does anyone know any information about overdrive option in a 62 impala? i currently have a 4speed (t10 i think) i am looking to install a manual overdrive but do not want to cut or modify the existing frame or floors so the t-56 or a833 are out. I have read that they installed a 3 speed man. with a overdrive in these cars also, but have not found any info on them. In my 53 plymouth i installed a b/w r10 3 spd w/ overdrive and it looks to be similar. does anyone know if a chevy version of this this 3sp would fit without modification in place of the 4 speed? has anyone here made this modfication? what model #s of transmissions should i be looking for?
Should bolt right in, but they had column shift, and finding a floor shifter to work with the overdrive 3 speed is a little challenge you'll have to face. If you get the 58-64(?) car unit it should have the coarse splines on the output shaft and the rear mount.
thanks squirrel. so they didnt make a floor shifted 3 speed? what specific numbers do i need to search for? on the 53 i looked for a mopar cased r10 transmission. would i just be looking for a chevy cased r10 unit?
would this solve the floor mounted shifter? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEV...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
It shoudl be the R10, but it's a Chevy (Muncie) 3 speed with non-synchro first, and the coarse spline output shaft. You could probably swap in a later Saginaw version with synchro first gear if you want. The overdrive kind of gets in the way of putting on a floor shifter...I think Hurst used to make a shifter for it that's real hard to find now, but you can do some adapting and make a normal floor shifter work (search the interwebs for how to's?).
No, the chevy transmisisons use normal shifters. The problem is that the overdrive gets in the way of where the shifter goes. See this thread, second page http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154762
The'60s Chevy overdrive trannys are light duty, (with non synchro low gear) something I proved many times back in the '60s. Just an old fart's suggestion, if you can't find a Saginaw OD, I sure would stay with the Borg Warner four gear. Just my $.02. Frank
Pardon my crude work here boys but I built the bracket, bent the arms, then to get the shifter into the middle of the floor I made an up-over-up bracket for the shift lever. I made short shifter dogs on the 1-R, and 2-3 which creates a nice short throw. This '62 3sp+od is on my daily driver only vehicle and has served me flawlessly for ten years in this form. I rebuilt the transmission before I put it in, not difficult at all.
cosmo--thanks for the pics of the effort needed to make a normal floor shifter fit the OD trans. That's about what I had in mind....pictures are worth a thousand words
from what i understand you can use the o/d unit (from an old crash box) on a b/w 3 speed to make it an o/d trans.....if you can't find a late 60's one. i have one in my panel truck from a '67 car and i have a '57/'58 car o/d trans i'm thinking about putting in the elco.
Might also look into the Gear Vendors unit. A bit expensive, but a bolt in, so no changes to your existing stuff. Just a thought. Jim
i have been told that the gear vendors setup wont fit in the x frame of the impala without modification. thanks everone for the pics. that helps a ton
Here's another possibility for you. A Saginaw 4-speed with the O.D. unit from a Saginaw 3-speed/w-OD adapted to the back end of it, to give you 4 forward gears, plus OD. I remember reading about this combo back in the '70's, so I did a quick Google search just now and it came up. The article is a reprint of a magazine article from 1975, but other than the $200 price quoted for a new Saginaw O.D unit, everything else should still be relevant. www.chevytrucks.org/tech/overdrive.htm Mart3406 ============================
Nice job Cosmo49 on the shifter mod. Here's the instruction sheet for the one Hurst "never" made. I had one in my 1964 Chevelle in high school and got a new Hurst kit for the 3 speed OD.
<P>i am running a saginaw 4 cast iron 4 spd w/a borg warner od from a grumman type bread truck org bolted to the back of a three spd its just the tail section cleared everything on my kustom 60 chevy conv x frame and all very complex wiring lots of solonoids and switches and if u leave the solonoid energized when parked even in gear it WILL ROLL AWAY .HOWEVER I made mine work MUCH simpler use a LIGHTED 10 amp rocker switch to activate the solonoid and a choke cable to engage od .you must have od engaged or disengaged BEFORE powering or unpowering solonoid sounds tricky buy VERY EASY works great i run 336 gears in od at 65 almost idols [if i wasnt selling the car i would put my 411 p case in,but im sure id BREAK something HA HA HA] almost forgot DOSENT change the length i used the same driveshaft</P>
Also april 75 issue of hot rod has a rundown too, the artical is called 4+0=8 It's short, but it isnt supposed to be a hard task. I might do a tech artical too during the next tech week if i can get my shit togather
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