Will a 55 and later iron powerglide fit my 53-54 235? And also bolt up to the stock 53-54 torque tube? My car is a 1954 Chevy Bel air And it was originally equipped with a powerglide. Also, will a 55-57 235 mount to a 54 frame without modification? Thank you.
The later PG's should work IF you use the 53-54 bell housings. 53-54 had the automatic shift, so the valve body in the bell housing should still work. My question is why do you want to change the 53-54 PG to a 55 or later? You would still be using the 53-54 235, so a newer PG would only make matters worse for installation. Do you need a transmission? The previous poster makes a good point about the torque tube stuff. You would probably be better getting a 53-54 PG and just use that. Also, after 1957, the shift quadrant went to PRNDL, where as you have PNDLR. So that would have to change too.
The cast iron powerglides all had rear pumps, you could push start them all. Sure messed up the tail lights on the 61 we had way back when.
I found a 57 Chevy 235 with a 57 Powerglide I want to put in my 54. Its so cheap Im practically stealing it. Would his 57 engine bolt to my 54 power glide, in my 54 car? Are the mounts the same?
look at the 57 block, does it have the mount holes on the side of it? They made different blocks with different mounting holes, for different applications, in different years. Best thing is to actually look, with your eyeballs, and see if all the necessary mounting holes are where they need to be. The water pump will be too long, you'll have to deal with that. There are ways...such as shortening the shaft, or using an adapter plate to mount an early pump to the later block. The part where the engine bolts to the transmission should be the same. The 57 transmission won't bolt into your car.
also I believe that 53-54 blocks had mount holes on the sides of the block that are similar, but slightly different from, the mount holes on the sides of some 58-62 blocks.
If your 54 has no problem keep it the way it is the engine is already a high pressure 235 it's the same as a 57 so are the transmission they both automatically shift, only things different are the mounts read on... The 1954 chevy 235 engine has mounting brackets on the side of the block, the 1957 has them in the front so no the engine will not bolt in. You have to get weld in mounts from Davis speed... http://m.ebay.com/itm/221675864454 this link should take you there, as for the powerglide, the transmissions are the same they both automatically shift but the housings are different the mounts on the 54 are on the cross member, the 57 are on the bell housing, there are bolt holes on the bottom tail but not where you need them I don't know of any adapter plate so I made my own see pics: 1 original transmission mount, 2 fabricated adapter plate bolts to original mount location 3 original mount on adapter plate to show the difference also i used polyurethane bushings between transmission and plate. also 57 is an open driveline so you would have to change the rear end as well... I know all this because my transmission on my 52 went out I already had a transmission from a 55 "same as 57" so I had to do all of the above... let me know if you have any more questions I'll help as much as I can.
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