Do the early V6 Buick autos bolt up to the 215 V8?<o></o> <o></o> Whats involved to adapt a gear box and what would be a good candidate for the swap?<o></o>
If by "early Buick V6" you mean the initial '61 thru '63 198 V6.........then yes. It is however, a smallish 2 speed aluminum case, similar to an alum Powerglide, but not the same. The 215 V8's of the same era ('61-'63) shared the bellhousing pattern with the 198 V6......but that all changed with '64 up 225/231/252 V6 & 300/340/350 V8 Buicks. I do not know what bellhousing pattern Rover (nee Buick) 215 blocks used.
I have an Olds/Ultra Hi-compression 215 V8 from a '61 Cutlass. It came stock with a T-86 3-spd standard transmission. As I understand it, the bellhousing bolt pattern is 'different', only works on the 215's. I may be wrong but that is what I've been told. Dan Stevens dba, Steelsmith
www.aluminumV8.com confirms that 215 V8 and the 198 V6 and All Rover V8's from 3.5 L thru 4.6 L share the same bellhousing/block bolt pattern. They offer a really nice bellhousing for manual trans. As stated in my post above, the only automatic GM made for these engines 'back in the day', is the 2 speed aluminum cased tranny, similar to a powerglide. To my knowledge, all Rover SUV applications were 4x4 so included a transfer case/tranny combo. However, Rover did make a sedan in the home market that used the 215 V8........were known as Rover 3500. Perhaps a HAMBer from England can shed some light on the transmissions used in those vehicles. Ray
The stock trans is pretty much your only option without an adapter. The website that others have posted is your best bet. Another option is, some of the later MGBs had a 215, wether or not they were imported to Australia, I don't know.
I believe the Buick/Olds 215 used the GM180 transmission, we have a rod near here with this combo. The GM180 was used in some Rover Sedans over here but I can't confirm if the bolt patterns are the same or not, I doubt any of these fit a V6 as they were produced much later. Rover 215 V8's were used in a variety of body styles over here, the big Rover P3's of the Sixties, the Rover 3500 or P6 which was the same shape as a Rover 2000 and is the commonest. After that we had the Rover SD1 which was a 5 door car fastback with a big tailgate. Most of these cars had Borg Warner 35 or 65 transmissions and many more had 5-speeds. MGB V8's had the same and so did the Triumph TR8 which was export only. If of no help then at least its a piece of Brit motoring trivia.... L.P.
61-63 215 2 speed might be a "Dual Path". Check for trans cooler line fittings. If there aren't any and it has a finned torque converter it is the D/P. Don't bother with it. They are hard to get parts for, difficult to get rebuilt properly, and have a weird shift pattern. We are dealiing with one right now and it's a PITA.
Thank you for the replies. I have been looking at gearbox swaps for 70s Rover V8- same as Buick 215 as far as bolt ups go. Yes we had them in rover 3500, BorgWarner 35 auto (may be the same as the ones put behind falcon 6 and 1967 -289 XR – Fairmont?) also I have looked at adaptors and new bell housings, the price of the adaptor and gearbox it gets pricey.<o></o> <o></o> The adaptors look to space the bell at the engine and have a spacer for converter.<o></o> <o></o> It seems the best and cheapest way to go is getting a Rover (car) as a donor and rebuilding the BW35. as a side note the cars I have looked at as donors all had gear box issues- second gear slipping being the most prominent. Perhaps it is a service thing. We also had early V6 Commodores (GMH) that had injected V6’s based on the V6 Buick. But I’m not sure on the auto bolt pattern. .. . <o> </o>
Do any of the Holden models run a TH350, TH400, 200R4 or 700R4? These are all transmissions that can be put behind the 215 with an adapted from D&D. These are all common GM transmissions over here and were all behind small blocks. Sadly I think all you small pickups will be Isuzu based so that will not help unless they are wunning a 4.3 V6.
