56 324 Olds manual trans

What type of transmission would a 56 Olds have behind a 324.? Would the starter still be on the left side with the manual bell housing? Have an opportunity to purchase a complete engine with manual three speed trans from a 56.

 

It is the Selector style box. It has a lever which moves the shift fork from side to side. Finding a floor shift lever is a challenge- there were only a few types made and some were reverse pattern. I believe they used the same trans up to '64 or so.

 

Will any other trans bolt up to it?

 

I made my own shifter for a selector shift dodge trans be hind my desoto hemi, but I switched it out for a modern overdrive after a while, my friend has an early caddy 331 with a stick and I believe he is running a ford trans.

 

Yes, and no

A 37 Buick big series top shift trans case will bolt up, but you need to put all of the Olds guts into it.

I would run the stock 56 trans with a homemade shifter.

I have both of the above setups, if you need pics.

I'd buy any early Olds motor that has a complete standard shift setup...they are very hard to find, and individual parts like flywheel, clutch fork, front bearing snout, etc, are very expensive and not easy to find when you need them.

 

If you're handy at modifying, yes.......as luck would have it, the top two boltholes line up with the more common G.M. 3/4/5 speed pattern, and I've seen these bell housings with the center hole cut out larger and two new holes drilled in the bottom to bolt a four speed to it.

 

I was working toward this very approach a year or two ago and yes, the top holes line up. But there is not enough "meat" at the lower portion of the bell housing to drill and tap for the lower bolts......unless you used smaller diameter bolts, say 3/8" and sleeved the trans 'ears' accordingly.

I did find that I could drill and tap the trans case to accept Allen head bolts from inside the bell housing, similar to what was done on Chevy trucks for many years in the late 40's thru the mid 60's or so.

Even at that though, there are other issues with finding a suitable combination of stock and modified pieces for the throwout fork, t/o bearing etc.

In my opinion, you may better served by obtaining an adapter for the Olds to the later GM transmission. As popular as the Olds & Cad engines have been, there should be something available for that.

Ray