I was wanting to change the gears out in the rear end on my 53 chevy. It has closed drive and it's a 3-speed. I was wanting to put some highway gears in the rear end and was wondering where I could find some and what I would have to do to change them out?
i think patricks makes them but are like 450 for the ring and pinion.and theres another place in la that makes them also let me find the place and will post the phone number..
camaro/firebird 55-57 chevy 54-56pontiac/olds monte carlo malibu.depends on witch rims you gonna run also..
Supposily 78-80 camaro/firebird rear ends fit right under with no modification except an extra hole needing drilled for mounting.
my 49 has 77 camaro rearend with 3.55 .and i swapped springs rear eyes to the front and that centerd it.
If i'm gonna go through the trouble of chaging the rear end to something other than an automatic 50-54 rear then I would get rid of the torque tube. I know where I can get a rear end from a 53 chevy that's automatic, so I might try that.
Which means ditch the transmission and engine too! He wants to change gearing not the complete drive train.
I was kind of thinking about changing the complete drive train. I know that I've heard people say that a small block will blot up to the original motor mounts, but I've never done that. Will that work, and if so would another 3 speed and small block blot to the motor and tranny mounts? Might be a dumb question, I dont know.
A small block won't bolt to the six mounts. There are kits that work, or you can build some. Find a SBC with a T5 and make it fit. The trans mount will require some building, too. A Camaro rear is a good fit. The Powerglide rear with 3.55's will help the cruising speed a bit. Where you go 35.5 mph now, you will go 37 at those revs. Not much diff. The older cars with 4.11's benefit more from the 'Glide gears.
find a powerglide rear from a 50-54 chevy the #'s on the ring gear will be 39-11 ,all you need is the tube,centersection swap it out with yours ,you already have the good brakes , i just did this swap on my 51 coupe if you dont see the car that it came out of always check the #'s you dont want to swap in the 411's from the 49-52 stick cars just because some one said it was a pg car --joe
What kind of a difference did it make with yours as far as speed, not acceleration, but speed traveling down the highway?
my car had the 4-11's and was not fun on the highway ,but once i put in the powerglide gears i had no problems .It runs great im able to cruise along at 55-60 no prob and the engine isnt screaming a definete difference
Thats cool. Mine will cruise along about 60-65, but ice never really push it to see what it can do. Around 65 it starts sounding like my car is gonna break apart.
Most '53 standard cars had 3.70 gears, but I had one with 4.11's. Special order, maybe, or early production, I dunno. Yours could be either. Hard to figure ratios with the closed drive. Easiest way is to remove the back cover and look for the numbers on the ring gear. I have done it by turning the engine two turns by hand with the trans in High gear and counting the turns on a jacked up wheel, but that requires another person. If you are careful, you can turn the engine with a remote starter button, start with the timing marks in the bell lined up and go two turns, or put a chalk mark on the front pulley.
If you plan to keep the stock 6 in it, and just want a higher rear gear ratio, rather than converting to a different rear end and open driveline, you might be better just to look for a 3-spd. w/overdive tranny. You could probably combine the factory O.D tranny with a set of 3.55 Power-Glide gears too. Generally, the factory 3 spd w/O.D cars used 4.11, gears, the standard 3 spds cars got 3.70 gears and the Power Glide cars came with 3.55s. Mart3406 ===========================
----------------------------------- Sorry. My bad! I know pre-55 Chevy pick-ups had an available 3-spd.OD tranny - and I (erroneously) just assumed that Chevy offered a similar set-up for the pre-55 passenger cars too. Mart3406 ==============================