I have been running 215's for years. I had the 63 only 4 speed bell housing which is the one being reproduced. KEP makes a neat adaptor to go with any GM auto trans like t350 t400 PG I bought mine 20 years ago. Van
Sorry for digging up an old post, but there might be a couple more options. Early to mid 80's Range Rovers had a TF727 with a factory adapter. Hard to come by in the States, but there should be a fair amount of them in OZ. Late 80's-2001 Range rovers used a ZFhp22 And while this is a 4wd (ie no tailhousing) transmission, BMW's use a ZF hp22 in 2wd form. I would assume (read MAYBE) that the ZF bellhousing from the Rover ZF would bolt to the BMW ZF, but I havent actually checked on that. -Jeff
The BW35 is a pretty decent transmission if you are not making a ton of power. A good place to find them is in old Volvos. I had one years back in a 75 242 I used as a daily driver. The BW35 came behind the pushrod 4 bangers used from the 60's right on up to 75. A Volvo shop can rebuild it for a good price, and a *few* upgrades are out there. Just need to source a Rover bell to hook it up.
the buick used twin pitch but the olds 215 used a hydromatic with NO torque converter.it used a standard type flywheel[not a flexplate] with a spring centered[like a clutch plate]adaptor that drove the front pump of the hydro. i've run one of these for years behind a buick 215 and it worked great except at low speed in first gear it was kinda herky-jerky because the springs in the clutch like plate had weak springs. this trans is about 75 lbs heavier than the twin pitch. if i re-do another 215 i'd use the twin pitch as they work well ,are lighter and really pull hard in a light car. the t5 in my 62 skylark works well also and i doubt it would ever break unless it had a manufactures defect for mid engine use a vw bus transaxle adapts quite well. for lots of info ''the little Buick club'' has many members that are willing to share
not on the HAMB,i think it was part of the national Buick club,it's been 20+ years since i've belonged.i'll have to look in the attic for their publications,will try again this week to find info.btw,did find paperwork to increase displacement to 320 ci.
May I suggest a C4, I think you will find it's a bolt up deal from memory. A friend has a p76 3500 and I know we fitted a C4 to it without any real heartache. PM me if you want enquire further. Cheers, Drewfus
Makes sense C4 bolts up the same as BW35. I have been looking at Rover (car) motor and gearbox and it seems that most have gearbox problems (BW35). I also have looked at Discovery or Range Rover (4x4) motors and wonder what gearbox could be used for a manual gearbox, using the 4x4 bell.??? .. . <o></o>
I think your memory is lacking. The BOPR 215 and descendants (including the P76) use a unique bellhousing bolt pattern. Except for the original 1961-63 Buick V6 talked about at the beginning of this thread, no other engine shares this bolt pattern. There's no C4 that I'm aware of that bolts up.
While it isn't common, I've had a couple of 4-speed T10 bell housings for the 215". They were rare in the Starfire and very rare in the Skylark, but did exist. thnx, jack vines
They use LT77's or R380's (both 5 speeds) depending on year. If you are up for a bit of work, an LT95 (4 speed) can be used is you cut off the integral Tcase (I've seen it done) Depending on what application it was in, there is a short and a long bellhousing. -Jeff
Ken Costello ( the guy who put Rover V8's in MGB's before BL did ) made a 5 speed to fit behind a Rover / Buick 215.
Early Rover 3500 had BW35 then they changed to the BW65 (better box) then they changed to GM180 (even better box) all are 3 speed. There are adaptors available to fit TH350 & 400
I'm looking to see what tranny fits 340 Buick v8. Will a Chevy 350 trans fit it? Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Buick 340 shares the same block bolt pattern as '64 up Buick V6, Buick V8 (300/340/350/400/430/455...known as 'BOP' pattern) So, there are 2 speed, 3 speed TH350/TH400/4 speed TH 2004R...that all bolt up to the 340 block. Ray
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