Technical 1955 nailhead transmission removal questions

Any oddball things to know about splitting a 1955 322 nail head and its automatic trans? I have a 1955 roadmaster that I want to pull the engine from and leave the trans in the car. Is it similar to a "modern" setup, that is, are there bolts going through the flexplate into the torque converter, or some other way of attachment? Bellhousing stays with the trans or is it a separate piece? Can the 1955 automatic behind the 322 be bolted up to a 1955 264 nailhead? Thanks for any info, seems there are a lot of differences between these engines year to year.

 

"As I recall", the Buick has a drive plate similar to the common style that is widely used.
The bellhousing remains with the transmission. To the best of my knowledge, the 264 and 322 (of that era) use the same crank flange and block pattern and should be a direct swap in that department as well as motor mounts, etc.

Ray

 

264 t0 322 should be the same. The 364 and later use a smaller belhousing and starter and flywheel combos get complicated in some of these years.

My first car was a 55 Roadmassa, Broom painted John Deere green and yellow, ran great and interior was like new.. $50.00 was a lot of money for a 14 year old gearhead in the early sixties...

 

Thank you! I have seen some dynaflow pictures that show the ring gear on the torque converter, or bolted to it. Is there just a plate on the crank flange like mopar engines used?

 

57 TO 60 dynaflows used a triangular shaped flex plate to attach crank to torque converter front. 55 and back did not. 61-63 is anybodies guess.

 

Thanks, I just got the inspection plate off, and you are right, flexplate is on the engine.
Next problem, I have to remove the 25 or so bolts between the flexplate and converter, or are there certain ones that have to be removed? This engine has been rebuilt and it looks like a lot of those lock nuts were rounded off during install, so they are not going to be easy to remove.

 

I believe there are 4 or 6 bolts that attach flex plate to torque converter. The rest are to keep converter cover attached to converter pump.

 

Thanks, on further inspection there were 3 bolts that held the converter to the flexplate, like you said the rest are for the torque converter.
Thanks for all the help!