My experience has been that you can build a glide for a 1000 hp car and race it mercilessly, you see them behind Fords and Mopars too. The availability of parts or even a spare trans at the strip beat any other, and I have done a glide swap between rounds from a competitor who broke something else. That is the best reason to run them in a race car. Another is that you can take some shock off of the tires and gear it for the traps. One gear change makes a big difference in really fast car. On a streeter, no way. The TH-350-400, Ford C4-C6, Torqueflite 3 speed trannies are all like anvils for longevity and get much better mileage for the performance. The GM Turbo 200 and Ford AOD and Mopar's variant are good solutions for economy and power. I had a T-200 behind a 231 V6 in a Buick LeSabre and it regularly broke 20 mpg. They can be found behind 305's in '80's pickups too.
Back in '99 I removed a cast iron 'glide from my '61 and replaced with an alum glide... Things to keep in mind 1/ Starter body is the same 8MT delco...drive end housing needs to be changed from front mount to up/ down. 2/Front yolk IS different old glide is coarse splined and alum is fine spline. 3/ Driveshaft length may have to change depending on long or short body trans. 4/ Weight saving is hugh. 5/MPG and driveability with the alum glide was far superior. If you are INTO cars which I suspect you are ...this can be done all in a weekend, and back to work on monday! The T/H 350 changeover is very similar as above with the added gear... My vote do it .....but .look for a 350C it has a lock up convertor , which when activated actually drops engine revs at highway speed and gives better MPG.. Regards Ozzie Bob
Why downshift? Dropping the 350 into second useing the shifter applys the band, The band is NOT as strong as the intermediate clutches.
even a stock glide will hold up to tons of abuse. But man do they rob the fun out of a small black car quickly. Like starting in 2nd gear all the time
yellow wag, that is a good analogy. I swapped from a 2 speed to a 3 speed and thought I was driving a different car. its worth however much work it takes.
I would think the swap should be fairly easy. I have pulled many trannies down from under a car to replace seals and gaskets and then reinstalled. I don't find it to be particularly difficult. If the mounts are the same distance from the bellhousing bolts, would be a straight swap.
YES. Do whatever you can to get a better trans in the car. Using a Powerglide is exactly like starting out in second gear. You cant argue about that. It is a 1.7-something or 1.85 ratio if I remember the "low gear" choices correctly (the 2 common Glide low-gear ratios). That is exactly the same as the second-gear ratios used in most any transmission. Any normal trans will have a 2.5 (automatics) or at worst a 2.20 (Muncie) first gear. HUGE difference from a Glide. TH350 and TH 400 has 2.50 first, 700 R4 has a 3.10 low gear. BIG difference from the Powerglide slushbox. Use a trans that has a normal first gear unless your engine is so big and the car so light that you actually LIKE starting off in second gear. If you like starting off in second, get the Glide. If you don't like starting out in second gear, then do whatever you can to get a 3-speed in there.
I just changed out my powerglide on my 283 for a 350, hoping it will be a good decision, but what are you guys doing with your old powerglide?? Mine is a big old heavy cast iron one from i think 55. Is it worth much or would you recomend keeping it and playing with it for fun in my shop??
I apologize if I missed it but he is talking about his CAST Iron PG. Not even close to the aluminum pg. My cast iron pg used to randomly puke out a quart of fluid on the driveway for no apparent reason. I can't think of any reason to keep the cast iron hog. Plus you can always drill and tap your block for starter bolts.
I have a 33 pu with a 307 and a powerglide. I am not sure if it is cast or alum ,however because it is a turd off the line, it has 3.08 gears and tall tires I got a th350 and measured, the distance from the front of the tranny to the mounts for the tranny mount were several inches different, does that tell any of you which pg I have. As well the overall length was different so I needed a shorter driveline and my shifter wouldn't work and to top it off the space from the top of the pg to my floor seems real tight and I couldn't confirm whether the th350 would be closer and if it would I would need to redo the hump for the tranny in the floor. So I sold it. So these are my options, 1) deal with the needed changes to accomodate the tranny swap 2) I just got a very strong 350 ci sbc to replace the 307, so put it in 3) Change the rear end. My question is will the motor alone be enough to bring the truck alive or should I do the tranny as well. And or should I change the rear end. It is a 50 olds rear end now that I can't seem to find any lower gears. I didn't try to hijack but it is related and those that responded seem to have experience not just a thought, and that is always appreciated
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