i found a pontiac hearse with a 3 speed manual.(55-57) will the trans/bellhousing fit on my 53 caddy 331
Yes,its not the same .I had a 56 Poncho with a 3spd ,and its kind of a rare deal .Olds is the only one that has the same pattern as Caddy's of that vintage.On the plus side there are adapters for the Olds to bolt to a few different transmission ,and that means there are many that will bolt to you 331 Caddy also ...
i actually know where a 50 olds is now that i think about it. if i were to find a manual 50 olds would it have to be the v8 303 or would a straight 6-8 work? ( i just dont wanna spend that much for an adapter and trans if i can help it)
The 303 will, not sure of the others. I bet you'll spend as much trying to get all the parts as you would getting an adapter and using a modern trans. I weighed it out and dropped the money on an adapter.
A '49 or '50 Olds V8 will fit your application. The 6 cyl trans, of any year, is a much lighter duty gearbox. I don't know for sure about straight 8 Olds, '48 and earlier, but I think it would be the the heavier duty unit. Ray
There are two Buick/Olds/Pontiac trannies.....the 5 bolt top cover light duty units and the 6 bolt cover heavier duty versions. Buick Special & Supers are 5 bolt...as are 6 cyl Olds and Pontiac. Buick Century and Roadmaster are 6 bolt units as are V8 Olds and Pontiac. I have a '55 Olds 6 bolt HD unit and it fits a Buick Bellhousing and should fit a Pontiac and Cadillac I believe. It is a "selector type" shifter, but that's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, I have the whole '55 Olds setup for stick shift if anyboby's interested....PM me. Ray
For the record-----as far as bell housings that accept the Cad/LaSalle style three speed go, your choices are '49-'54 Cadillac, or '50 Oldsmobile V8 (6 cylinder bells are different, and all '49 V8s were hydramatics). As stated, '51 and newer Olds bell housings used the selector transmission with the six bolt top cover, and don't easily adapt to more modern transmissions.
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