Technical 55-56-57 Chevy guys, what trans dipstick are you using?

With great help from my friend John and also some important wiring questions explained and answered here on the HAMB, my '57 Chevy ran and drove for the first time in close to 15 years. However it still has some issues to work out.

The most pressing is the transmission dipstick. The car now has a bit newer small block and a TH350 trans, and it was installed with a cheapie flexible trans dipstick kit, which is absolute trash. The tube is flexible, but the stick is not, and it's very difficult to get the stick back into the tube once it's been pulled out. Also, trying to fill it up is excruciatingly slow, since the hole in the tube is so tiny. When I put a funnel in it to fill, the fluid just backs up and flows over the top of the tube, unless I go incredibly slow.

What is everyone else running? Clearance is very tight and I'd rather not buy 10 different factory tubes at the junkyard and try in vain to fit them if there's a known unit that fits properly. I've heard that the Lokar flexible stick and tube is good quality (the stick is actually flexible, not just the tube, correct?) but they're pretty pricey and also kinda modern/billet looking for my taste, although I'll do it if it works.

Ecklers sells a generic one listed as 55-72 but I'm not sure if that's engineered to fit or just a generic replacement that would take a bunch of modifications.

This is the car, in case you wanted to see it. It's another 2 door conversion. The old paint isn't real pretty but I just want a reliable beater to drive to work, at least for now.

 

I'd try one for a truck, from the 70s...they come out near the intake manifold, where there is a recess in the firewall.

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/1977/chevrolet/truck/parts/t9421.html

But study the pictures and look at the car and see if it looks like it'll pop out in the right place.

and you know that installing it when the car is all together, is a bitch

 

Same with early second gen Camaros.

 

Note my universal dipstick, then notice my universal relief hole that i had to cut in the firewall lol. But still much better that a fancy flexible street rod dipstick.

 

The one on my 73 chev 3/4 ton tucks against the block pretty close might be one to check out ??

 

After fighting the same problem and having them leak, I ended up with a lokar.

 

I would spend hours cutting and welding old stock tubes before using a lokar...but that's just me.

 

Thanks everyone for the input.

I've heard really good things functionality-wise about the Lokar setup, although at $155 they're not exactly cheap, and they're not the prettiest design either (although that's low priority on this car). I'm not opposed to using one, but I'm going to poke around a bit more before I commit to it.

If I had a big stash of sticks and tubes I'd be all for experimentation, but I have none, and they're not the easiest thing to pull off in the junkyard. I'm not opposed to cutting and welding to make it fit, I made my own dual exhaust for this car, laying on my shop floor and welding up all leftover pieces from other cars, which in the end turned out really nice. It's more a lack of raw materials to start with. But I might see if I can find a couple factory ones to try. I've also heard the 2nd gen Camaro ones are close.

I also read on a tri-5 website about a guy who had the same setup I currently have, he successfully modified his (reamed out the bottom hole and reshaped the bottom of the stick to make it slide in and out properly) so I'm likely to give that a shot. If it doesn't work, it's going into the trash anyway, so I figure, why not?

I'm going to dig deeper into it this week. I will report back on what I end up doing.

 

I used the tube from a mid 80's Pontiac Grand Prix with the 200R4 in my 55. Fits great.

 

I bought one from summit that worked fine in a 32. Added a small tab to bolt it up at the normal bell housing location. Should work on most anything

 

Would not a Muncie solve your prob??

PS: Bitchin' ride.

 

Hope you get it straightened out. I was gonna say just unscrew the plug on the side & squirt gear oil in till it runs out then replace the plug!
Love your car

 

Squab, HI, try going to a trans shop. the one i was at had 5 gal buckets by brand from core units. get the late model "top hat" style. if you are lucky they may have a 350 on the floor you can try. most tubes hugged the trans.or like Squirrel and myself cobble one up. if you can weld the doors up, making a dipstick tube is easy. Pete.

