I have a freshly rebuilt stock automatic transmission for my 52 olds. Is there any kind of add on overdrive available for this stock set up?
gear vendors makes an OD that goes behind the transmission... other than this you're going to find not much out there
That surprises me that there wasnt some kind of add on. I know alot of other cars had add ons available.
.Hone-A-Matic built some Borg Warner OD units in the 60s-70s, rare then and probably unobtainium now.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought ford, hudson, studebaker, and others had overdrive units. Some being cable operated. Never seen any in person, but have heard about them. I've heard some refered to as columbia overdrives. Non chevy drive trains are new to me so I could be way off.
fred hone didnt start making and selling his OD units till the LATE 60's everyone sold cars with OD transmissions, including chevy... 3 speed manual overdrives, but they were not a bolt on to just any transmission, they were part of the trans itself. a "columbia" is a two speed rear axle
The Columbia was a two-speed rear axle and was limited to pre-49 Ford rear axles. Rare and expensive these days and a bit light-duty for your Olds even if you wanted to do the swap. Overdrive transmissions were common through the fifties, but were all based of three-speed manual boxes. Converting to a manual-with-OD would probably be the cheapest path. About your only choice to retain your OEM automatic will be a modern Gear Vendors unit unless you want to convert to a later-model automatic OD trans. This will require a shorter driveshaft, an additional frame crossmember to support the OD unit (unless they make a bolt-on unit for your trans, unlikely), and probably some floor mods for clearance.
seems like all the low horsepower long stroke motors came with borg warner od but that was a stick. gear venders makes an add on but 2500.00 bucks. might think about a 700r4 or 22004r or 4l60 trans auto and od
How well will this drivetrain run down the road at 75mph? Do I even really need an od? The trans is freshly rebuilt, and I will be building the engine.
There was an article in one of my old magazines (I think it was a "Rod Builder" from around 58 or so) that shows how to put a Borg Warner overdrive on a Hydramatic. Basically it entaled finding a 3-Speed OD manual out of a Studebaker or Willys and robbing the tail-housing, where the OD was located, and through a bunch of machine-work mating it to the back end of the Hydro. In theory, it sounds do-able, and the article proves that it was done, at least once. In practice though, who knows...
you don't need an OD behind a Hydromatic. Your 52 Olds will cruise nicely at 75mph. That is how the factory built it. just make sure you have a tire that is at least as tall as OEM.
The 88s used 7.60-15, 98 had 8.00 or 8.20-15. Diameters are 29''+ & 30''+, so you may be running too small on the rear tires. That Olds will go as fast as you'll ever need with factory axle ratio & tire diameters.
The Hydro is a 4-speed, the 303 should be plenty torquey and the rear gears should be like a 3.08 or thereabouts. Which means it will do 75 all day long without breaking a sweat. Worst case, the same rearend was used through '56, just get auto gears from a newer one if yours aren't highway friendly enough.
I havent even picked the car up yet. I just assumed based on my 216 powered 3 speed pickup that 50s cars were not really interested in 75mph. But it sounds like the olds shouldnt have any trouble. So i guess i just need to get her home and put together and hit the road.
My older brothers have a 50 Olds 88 303 Hydramatic and a 56 Olds Holiday 324 Hydramatic and their cars run down the highway just fine with the stock rebuilt transmissions. Although they have been on the road many years now but no problems.
Think about it.....an early '50s truck with a 216 or a 100 hp flathead HAD to have 4-something gears just to be able to haul a load of any sort. An Olds with a (then) cutting edge OHV V8 and a four speed hydro with a 1st gear ratio of 3.82:1 could get away with rear gears that were much more highway friendly.
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