Hydramatic (Hydro Stick) Builder in Houston?

Mad hydro was the best , was building hydros way before b+m did ....they came here to hire him he spit on the guy & he ran them off back to cally... mad man Marshall Decuir was also making adaptor to put turbo 400 to early olds back in 65 ahead of his time ! i got his 50 olds coupe

 

31 Vicky with a Hemi;
I know It's not B&M, but besides B&M there were 5 or 6 major "Hydro" builders back in the day. One of them is still in business. Hydro-motive is now re-organized as TSI Transmissions. Here is a link to their websight.

http://www.tsiracing.com/history.htm

Reportedly they still have all the tools there to build a modified dual-range hydro. They also have an "old timer" there who is willing to build one.

I would think that an even harder to find item will be an adapter plate and flywheel to bolt that Hydro to your Hemi. I guess E-bay and Google will be your best friends there.

 

Thanks charley jones !!

 

Blown Hemis, Hydros, we think alike.

 

Anyone familliar with throwing a clutch on one??

 

Richard any pics of your Corvair drag car??

 

I am getting close to being finished "re-moddeling"my garage and hope to get back to work on it soon. This is the progress so far:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=542558
Gonna need some input sorting out the steering.

 

Richard, looks good, keep us posted.

 

B&M made a "Clutch Flite". Torqueflite with a clutch. Saw an original one on a Willys gasser at the Hot Rod 60th show in Pomona. Don't know the mech details but I want bad.

 

i had a clutch flite b-m in my 69 nova ss 396 ran b/m was a turbo 400 the front case milled off had an adaptor plate where the pump was to put the bell housing. used a 3 finger deal to hook to the pressure plate to drive the front pump , also used a chrysler pilot shaft and disc. really hooked up off the line then shift with the manual valve body 2- 3 . very hard shift. on the street no down shift would have to slow down to let it catch up.... used it behind my 427 alum. head motor . full body car steel wheels 10.20,s and teens in 1970

 

Hello

I'm also interested in this. I have a modified Hydro that's supposed to go behind my injected Nailhead. I figure it's easier to set it up with a cluth with manual bellhousing and an adapter plate, rather then trying to get the torus mounted to the Nailhead and having to manufacture a bellhousing. Plus it's always cooler with three pedals.

I have inspected the Hydro and been looking at shop manuals and it seems that it's a bit harder to do the clutch conversion on Hydros compared to the Torquflite. On a Hydro the torus cover spins with the crankshaft and this drives the front pump and the front gearset. for first and secon gear the front gearset is in reduction and the power gos to the driving part of the torus, this drives the drivven half of the torus and the power goes to the rear gearset.

So what actuallu happens is that in 1st and 2nd the torus halves spins at a lower speed then than crank. Would one let the clutch drive the main input and lock the torus shafts together all 4 gears and reverse would be possible but one would need to use an external oil pump to have it in gear with the clutch open and get good starts. Once the clutch is released the front pump would pressurize the gears clutches and bands so it would drive even without an external pump. Another alternative is to let the clutch drive the inner torus shaft and hence only drive the rear gearset. That would only give gear 3 and 4. I don't know if reverse would be an possible with this setup, but if so it would be with a gear ratio close to 3rd gear. In this case one could let the clutch cover fingers drive the oil pump just as one would on a Torqueflite (Clutchflite).

The first option seems like a better alternative, but it would make the shafts normally connected to the torus run the same speed. If one would consider the torus as being the clutch in a normal Hydro it's easy to see that this modification makes it pretty much altered compared to a stock one. Nothing at all will smooth out flares and binds during shifting. That's the part that makes it a bit complicated. At least in theory.

Now for the question. I have seen pics (maybe jsut one) of Hydros modified for clutch with the extra drive plate/spider probably running the pump. No would that be a 2 speed only deal? Anyone into these things?

I just made a short story long.. as I usually do.

//Magnus

 

The very first year of a Hydramatiac ('38? '39? '40? forgetting now...) had a clutch on the front. Might be useful to use for ideas or even a few parts, IF you ever found one. I never did in years of searching....

Saw quite a few clutch turbo's and clutch-flytes... but those are different transmissions. Hard to say what ideas could be used though.

 

One of the best dual range Hydra-Matic builders is Gene Berck in Salinas California, his website is restorationhydramatic.com

 

I have one that will get bolted up to a 1959 389 going into my 1953 Pontiac Chieftain Custom Catalina

 

It's actually: https://restorationhydramatics.com/

 

Gene is a hoot!

I build early Hydramatics, single, dual range, jetaway, slim jim etc.
No experience with racing stuff though.

I deal with him on a semi regular basis for early Hydramatic parts.

He is with out a doubt, the most knowledgeable person on the planet, that's still alive, when it comes to early Hydramatics.

He's really getting up there in age though, and I am worried he won't be with us a whole lot longer.
Gene is a really great guy, that loves to talk and tell stories, so if you call him, be prepared to be on the phone for quite some time.

He recently sent me a reproduction of a GM poster showing a breakdown of a
"Twin Hydramatic", which was a crazy design for big trucks in the 50s.
This thing was two Dual Range Hydramatics somehow mated together, one upside down on the top of another. Then through a splitter/reduction box that gave up to 21 different ratios.
It only lasted a few years as it was problematic.
Would love to see an actual image of one, but have yet to find one, other than drawings.

Bill

 

@justpassinthru

 

That's similar to the large poster Gene sent me.
Would still like to see images of the real thing
Thanks

Bill

 

If I find one I'll be sure to send you pictures of it.

 

For true, Gene is a hoot!!
He's also the guy who knows all the early Hydramatic stuff, but like some of us, is getting past his best-used-by-date. He can't heft the big stuff like he could back in the day. (I can say that because I'm older than he is and the slope is really slippery from here on.)

jack vines, who, on a good day can build a Studebaker or Packard with the best. Not a lot of competition for that.