I just dropped my 1954 Olds engine off to the local engine builders ( They are known for their performance engines ) to get my rebuild started. I have not yet dropped my 4 speed dual range Hydro off for rebuild. For those who have not played with or been involved with these transmissions, they are unbelievably heavy. I had been on Ross Racing Website many times and they have a th350 that will bolt up to the back of the Olds engine. The cost was more than I would put into the trans. There is another company that makes an adapter that requires you to cut several inches off the trans case. Even this is still crazy money before you even get to the trans. Going through a recent Speedway Motors catalog I noticed a couple of adaptors to get you to a TH350. They have an adapter for a 331 Cadillac to TH350. It comes with a torque convertor, spacers and the like. There are several other adaptors showing the B.O.P. bolt pattern. The Olds engine has a bolt on piece at the bottom to hold the starter. I understand that bolting the torque converter to the flywheel will require machine work and spacers and such. Will this Caddy adaptor bolt up to the back of the Olds engine ? Anyone here ever done anything like this ? am I barking up the wrong tree with this ?
Try Bendsten's Transmission Adapters, they might have what you need. http://www.transmissionadapters.com/ I used them for my 401 Nailhead motor, Good Luck.
Also contact HAMBER, Tony aka Goatroaper, Ross Racing Engines, Loves his Olds engines. Check out his 350/400 to Olds bellhousing
I spoke with Tony. I know his stuff is super top notch. He only sells the totally finished trans like the one you showed. It was beyond pricey
If you are going an auto behind an olds go with the best one ever designed the olds hydro, otherwise it's just butchering an old car. Yes they are pricey to rebuild, but when it's done it's done, and it shouldnt need attention for anouther 60 years
The trans is going into a 1917 roadster pick up behind a 324 olds engine from 1954.........no olds cars were hurt in this. This was more about 1. Finding someone who will and can do a rebuild 2.shaving about 300 pounds off the driveline. 3. putting a fully serviceable trans in the car. If you can not find someone to do the rebuild, then you can be pretty certain that any roadside service assistance is completely unavailable
The caddy adapter would come closer to matching up to a Stude then your olds. The olds is an entirely different animal. Edit: delete statement I read 394 instead of 324, dyslexia is a bitch. And yes I do have experience with the dual range hydro (I have a B&M unit in the garage as we speak) and you are correct they are a big old bear of a tranny. I believe in the 150 to 200 pond range.
I was looking the Speedways site and there was stated that it for Caddillac 55-64. I can be wrong but i think this is the newer motor family. Cadillac 49-54? should be the same as the early Olds engines.
I was going to use the stock jet away transmission in my roadster but decided to go with a stick set up instead. If you were willing to go stick then you would have more options, if your dead set on using an auto then I'd go with the stocker as I don't think there's and cheap way into a Chevy transmission and the advantages of switching to a th350 don't justify the expense.
Your cheapest way out is stop the shop rebuild of your 324 before they get started. Then get a later Olds V8.......like a 307, 330 or 350 and use the TH350/400/2004R that bolts on. If you insist on using the early Olds engine you really just haven't much choice but spend the big bucks to make it work. I am an admirer of the quality of Bendtsen's product, but their Olds adapter uses the stock length trans case and makes for a really looong assembly. The Goatroper unit is beautifully done and shortens the assembly by several inches. It would be my choice if I was committed to the early Olds engine. Ray
tonys stuff aint cheap but you pay for a service. Tony is a top notch solid dude. Ill tell ya you call him anytime hes theres with answers. he knows his shit and will do anything to help out his customers. If you find the adapter somewhere else, give tony a chance when it comes to your engine. he did a great job on my engine -andrew
Please don't get me wrong. Tony is a totally standup guy. He returned my call within a few minutes. He answered all my questions and was extremely helpful. I was the one who balked at his adapter/ trans. Tony builds high performance, unbelievable great stuff. I had thought about doing my engine at his place. Keeping in mind that the engine is for a car for my wife, a stock type rebuild is more than enough ( with 3 deuces, of course ) for this car. I had considered doing a 4 speed to eliminate all these questions but ended up back at the build is for my wife's car. She can drive a stick with no problem but she could get herself in more trouble with a stick so the dual range or another automatic would work better for her. I did find one local trans shop that has some experience with the dual range. They are checking to see if there is a kit for the torque converter. IF they can find it, all this will have been for nothing. We will just rebuild the dual range
If they are looking for a kit for the "torque converter" then you need to find someone else who has experience with the tranny. They used a fluid coupler called a torus not a torque converter. There is nothing to wear out in one so it is just a matter of gaskets for the torus and they are not hard to come by at all. The tranny weighs a ton, but they are pretty much bullet proof, I think you would be hard pressed to destroy a stock dual range hydro with a stockish engine.
