ok the one in my 61 is starting to slip pretty bad. so now i have a few choices. rebuild the SLIMJIM which is gonna cost a fortune and the people ive talked to so far tell me to throw that piece of junk in the garbage. other way to go is get an adapter to run turbo350 which i am leaning towards which will still cost a fortune. I was wondering if i could run a 4speed behind the 394? i think skratch did this??? anyone else? any links to adapters?thanks in advance wes
anyone know anything about the 4 speed swap?? if there is such a thing?? im real interested in doing that wes
http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofeng.htm#ENG%201949%20-%201964%20Similarities%20/%20Differences Check this out,wes... A little info..
Here's a link for a guy. But it looks like he may have discontinued the Olds kits. The kits aren't cheap. http://www.transmissionadapters.com/gallery.htm Here's a pic I found on Ebay of a 394 with a turbo 400 behind it. This set up looks pretty slick, but I don't know who did it.
thanks, i emailed that guy last night and he told me he dosnt know of anyone else that sells an adapter. and knows of no way to put the 4 speed behind it. im sure it has been done though... wes
There is also Dave Smith Engineering in Cali. I'm at work and have his number at home. He takes a stock tranny case and modifies it to fit the Olds. You also have send him your ring gear so he can modify that as well. As for a 4 speed set up. A bell housing off an early 303 or 324 will fit. As for the flywheel the early Olds will bolt to the crank but you'll have to get the whole works rebalanced. And you'll have to drill the crank for a pilot bushing. I see Dow Wow is lurking about, I'm sure he can shed more light on this then me.
A friend of mine just went through this on his 61 Olds. He had me send a TH400 case to Tansen, what I got back was less than acceptable and cost over $900 for the conversion NOT INCLUDING THE TRANS OR REBUILDING IT Tansen aparantly does no in house work. In other words it is all job shopped out. Time frame was in the two month area to get this done. I would look elsewhere.
wes - I have a sweet 4L60E 4 spd AOD plus torque convertor out of a 95 Corvette with just 30K on it. If you decide that you need a later model trans keep this one in mind...I'm local (El Cajon). I bought this to use with a Northstar project and then found out that I needed an S-10 or Camaro trans from the 60 degree block to bolt to the Cadillac motor. Since then I have trashed the whole Northstar project, now I have the Vette tranny AND a Z-28 tranny....
You might try Wilcap. They don't have your engine in their adapter listings but they do make custom adapters on request, maybe the price won't be too crazy for yours. www.wilcap.com ----- Bart -----
i think the best setup for the 4 speed is a ford toploader deal.you can find the adapters probly the easiest. eric
Eric- can u tell me more about this? who makes the adapter ect?\ Also i was told that the 59-60 olds' had a 4 speed option. any truth to that? wes
i think offy made it.im not positive though.it seems like thats what i usually see for sale though.i dont belive any rocket ever had a 4 speed.it would be nice if they did though.if you wanted to go with an auto going with a later trans th350-th400 would probly be the best if you didnt want to pull the engine apart.with a hydo you have to bring the crank in to have it machined for the piolet bushing.i know chuck F. put a 2004r in his 56.good luck, eric eric
Ok, i dont want to steel wes's posts here. But i got a 302 Ford with 4 speed toploader but i wanna go with a Olds Rocket. Can i get an adapter for the 4 speed toploader to hook up to a Old Rocket? Thanks. Sorry for taking part of you post Wes. My apoligies. I didnt want to make a hole new subject when this sounds like the same subject.
Thses guys may have what you need, although I don't know how pricey. http://www.mcleodind.com/newproducts.asp#BELLHOUSING
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