rocketeers!!394 into hydra-matic

just wanting to know how you put the imput in the crank?
what kind of bushing did you use,and has anyone tried an adapter bushing for a different application?
eric

 

i never finished mine,we need to hear from skratch on this one.if you have some dimensions i can work with i'll make you one on the lathe.BTW i got those radio knobs,thanks!

 

hey thanks...hopfully scratch will see this when he gets done doing all his smoky burouts!
glad you could use the knobs.ill see if i can get some measurements when i get back monday.
eric

 

OK, here's a lot of info and conjecture, save it.

B&M used to sell a couple of different adapters. I have two different ones in my posession, maybe that's both of them. They are stepped aluminum discs that slip into the shallow hole that is in the late cranks already (don't know why GM put that in though), and then they have a bronze pilot bushing in the center. I forgot how the adapter is held in place, I'll have to look at them again.

I found that the pilot nose of the hydro is the same diameter as the pilot nose of my Chevy truck stick trannies (both 3-speed Saginaws and 4-speed truck units), and it is my belief that the 394 cranks could possibly be drilled and a later GM pilot bushing or bearing could be installed. I have not tried this yet.

There are different styles of pilot bushings/bearings for later GM's. There are different O.D.'s, but as far as I can tell, the I.D's are all the same and might be exactly the same as the early hydro's if my initial assessment was correct (dang, I'm starting to sound like an engineer here). There are bronze bushings, there are the needle bearing ones (Summit sells these, and GM also supposedly uses a needle bearing type for the late diesel truck engines (6.3L????). I have a part number SOMEWHERE in my archives. I might be mistaken, but I think some needle-bearing types have an inner race that the pilot slips into, which would be better than the ones that have the exposed needles that ride direct on the pilot. There are also the self-aligning ball-bearing types that are sold by some of the resto-parts houses for GM muscle cars. All of these have different O.D.'s and thicknesses/depths/lengths/however you want to describe the third dimension.

I personally am going to try to see if either of the two types (same design, just different dimensions) of self-aligning ball bearing pilot bearings that Supercars Unlimited in OR sells for the 442's. I might even just pick one of every type up just to be able to really compare them.

I also know of a 394 with B&M hydro hooked up to it that I need to go down AGAIN and see if he'll sell, it's been sitting there for years (no I won't say where), plus I know another guy that picked up a 394 with hydro attached, maybe I can ask him for a peek also.

I'll get back to this.

 

cool,
thanks nate,
im glad you brought up the supercars unlimited one.it sounds like the basic thought as the b@m ones you have.its nice cause you dont have to be smart to get the hole in the right spot.it would be nice if they fit early olds too.now if we can get you to make a few hundred up.ha ha.

 

Well, I have a life-time machinist friend who has a lathe and a mill at home, so that's not a big deal. My problem is I am so busy I don't have enough time to actually dig into this stuff like I'd like to.

I do work at this stuff, like the hydro stuff I picked up two days ago taking a whole afternoon, but there's only so much time to do things. Tomorrow I work all day and then immediately hit the road to go to the HRR meet. On the way, I will be picking up a pair of front '40 fenders and then spending all day Sunday at the races where I also will be picking up a Littlefield supercharger . On the way back down to L.A. I will swing through a couple junkyards on Monday and then my mini-vacation is over and it's back to work.

Gimme some time and I'll get something figured out. And it'll be real nice, I won't settle for less. OK?

 

As I recall, you'll need to get a pilot bushing for an early Olds with the hydro; NAPA should still have these available, they had one for my Cad last year. You'll have to get the back end of the crank bored to fit the bushing, install the bushing and then bolt it all together. You'll need to use the early starter to match the ring gear on the flywheel. A local machine shop did this for one of my projects years ago and it wasn't any big deal, worst part was tearing the motor down to get the crank out. Good Luck
warbird