I picked up a low mile (documented) 318 Poly over the weekend. It was in a '59 Plymouth Fury. I am dropping it the '54 Royal. The Fury was a push button shift (cable). My Dodge has it on the column (linkage). Can someone tell me of an easy way to make this work? Or is there a kit available? Thanks, Fellas.
There is no 'practical' way to actuate the PB drive through the column. Yes, if you throw enough money at it you could make it happen...but if you had that much money you wouldn't be screwing around with an old Mope... if you must use the 59 trans then your options are limited. Look around long enough and you might find the 54-v8 trans that George mentions as that will be your best course since it will fit in the existing space without mods. .
The push button shifter is just that, a shifter. The transmission is operated by a cable, the sector in the trans has detents. I suspect something could be fabricated to work with your exsisting column, make sure the shift pattern is correct. If you wanted things a little easier you could locate a factory floor shifter for a cable operated trans.
So far as I know the 59 318 will fit any auto trans made for a 318 - 340- 360 up to the nineties. You could have a 904 Torqueflite with column shift or maybe even an automatic overdrive. What I am saying is, the engine/trans interface stayed the same for decades. I hope someone will chip in with the gory details of putting your engine on a late model overdrive (if that is what you want). The only thing that occurs to me is that you will need the 318 torque converter, a 360 is externally balanced and will not work (unless you cut off the balance weight). I don't know exactly how the pushbutton mechanism works except that it is by mechanical cables not electric. It might be that if you take it off you can see how to adapt a lever for a column shift. If not there are plenty of 904 transmissions around in old rear drive cars and pickups.
Nope! '62 & up. The 61 & earlier are the same as the early Hemis & would need a 392 tranny adaptor to use a modern 904/727.
I have the old power flight from the '54, but its a two speed. I've noticed the '59 trans shifts easy with my fingers as opposed to the '54 trans (they are both out). Also, the '59 trans has lines going to the radiator and the 2 speed doesn't. Would the difference in horsepower matter much if I put the poly with the 2 speed? Assuming the poly has more hp than the baby hemi.
Now that I read your responses again, am I understanding this correctly? I can mate my old transmission (that worked fine), with the 318 I just picked up, as long as I use the torque converter that is on the 318? Thanks in advance.
Nope. The magic parting line is the back of the block. The pre-62 Plymouth A series engines (277-301-303-318-326) have the same bellhousing bolt pattern and crank flange pattern as does the EarlyHemi. Step 1: Remove the 241 (only the engine!) Step 2: install the 59-318 (only the engine) Make new front mounts, yada, yada, yada... .
They were used in Plyms behind 318 Polys untill @ least 1960(probably till the change after '61) & in the Chrs through the 354. Obviously you'd have better performance & driveability with a TF. The TF you have out of the '59 is still an early TF that parts won't be much easier to find than for the PF. Depending on how adventurous your are...I'd lean twords the Poly, a 392 adaptor & a modern tranny. You lose the parking brake with the change of tranny, so a modern rear axle gets added to the list.
I've put too much time and money (rebuild, 4-link) on the rear axle to dump it and go with a modern one. But thanks for the option I would've never thought of myself. I guess if you can do it with fords and chevys, you can do it with mopar.
Moparians often replace the old "nut on the end" axle with a modern axle instead of putting any money/effort into the early ones.
The problem you have is that your Poly is a pre 62.......you would be best to install either the complete engine/trans and push buttons or go to a 62 and later poly with a standard 3 speed column manual trans and adapt THAT to the column you have. I have had a 1961 318 Poly & push button cast iron torqueflite in my 1940 Dodge since 1973......originally I used the push buttons and cable but eventually had a short custom made cable made and adapted it up to a home made rachet arrangement under the Valiant console & shifter......it works o/k.......the bottom line is that there is no easy way to adapt the engine you have......the Polys were used up to 1967 and the 62 to 67 versions are the same BUT have the latere alloy torqueflite and/or manual that will work........I have attached a pic of my shifter setup.......andyd
I don't have access to the push buttons, only motor and tranny. The Poly has only 49k original miles and it looks kool (not as kool as the hemi). Someone mentioned some things are interchangeable between some hemis and the early Poly.
Please re-read the post...the parting line is the rear of the block. You must use the 54 transmission, converter and all associated parts. Mixing-n-matching does not apply. You are much better off admitting your mistake at this juncture and installing a Cherokee or Exploder before you get any farther...you need a better axle and brake package that what the oem provides. Yes, some (very few) things... but your engine is NOT convertible to HEMI, ONLY the "single rocker shaft" version of the Hemi (241-260-270-315-325 Dodge and the 301-331-354 Chrysler). What engine is in the 54 right now??? Much of this info is purely academic if you have a 230 L6 in the car. .
I did a 59 318/torque flite in a 57 Dodge pu, we usde the push button shifter out of the car. Mounted it in the dash, worked just fine. Lee
If you have a 2 speed Powerflite, then you should be able to use the bell housing (and converter) from the 59 Torqueflite. What you will be doing is to couple the old 2 speed Powerflite to the 59 bell housing and converter. The HP and torque should not affect the 2 speed Powerflite. I have a 2 speed Powerflite and older 3 speed cast iron Torqueflite. They both look the same from the front of the transmission, so the newer bell housing should bolt up to the 2 speed Powerflite. I plan on bolting my old Torqueflite in place of my 2 speed Powerflite on my 54 Chrysler 331 hemi. Like you, I need to come up with some sort of adapter to take the shift cable and mate to the column shift lever. Can't be that hard using the OEM shift cable and some creativity.
I have a spare pushbutton shifter assembly out of a 1962 Chrysler 300 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I Had the 241 in the '54. It had a broken piston skirt. A rebuild would put me in the poor house, just in parts. That's what started this whole mess.
I guess it's '62 and later, and '61 and earlier. This is a '59. I'm just using the power flight and the Poly.
Parts can be expensive unless you can exercise some self control and avoid all of the glitzy add-ons, but as you surmise, rebuilding an EarlyHemi is not for the weak. Please do a photo log of the install as this swap is rarely done in favor of the LA engine. It could prove useful to other folks. .
i don't know if you'll find what you need, but check out Allpar http://www.allpar.com/mopar/powerflite.html good luck
I did this to a 57 Dodge Coronet back in HS days (1965) I re-routed the shift cable back and under the floor. Then made a shift lever that moved the cable in/out and attached it to the side of the Torqueflight xmsn. It worked very well and even tho' there weren't any detents on the shifter itself, the xsmn detents proved to be sufficient to tell what gear you were in. I suppose a gated shifter would be an improvement. If you pull the PB mechanism out of the dash, you can see that the shift pattern is correctly sequenced from R to Dr; cable-operated TFs had no PARK position. So, on my '57, the shift pattern had R at the forward position. The thing to keep in mind is that the cable must be positively actuated - no excess movement. gatz
Get the steering column and cable out of a 65 Mopar full size. They are column shift and they have the cable that works in the earlier transmissions. Carmak Riverside, Iowa
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