As I´ve already posted before a buddy of mine has had some bad luck with the Dynaflow on his 56 Buick. We´d rather change to a TH 350 now than rebuild the Dynaflow, so we will need to convert the rearend to an open driveline. I´ve heard that it can be done but I didn´t find anything about it in the search engine. Has anyone done that before? What kind of driveshaft will we need, a straight one or one with a center bearing? I figured it might be easier to keep the stock rear than swapping it for an open drive one... probably I´m wrong. Thanks for your hints! Baumi
Baumi, I just did one of these for a customer. After lots of searching we finally realized that other open Buick center sections were the only thing that would work in his original housing.I think you're looking for 61-64 fullsize Buicks. We found one in a 63 Wildcat that is a direct bolt in. The gears in it were 3.42s which was better for us than the 3.23s that were in it since we went with a 700R4*******. In order to use this center section we had to have the 57's axles milled to a smaller diameter and resplined. We attached the radius arms to a bracket welded to the frame.Make sure the arms can pivot around the through bolt and that the bracket is damn sure heavy material. We placed the bracket with the car level and sitting on all four wheels. Would have been easier to mark where the radius arm mount was in relation to the frame before disassembly! I'll get some pics if you need a visual. TH350 or 700R4; got to be better than 2 speeds! Good luck, Bob
Hey Bob, can ya spill the beans on the******* conversion too? Sounds like Baumi and I would both like to know how that worked for you and what parts/procedures you used. Thanks, Big Daddy Eric
Forgot to say that the customer was set on putting in a sbc, so the******* mounts right up to the motor. I think it would be very easy, however, to make up an adapter plate for the nailhead like the ones they sell in Jegs for BOP to Chevy******* and motor combos. I haven't really researched it but how do the flywheel bolt patterns on early Buick cranks compare to the later TH400 equipped cranks? Would the crank need a recess milled into it for the snout of the modern type torque converter? Anyone know how many different bell housing patterns Buick used? The ads I've seen for trans adapters seem to fit only very narrow year applications.
53-56 were/are different than the 57-66 engines. transmissionadapters.com has kits for the early engines.
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