I bought a shorty powerglide from a retired drag racer[rear engine dragster]he said it was his backup trans,never used.Looks new. BTE trans brake I left unwired. 17 spline input shaft with the sealing rings.I bought a Hughes PG20 converter and installed it.I filled the converter before install.Put in another 5 qts,fired engine and added another 4 qts.I have no forward or reverse,only park,everything else is like neutral.I pulled the trans cooler lines,lower had a few drops in it,top was completely dry.So not pumping fluid.Trans came with the cooler ports plugged,I reinstalled the plugs still nothing.Dropped the pan,has a new looking filter.Manual linkage appears fine.Pulled the trans ,checked the input shaft in the converter,fits correctly.Pulled the front seal,pump tangs look good.I took a measurement from the inside of the pump to seal mounting surface and checked it against the converter,good.Looking for ideas before I pull apart a supposedly fresh trans.
Did the converter seat fully? Did you get the clunk..clunk sound as the pump engaged? Ive seen them installed wrong.Can the trans be bench primed by removing the converter,and turning the inner drive tangs with a tool of some kind?Only other thing I could think of is a check valve is stuck closed in the fluid circuit from storage.
I filled the converter before install.I am 100% sure the converter was correctly installed,I was going to shim it towards the pump but it was within 1/16" of rubbing on the bellhousing already,and the tangs were fine when I pulled it to recheck.I think you may be correct on the check valve,I don't know how long the trans sat around but the guy was pretty old....might have been 10 years maybe.Thanks guys
Probably something like a seal inside dried up and cracked. A trans guy told me automatics don't like to sit over a year or two before they dry out. I have an AOD that has sat for probably 15 years, I have reverse, but no drive. Gotta come out.....
I have a turbo 400 in my 49 Buick, sat for 25 years. Added some Lucas, new filter, fluid and new rear seal. Works perfect, have put 600 miles over 3 years on it and still works great.
A lot of racing p/g 's have been converted to turbo input shaft. It makes more convertors readily available. If you are using the wrong convertor with the wrong splines could be your problem.
reverse pattern? I usually put a little vaseline in the pump when I build trannys. Not gobs. Manual valve attached properly?
Seeing a PG 20 is a street rod converter (17 spline) , are you still using the trans as a shortie? I know you said you might have to get into the trans. Assuming you haven't yet. Just asking. (BTW, guys ..You can't get a 17 spline converter in all the way onto a 30 spline shaft.)
Also , if this trans has a ''pro brake'' valve body you will have to engage the trans brake in order to back the car up. I know this won't effect the forward gears. I agree with salt flats idea.
Ricks Garage yep the builder missed with the manual linkage when installing the valve body.I was concerned enough about that I pulled the trans and took it to a guy that builds race powerglides.He pulled it apart and deemed it a fresh,good trans.All back in ,forward,no reverse though.hooked up the trans brake as per tommyd,still no reverse.I determined there was a problem in the valve or spring behind the brake,pulled the valve body took it back to the trans guy,he built me a new valve body for auto shift with no brake, and a vacuum modulator,all is well now,thanks to all.
For as "simple" as the aluminum Powerglide's are, they can sure cause more than their share of problems!!! I ALWAYS tell anyone planning on building one, to get a copy of Carl Munroe's (RIP) Powerglide book; it is literally my Bible when it comes to building Glides. I've finally quit building them for the local drag racers; it was just taking far too much of my time, and everyone wanted something for nothing, but mostly, I got tired of guys showing up with a grease and grime encrusted thing they claimed was a transmission, and expected me to clean it before tearing into it; since I have to clean them "by hand", without any high pressure/washing equipment involved, it's really labor intensive. So, a few guys ruined it for everyone; sound familiar? Good you got it taken care of. Just a FYI, all it takes to make a full manual shift Powerglide, is a 1/4" long length of 1/4" diameter copper tubing, placed into the bore before the low/direct valve goes into the valve body casting. Other than the manual valve slipping off the rooster comb, the rooster comb bends/breaks fairly easily, and causes lots of problems also. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
On a pro tree transbrake, you need the shifter in R position *and* you have to energize the solenoid for it to engage reverse. Forward will work if shifter is in the correct position 1 or 2. It will be a manual valve body, so if you have it in 2, it will start out in high (2). A transbrake is fun for the track, but kind of a useless feature for the street. And that's coming form someone that used to drive his drag car on the street with transbrake. The have to energize for reverse gets old when you need both hands to turn the wheel when backing up and one hand is stuck holding the button down by the shifter. It also bangs into reverse hard when you energize the solenoid, even with high stall converter. I know you converted back to a non-transbrake and auto shifting valve body. That really is the better choice for the street.
The Jalopy Journal
