Doing the homework and starting to gather parts for a tranny swap for the 41 Buick coupe. It is a Super with the 248 and front engine mounts. My plan is to use the Bendtsen’s tranny adapter and use a 55-57 Chevy Cast iron bell housing with the rear engine mount ears. I'll fabricate a rear engine mount from the frame to the bellhousing to hold the back of the 248 in place. Not sure on the exact clutch disk or pressure plate yet. Tranny will be a T5 out of an S10. I'' also fab up a rear crossmember for the tranny. The rear suspension will be the trailing arms out of a '71-72 Chevy truck. The '71-72 has 5x5 lugs at 62" wide, same as the Buick. I'll take the spring mounts off the 41 diff and weld to the Chevy diff so they will use the same Buick mounting locations. I'll have to fab up some shock mounts. I haven't planned exactly where they will go yet but lowers may be in the Chevy location. So, anyone see any problems with this get up? Or a better idea? Thanks!
What are you using for a flywheel? If the Buick was a stick just use the buick flywheel and a Buick pressure plate and a chevy disk.Be sure to check that your input shaft length works out and your pilot bushing fits.
The Bendtsen's adapter comes with a crankshaft flange adapter as well as the block adapter. When the parts are installed on the Buick straight eight, the back of the engine is configured exactly the same as a Chevy V8. From that point, you can install ANY manual or automatic components that would fit a Chevy. I have the Bendsen's adapter and it is a very well made unit. Ray
That's as good a plan as any. I have the parts and intentions of doing pretty much the same conversion on my '38 Buick Special Coupe. However, I am undecided on whether to use a 5 speed manual or overdrive automatic. Just recently I had my Buick on a lift and was doing some measuring for the GM truck arms and the point of intersection with the X member. at stock length, the arms arm a bit too long to fit into the X and still clear a driveshaft. So I am exploring the obvious options to address that. The '38 has a 118.5" wheelbase...whereas your '41 should be 121.5", as I recall, and that may alleviate the issue. In any case, there are various ways to deal with that and still retain the benefits of that setup. Ray
I have the same issue with the '41 frame "X". The guys at Hot Rods to Hell say they cut it out and weld the trailing arm crossmember where it's needed. Then weld in new braces from frame to new crossmember making a new "X" but with more open area. If that makes sense to you. I can picture it in my head but hard for me to describe.
That is exactly the 'plan' I came up with after considering all other options (that I could think of). The angles of the X's will change a bit, but I don't see any downside to that. Either a OEM GM pickup cross member, or a fabricated facsimile, should work just fine. Ray
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