 

Do a search for a late model dipstick and tube. The newer vehicles will have a smaller "stick" than what was common 40 years ago, some are even cable. This will make slipping through tight bends easier. Might cost you less than $50.

 

Today I took a whack at modifying the universal tube. I figured if I messed it up, it was trash anyway. First issue, the tube pulled out of the transmission way too easily. Once I had it out, it's a pretty basic part, one machined aluminum top section that the handle snaps down into with the mount bracket built in, one machined bottom part with 2 O-ring grooves machined in that pushes down into the trans, and a plastic tube with braided steel over the top, all held together with what look like AN fittings.

The issue with the stick not going in was because the opening in the bottom machined piece had a big, flat ridge around the top, and needed to be tapered in gently so the end of the stick can "find" its way to the center. A football shaped carbide die grinder bit made for a very nice taper.

Also, whoever installed the tube sharpened the end of the stick to a knife edge, trying to make it easier to stab into the hole. That knife point was scratching up the inner sides of the tube. I ground it down to a gentle taper and a very soft rounded point on the end so it can't scratch. Now the stick goes into the tube very easily.

I then reinstalled it with bigger O rings to get a tighter seal at the trans. The old O-rings barely stood proud of the machined surface, it seems like they stretched on the smallest O-rings they possibly could. The bigger O rings helped, but even with the bigger O rings, it doesn't feel like it has a very tight seal.

But it's not currently leaking, so it's working good enough to get it to the alignment shop and work out some other bugs. It still fills excruciatingly slow, is ugly, and I don't trust it to stay sealed, but for now it's functional enough that it can be in place to do the job until I can round up some factory stock style sticks and tubes to work with.

If anyone out in Internet land comes across this thread looking for advice on this, your best option is to figure out a factory style hard tube that really hugs the bellhousing and trans tight, and figure it out before the drivetrain goes in the car. Modify the tube however you have to.

If you don't care about looks, or you're doing some high-tech looking billet crap anyway, the Lokar branded setup looks way more functional than the cheap ones. Those have actual flexibility of the dipstick, and a nut from the inside of the trans pan keeps it sealed up instead of just O-rings in a push-in setup. Neither of the universal options are very period-looking unfortunately.

The eBay no-name cheapie is a poor design with poor execution and takes some modification and effort to make it work even half-ass. It appears to be the same one that Ecklers sells for quite a bit more money. It can be made to function with a bunch of effort, but it's definitely not the problem solver it's made out to be.

 

Just to follow up on this thread, since I hate looking for advice on the internet and finding only open-ended discussions....

The eBay cheapie dipstick would not seal to the trans. Bigger O rings didn't work, a tophat style seal didn't work, it just would not make a good seal, and I lost a ton of trans fluid on the floor and took it all apart too many damn times, so it got the boot.

A friend of mine did come up with a steel tube/stick setup from an El Camino and I'm sure if the engine and trans were out of the car I could have made it mount up with a few tweaks, but getting it in place with the engine in the car (at stock motor mount position, not the 3/4" forward mounting that some kits give), it just wasn't going to happen.

So I sprung for the Lokar setup.

It is not at all traditional/historically accurate looking, which is disappointing and that's really something I shoot for with all my cars. At least period-possible, whenever possible.

But functionally, it's a beautiful design. The lower section has a tophat style seal and has a nut that goes on from inside the trans pan to hold it tight and makes a really good seal. It has not leaked a drop since installing it. Also, the lower section bolts into the trans independent of the upper section, so there's no struggling to get it into place in one piece, you bolt the lower part in, then snap the upper section in, quick-connect style, almost like an air hose. Plus the fill rate is way faster than the cheap shitty one and the stick is flexible and easier to read.

If I ever blew this car apart for real paint and detailing, I would put a regular steel tube in it for sure, just for the look, which is important to me. But functionality wise, it seems to be excellent, well designed and well made, and I was just ready to move past that particular issue.