an aquaintance of mine says that one of the aftermarket bellhousings can be adapted to fit behind the engine in my '56....by getting a pattern from a stock bellhousing and making a "ring" with the correct holes, and welding it onto the thing....is this true? Are the dimensions of the input shaft of later GM transmissions the same? Could the suggestion of a freind who owns a salvage yard be right, that the bellhousing already in place could be drilled and tapped for a later transmission? sounds like a shaky deal to me, I know the splines looked hella similar on the synchromesh and the s10 tranny that was laying by it while I was workin on it in the carport back in arkansas...NO WAY would I put the little tranny in there, just saying, they looked a lot alike, but I didnt measure them.... IF, the splines would be the same and the input shaft length as well, if it would fit the pilot bearing, in theory, would it work to drill new holes in the old bellhousing and enlarge the hole in the center to the size of later bellhousings in order to mount a later tranny, instead of sending cash to some fellow in chile for what seems to be the world's last available 58-60 pontiac bellhousing? if someone HAS a 58-60 standard bellhousing, and would think of parting with it, lemme know here, or better yet, e-mail me, the job is screwy, wierd hours and I have trouble finding old posts.... hotwired_56chieftain@yahoo.com thanks......
I,ve wondered this very same thing myself...you'll hafta be the guinea pig if nobody else's tried it. If the input shaft length is the same... If there's enough flat area on the tranny mounting face to redrill for modern GM pattern......... If you can find a good machinist to machine out the existing tranny front bearing retainer garbage from the old bellhousing... If there's enough "meat" to support the new, bigger bearing retainer hole.. In theory, it could work. You're gonna have to be the adventurer, thrusting onto the unknown.........exploring virgin territory! It's all soooooooo romantic.......my neck is beginning to swell, just thinking about it! Measure, my Hillbilly friend---measure your heart out! Be brave and forge ahead into the unknown.... .......'cause, I dunno.....
The WISE thing to do is ask Poncho experts...head to www.classicalpontiac.com and post this inquiry on their msg. board. Those guys have done all this and know how it's done. Hell..they'll probably even have parts to help it along. I know Ponchos had a different bellhousing pattern on some of the early stuff, but later stuff was the same between Buick/Olds/Pontiac. There are many adapters out there to go from B/O/P to Chevy and vice-versa. I believe there are pre-fabbed adapters out there to do what you want to do, and the thickness of the plate is critical to ensure proper input shaft depth and clutch spacing. Ask others who know the early Pontiacs intimately, and then you can tell us how its done... Scotch~!
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