt drill bits (Ace Hardware)

 

Well, I tried to upload a bunch of pics, but I'm doing it from my phone so it's taking forever so forget it. If someone wants to see something specific just ask. It took about 3 weeks working at a moderate pace about 4 days a week. One of those days was pulling the whole setup back out to fix that damn freeze plug on the back and getting everything back in.

 

3 month (or so) update...the manual trans swap has made a huge difference in how the car drives. It's actually fun to drive as opposed to just point and go, and the dual exhaust sounds completely different (in a good way) than it did with the Powerglide. I've had it on the highway keeping up with traffic (60-70 mph) with no problem. I feel that I could have gotten away with putting the 3-speed in (and looking back I should have) because even at 65 I'm not at 3000 RPMs in 4th gear. 1st gear is a little too steep and second gear is a little too lethargic where as with the 3 speed it's right in between so you get a better off the line acceleration. On top of that, column shifting is bad *** where as the floor shift kinda takes the cl***ic car feeling out of it. I've never used 5th because I've had to, but I've used it only because I had it and well, why not. Also one of my leaf springs on the p***enger side broke completely in two. I don't mean the entire Leaf pack but one of the springs in the pack. Now I get to buy a new set of springs and a new set of perches and redo the rear axle, at which point I might switch to a 4.10 S10 rear. It doesn't pull quite as hard as I expected it to in 4th gear with the 3.73 rear I have now, and shifting into 5th at anything under 2700 starts to slow me down initially. I can say that even with my heated and de-arched springs, I've experienced absolutely zero spring wrap or wheel hop. I don't know if that's due to the anti wrap spring perches that I used or what but I've definitely jammed the gas (damn you dual exhaust for sounding so f-in' good) in first gear on multiple occasions and it's yet to happen. Also going around corners at 20 miles an hour or so I haven't felt any axle shift. Well, that's about it for now. I'll start trying to load up pictures again this coming week so if anyone wants to see anything specific, lemme know. Later