I bought a 429 with a Jetaway on it, I had no idea what it was and and am still pretty clueless. Are they worth using? I have the yoke so all I'll need to do is fab up a drive shaft. If the masses sway me another direction, like a 400 turbo, I'm still not out much.....
The '56-'63 Hydramatic will give no trouble if maintained. Don't confuse this trans with the Slim Jim - Roto-Hydro - 315 thing used in '61-'64 Olds & Pontiac
I never heard of one used for racing, But, they were a good, solid gearbox when driven as a typical Olds or Cad owner would. Your average trans. builder of that day had no quarrel with building them.
If I'm not mistaken, that was a substitute when the Hydramatic plant burned. Nothing better than a th400.
If they were in good working condition, they were good transmissions in their day. The down side is all the rebuilders that are best familiar with them are long gone. Bob
The jetaway is a decent trans but does not shift as hard as a 55 on back hydramatic,I had a 59 jetaway in a 53 Olds and played with the linkage a bit to get a little more pressure so it would shift a little firmer.
The Hydramatic plant burned in 1953. Buick Dynaflows were substituted in some Oldsmobiles until Hydramatic production could be resumed. The OP's engine is a 429 and it appears to have the BOP/C block/trans bolt pattern which, IIRC, was introduced in Caddy production with the '64 429. If that is so, it should a simple bolt on process to install a Turbohyramatic 400, a very good alternative, as you suggest.
This is true and they are tough. I had one in a 389 Pontiac powered 55 Chevy it was slower shifting and not as firm as the old dual range hydros. If you are going to use it I would try to find someone to check it over and at least replace the seals as it is 50 years old and that hearse which it was in was no feather.
My dad had one in an olds. after rebuilding it 3 times in 12000 miles, the first 12000 of the cars life, we changed it to a three on the tree. If dad got over 60 mph it was fast. no hot rodding for him. now it was a different tune for me.
I'm wondering how it ended up on the back of a 429. In mid 63 the trans was changed to the 400 on the back of the last version of the 390. A 63 390 and 64 429 look similar, and if I recall used the same valve covers. It still begs the question how did this end up there? The shift lever indicator was the 1st and easiest tell. If it was a "prindle", PRND2L, Turbo 400. If it was a "pindler", PNDLR, a slush box, or Hydramatic. The 400 is the way to go. That trans would have some value to a restoration project from early 63 and older. Not junk, but not real hot rod material.
The dual-coupling hydro is pleasant to drive with; it has four speeds and locks up in high gear sort of like a 700R4 works. You can put it in 3rd and it shifts itself to high gear around 65-70 MPH. The problem is parts are obsolete and very few can fix them, so you don't want to beat on it. But I never had a problem with mine in a daily with a 389 Pontiac on it. They are by no means the junk that a slim-jim Roto-Hydramatic is.
I have the dual-coupling in my 57 Pontiac and it works well now that it's been rebuilt. Getting it rebuilt was NOT CHEAP! As some one mentioned earlier ALL of the seals will be rock hard inside of it if they happen to be the original pieces. If you don't end up using it I would bet you could sell it. Hard parts are scarce and I know there was some NOS pieces for my rebuild that drove the price up considerably.
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