Technical automatic transmission or 3 speed manual?

No matter what you do, someone will think the opposite.
You been at walk around sand heard “I’d have done....”. As the fellow leaves in his crap box.

 

That's true....

 

Could always hang a dummy clutch pedal and confuse people... Should be good for a few laughs anyway.

 

To the OP: I didn't read all the pages of the thread. My hot rods all have 5 speeds. However, with that being said, I built a 72 F100 for my son and wife that is a crown vic front conversion with a 4.6 and auto from a cop car. The looseness of the convertor makes it fun to drive around town. There are pluses and minuses to everything we do. From what I read in the 1st page, you have limited income for the next couple of years so that will determine your answer. As long as you are happy, nothing else is important.

 

I don't have limited income, I draw the line on what I spend money on lol. I'll put the 3 speed in the car. Never about buying anything. About 2 transmissions laying there at my disposal, if you were me, which one would you use. Still being traditional as possible to the hobby. The Astorian is running a 3 speed, that's good enough for me

 

Ditto. Hotrods have three pedals. JMO

 

just sayin....

 

Come on, don't be idiots - unless, of course, you don't consider Big John Mazmanian's Willys gasser a hot rod...

 

Well...that’s a race car.....

 

Hard to tell, but it looks like the trans in the floor-less car might be a HD Muncie 330, the other trans is obviously a Saginaw. Whatever trans you use, get a decent shifter, not an INDY, Mr. Gasket, or anything similar. I've got an old Switch Pitch TH-400 trans that the stock bell-housing was cut off of, and an aftermarket Chevrolet bell-housing bolted to, that has built-in, Tri-Five Chevrolet, mounts; mostly why I bought the trans to start with. The Switch Pitch transmissions (both the 400 and ST300) have an electronically moveable stator torque converter, so you have two separate stall speeds. GM only made those for 3 years, but they're still around, and were for use in BIG cars (Caddy's, Olds, Buicks) and the mid-size cars when the ST-300 was used. Hi-stall got the car under way, shifted into lo-stall for driving. You could always do something like that; a street mode, and a race mode, with the flick of a switch. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Forget the World Class T-5, there's a new Sherriff in town. Tremec is offering a brand new T-5. They only make the shift tower in one location (too far back for me) or I would own one ASAP and sell the rebuilt one in the 34.
https://www.tremec.com/menu/t-5/

Never say "I don't have limited income" to the IRS or a hooker...or at a swap meet for that matter. I don't have un-limited income will keep you out of trouble and debtors prison.

 

Who needs money!? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/saginaw-3-speed-transmission-new-price.1212212/

 

Throw away that cel phone then you can afford to buy a "real" four speed!

 

Well funny you should say that because there's a super T10 on its way. Thanks Jed! does this improve my social status? I'll be rubbing elbows with the elite now

 

4>3

 

The limited or fixed income is still a few years away, but I don't know if that'll stand true because my fire department job does get in the way of making money in this body shop from time to time lol!!! I'm freaking covered up with work and they keep coming still doesn't mean I'm spending my money on a $2500 transmission!!!

 

Damnit Scott! You know I can't do math

 

By at least 10 points!

 

My Coupe I bought has an M22, Rock-crusher, which is super noisy cause of the straight-cut gears. But that's not the problem. It has a hydrolic clutch that's really stiff. I have a bad knee....so I think I will be changing it to an automatic, at some point. The plan is a B&M Powerglide. We'll see how long I can hold up....

 

You might look at a different clutch or change the master or slave cylinder. The last clutch I bought was a Centerforce dual-friction and one of the selling points was reduced effort.

 

Generally hydraulic clutches are much easier to operate than manual clutches. If yours is stiff, I would think maybe you need a different size master cylinder to change the ratio. Probably easier than a complete trans change.

Edit: This popped up while I was typing.......God I love this guy!
Crazy Steve said......You might look at a different clutch or change the master or slave cylinder.

 

LOL does an E brake peddle count?

 

I simply tried to help someone who asked a related question.

 

I built a car for a customer and put a hydraulic clutch in it. I thought I was the king of fabrication up to the point of trying to drive the damn thing! It took a ton of power to push the clutch in and hold it. I was thinking man this stuff is junk. Then I thought about the pedal ratio on the brakes and made me think about the clutch, could I have it that far off? I pulled the clutch master off of the firewall and welded up the hole, moved it up 2" higher and drilled a new hole in the clutch pedal arm, WOW! never dreamed it could've made that much of a difference

 

I looked at a Jeep CJ7 in the '90sthat someone had put an FE in. It was a neat car and I thought it would be a good winter driver, ran like a top. It had the original manual clutch linkage I literally could not mash the clutch. So it became a '65 Galaxy. LOL I liked the Galaxy better anyway.

 

No, but it is a requirement.

 

When changing the 1964 from a power glide to a 700 r4 with 3.73 gears I got spoiled, now when driving the other
cars with out O.D. I am always looking for another gear
I won't change any of my other manual cars over because they are fun to drive, but when traveling the interstate a longer distance turning 3600 rpms, not as comfortable with the noise and the heat being generated by headers on a long trip.
More power to you young people, 40 years ago I loved it.

 

^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^
Granted a Centerforce clutch set is a little more money but if it makes a difference and keeps the clutch pedal in the mix it's worth it, at least to me, as that is what my roadster has, hopefully someday if I ever finish it, I'll be able see for myself.

 

Denny, you'll like it. I put one in my '64 Comet, replacing a OEM Borg & Beck and there was a marked reduction in pedal effort. No slippage and very tractable for 'everyday' driving. I'm buying another one for my FE-powered Sunliner...

And while they're more money than a stock replacement, they're very competitively priced compared to 'other' high performance clutch sets.

 

Horses for courses. In that vehicle? Depends which course you want it to ride.

4 speed for if you want to really get down and dirty, 3 if you just want to ride a few red light grand prixs every so often, TH350 if you just want sloppy torque to cruise round.

All of them work. Add much as I love (to hate) my automatic, I would say manual in this case, whichever suits what you want to do with the car best.

Phil