You understood what I meant. The gasket set for the trans is no problem. The gasket set for torus ( nice to learn correct terms ) is the one that is not available...........I only found the other stuff at Kanters Auto Parts Beaner you said the gaskets for the torus were available..........could you give me a hint ?
NAPA, B&M. The NAPA store will probably have to go to the books and step away from the computer. @ B&M you may have to call the tech line to get what you need they no doubt won't have anything in thier catalog. Autozone has an antique parts section in their computers now, I haven't tried them for gaskets for my torus yet but I'll bet they have it. If I recall the gasket is nothing more then a rubber O ring. I haven't taken mine apart. There is a dual range hydro social group on here as well, give me a minute to find you a link. There may be some info for you there as well. here ya go: http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/hydro-tech.671/
John, is this the gasket you are looking for? http://www.fusickautomotiveproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TCG14047E or this: http://www.fusickautomotiveproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=12066E Might want to download this catalog too: http://www.fusick.com/catfile/Catalog 570.pdf
Here's two more: Northwest Transmission Parts 13500 US Route 62, Winchester, Ohio 45697, Order line 1 800 327 1955, Info line 1 937 442 2811, Fax line 1 937 442 6555 FATSCO Transmission Warehouse 337 Change Bridge Rd, Pine Brook, NJ. 07058 1 800 524 0485 Hope this helps.
His website is horrendous to navigate, but he's got the parts and the knowledge. http://www.autotran.us And if you're considering the stock Hydro, joining the group and reading here won't hurt you either... Hydro Tech
joined the group. Have not had a chance to do some reading. Thank you , thank you, thank you for the links. I will spend some time on all of them this evening. I have had a few people tell me here locally to look up a local guy, Williams Transmission service. I went to his shop this afternoon and could tell, this was going to be my repair guy. You walked into a small one man shop with a guy I would guess is in his late 70's. I told him who had told me to go to him. I told him what I had and what I needed. He proceeded to tell me how he had been in this same building for the last 54 years. He asked how quickly I needed it. Seemed like a strange comment at first. While we were talking, he was going through some shelves near his work bench. He had everything except new bands on hand to do the job. I'm dropping off the trans Monday morning. I appreciate all the help
hrm2k i have an adapter for you. It's a slightly used Bendtsen olds to chevy trans adaper. should bolt up no issues PM me if interested
That's awesome! Please let me know how it works out. I'll have to add him to the list of suitable transmission shops capable of a rebuild.
All of us who play with 49-64 Olds engines pay dearly for the cool factor we get out of them. For example, I have $3000 in the rebuild I did on my 64 394 nine years ago, and I recently tore it down (it had never been started) and am having another shop completely redo everything because the first guy did a lousy job. (probably to the tune of another $ 3000) Same with the transmission situation. I bought the Bendtsens adapter, paid $1000 for it, and I honestly wish I had gone with the one from Ross racing instead. While the Bendtsens adapter gets it done, it is a very longish setup and not as compact as what Tony turns out. I didn't know about Tony's transmission back then, live and learn. Anyway, your cheapest (if cheapest and early Olds fit in the same sentence ) way out is probably to have your trans rebuilt, but I bet you still end up with $1000 or more in that, and finding a guy who still remembers how to do them is getting tougher every day. This is why the venerable sbc is SO popular ! Don BTW, when you use one of the adapters you lose your two motor mounts that go on the Olds bellhousing. I had to fab up some to replace them and to take the strain off of the middle of my motor.
Thanks. We copied the Hurst design and made up a mount that uses the original single mounting spot under the timing cover plus some bolts off of the front of the timing cover. Then we put early Ford bisquits on the ends. The final mount we made was for the tailshaft of the TH350 to give it some support so it isn't just hanging out in space. All in all, it should be pretty well supported by doing all of this. Don
nice stuff Don. Really like your front motor mount.............nice fab work. My buddy who is helping me with this had already told me about the rear mounts when you change over to the TH350. I am actually excited about getting the dual range done. As this all happens, I will happy to share all the experiences, good and bad, as it happens. Thanks for all input
I miss the days when those motors were cheap,bought a drivable 53 in 84 for 200 dollars that had less then 60,000 miles and when it got totalled found a nicer 53 with a blown motor for 100 but the 303 from the wrecked 53 was not big enough so I bought a 59 for 50 dollars and stuck in it the 53 and started smoking late model corvettes. All the motors ran great and did not have to do anything to them except repaint.
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