What is ya'll take on them. Modernize to the TH350 or what have you, or use the old cast and aluminum powerglides?
The aluminum PG always seemed to be a decent tranny.My friend used one in his 67 Camaro super Gas car with a trans brake...never had a problem..And my other buddies dailt driver 67 RS Camaro has a Powerglide in it and its been perfect in the 16 years he's owned it.I did have a 62 Impala with the cast iron PG and it gave me grief!
If you're doing it cheap, you can't beat the TH350. A core can be found for less than $100 and you can get a top-notch rebuild for another $300. Look around and you can probably find a quality never-used/near-new rebuilt tranny (with a shift kit) for that same $300. P/G's have a larger drop-off between gears due to the fact that there are only two gears, and the first gear (1.76) sucks for launching a heavy car, like your '56. The 2.52 first gear in the TH350 will make your car leave the line like it's got a steep rear gear. Ed
My 41 Ford pickup had a Powerglide in it for a while. With highway gears, the performance was not very good. Switched to TH350 and works much better. Of course, for a drag car with a big converter and stiff rear gear, the PG is usually preferred, but I think on a street car, the TH350 is better. Of course, you could upgrade even further to a 700R4 and really get the best of all worlds.
The only problem with going witha newer tranny is the starter mounts to the old trans and not the block.
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