Has anyone ever used an adapter to fit a SBC to a standard 3sp in an 49-54 chevrolet. I hear good and a bad about it, but would the stock drivetrain hold up? (52 cpe closed driveline) Need opinions from someone whos done that type of conversion.. thanks
you dont need an adaptor. what you need is the front bearing retainer from a tri-5 chev 3 speed. this will center the stock trans in the sbc bellhousing, and bolt right up. this also allows the sbc throw-out bearing to be used with the early trans. ran this set-up in a50 coupe back in 1962. god that ages me. i beat the living shit out of that car for 2 years , and never had any drivetrain problems.that was agood thing , cause it was my daily driver. riverrat ps. if you have anymore ?.s about the swap feel free to pm me
Dim memory from many years ago: doing this with your '52 passenger trans requires just drilling two of the boltholes in the SBC bell to match, two line up. The neat alternative is the case casting from a '48-54 pickup truck, which has the late pattern and will accept all the innards from your trans.
Now everything I have read until now implies the stock trans and rear are on the weak side, and if you put too much power into them you'll break them. A 265 or 283 isn't that much bigger than the stock 235, but if you're talking a 350 or larger, I'd plan to put an open rear and a better trans in it. But yeah, what he said. You can swap a lot of this stuff around back and forth with the right combo of parts. You might even be able to bolt in an early V8 with the front mount and bellhousing mount -
On eary Chevy trans, the pre-55 and the closely related early V8 3 speed, I understand the secret of survival is the same as for early Ford trans--get rid of endplay. I've never worked on the innards of one of these and don't know anything about thrust washers and slingers needed for the job.
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