Hello all, I've recently acquired a 1957 Plymouth Savoy 4 door sedan. This Plymouth, for one, will NOT be a "Christine" clone/wannabe. For now, I am simply making it more enjoyable to drive, with carpet, some metal patches, fresh rubber and a tune up. I am really enjoying the heck out of the rebuilt 230 flathead six in it! Ive rebuilt the carb, replaced hoses and belts and narrowed a misfire down to the distributor, which I am ordering from langdonstovebolt.com. The 2 speed Powerflite, however, leave a little to be desired. It gets along okay, but I'm a tinkerer. I have a friend with a T5 out of a V6 mustang. We originally thought that it was out of a V8 Mustang and I was gonna run it in my '59 Apache with a 383" SBC. It's not strong enough for that application, but pushing this 3000 lb. Plymouth behind the 63 year old 230 flathead straight six, I don't see any durability issues. The only potential problem that I see is shifter location, as going away from the factory bench seats is a deal breaker. I may need to source an S10 trans for shifter location. Anyway, I was hopeful thay I may get some advice on parts to grab from the Pick 'N Pull, or steered in the direction of good vendors to try to get the swap to happen. A.) Am I barking up the wrong tree, or is this a feasible swap? B.) Can I complete this swap with junkyard parts? C.) Anyone have a parts list? I'll continue to search and try to figure this out on my own. But, any help, or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Ill throw up a few photos of my new ride. We have a Consew industrial sewing machine at my work. This allowed me to utilize some vinyl scraps that were kicking around with some gas station Mexican blankets to give the upholstery a less "hantavirus" vibe! Also, a total of three $12 40" x 60" home depot rugs, a roll of padding that I got from joanne fabric, and some aluminized sticky backed sound deadener tape that I buy from Home Depot for $16 allowed me to revamp my entire interior for about $85!
Love those big 50's Mopars. I used this adapter when I put an S-10 T-5 behind the flat 6 in my 50 Plymouth. I did the swap about 5 or 6 years ago and its still running strong. The T-5 was a big improvement in my opinion. It still takes all day to get to highway speed but at least it can now get to highway speed. http://www.mcmoff.com/russplymouthnardi/t5.html http://www.mcmoff.com/russplymouthnardi/t51935.html
Awesome car! But I bet there wasn't a slower car built than a Plymouth 6 with a Powerflite that year It looks like the two links above will get you pretty close to what you need. Locate a pedal assembly and clutch linkage from any '57-59 Mopar with a manual transmission and you'll be in business. Definitely keep us posted as you do this project, I think it will help a lot of folks out.
I like the car. Big fan of this era Mopar. If you can find a donor car you might consider just swapping in a complete 3 on the tree setup, it'll give you an extra gear and be less drag on the engine plus it all would bolt in with no modifications. I believe overdrive was offered as well although one of those transmissions might be a bit harder to find. I know where a '57 Savoy is sitting, I can look and see if it was a stick, if so, I could probably procure a set of swing pedals and a Z bar. Might be a few weeks though.
I appreciate all of your guys' responses! Man, that's no joke. Even with a freshly rebuilt engine, this thing is a turd! But, with it new full length exhaust, sound deadener and new carpet, it's far and away the most quiet car I've ever owned! I do love that. I would LOVE to find a complete factory three on the tree setup! Even if not as much of an improvement as the T5 would be, I would love that it was modified less and more original! However, I have a line on a freshly machined and built 1951 Chrysler FirePower Hemi that has been bored to 350, with Ross forged pistons. Even not being correct for the car, it'd be a fun engine to have in it. If that guy calls me back, I may throw him an offer and that could create a turn in the project direction. Squablow, if you could check that out, that would be a big help, and much appreciated! Nik
That early Chrysler Hemi has the extended length bell housing common to '51/'53 Chrysler engines. That may present some challenge with floor/firewall clearance issues. It most certainly will complicate your transmission choices. A '54 up Chrysler block does not have the extended bell block. DeSoto and Dodge blocks never had the extended bell.
First step is finding he right clutch linkage setup for one of those and as few of them that are around that may be a challenge in it's self. Next is finding an adapter that will help bolt it up That doesn't include having someone custom make a one off unit that costs more than the original cost of the ca Reading this older thread it looks like the needed bellhousing might be a bit hard to find. I'm not sure if truck bellhousings are the same as car bellhousings but that might be an avenue to find the short bellhousing. Simple but it would take some serious searching would be to find the whole stick overdrive setup for that engine. That even though a bit spendy through those in the know would probably be less costly and less headaches than having a one off adapter made to use a free trans.
True! I definitely need to do a bit more research and figure out a definitive path to take this project. Gonna go read the links provided above and figure out my best path. Ill post up with what I f8gure out. Sounds like I may be spending some time searching for some parts. I did read that the Mustang T-5 will bolt right up to "some" Mopar applications. I'm sure that won't be MY application, though.
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