Technical More power, same tranny?

Hi y'all. Currently have the original flathead 6 under the hood of my '50 Plymouth club coupe. I bought a rebuilt 3 speed******* w/ OD for it. Have been casually thinking about - in the future - upgrading to a more powerful engine. What would be some easy swap recommendations? Would I necessarily have to change the******* again too? Does anyone in the forum roll with, say, a '57 hemi and the 3spd OD******* I have? Is that ever done??

 

My guess is if the unit you bought is from a '50 Plymouth, then stick with an engine that close to the same power as what you could get from that era. A later OD unit might be stronger, but you did not mention any details like what type/year******* and overdrive.

FYI. I have a R-10 Borg-Warner unit attached to a saginaw 4-speed. The 327 I'm running is about 300 HP, which isn't much more than the fuelie Vette engine from '57. The******* has performed well so far without the OD working. I'm currently wiring that now.

 

I don't doubt that someone did it and they probably changed the******* to a more stout unit.

You probably won't need an OD with the hemi you can regear to suit your driving needs.

 

To the best of my knowledge, the same transmission you have was used with both 6 cylinder and V8 Mopars through '56. So, 241, 270, 315 Dodge.....276, 291 (maybe 330 Desoto) used the same gearbox. There may have been different ratios for different applications, not sure about that....but all used the Borg Warner R-10 OD unit you have, when equipped with OD. There was a difference in length of input shafts, depending on application. You have the shorter version.

The worst thing about the Mopar trannies is the 'selector' type shifter if you want to covert to
floor shift.......you are pretty much on your own to make a conversion as they are not readily available,
if at all, in the aftermarket.

I made my own, many decades ago, when putting a '55 Dodge 270 Hemi in a '53 Plymouth ragtop.
Not that difficult, really, but takes a little time. It is easier to do than on GM 'selector' types used
by Pontiac, Olds and Buick.

Ray

 

thanks for y our great answer hnstray!