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58 powerglide

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  28 coupe 
#1 ·
I drive a 58 pontiac more door for a daily driver stock 6 cal 261 chevy motor but the other day as I was going to town ( about 30 miles) the tranny started to slip and I limped home in low. long drive. my question is should I try to get power glide rebuilt or find a newer tranny and if so which one? all ideas suggestions appreciated.
 
#3 ·
I dont know,just what I heard



The first time the public saw Harley J. Earl's "Dream Car", the Corvette, was in January 1953 at the Motorama display at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. On June 30, 1953 the Corvette went into full production (each car was built by hand) at the GM facility in Flint, Michigan, where 300 Corvettes were built that year. All 1953 Corvettes were white with a red interior, all had Powerglide automatic transmissions mated to 150 HP, six cylinder engines with three carburetors and dual exhaust. This is the rarest Corvette. Of the 300 built, 255 are accounted for today. Due to a shortage of wheel covers, the first 25 cars were delivered with the standard Chevrolet "baby moon" passenger car wheel cover. All of the 1953 production were convertibles with black canvas tops.
 
#4 ·
the power glide was built in 51 it was cast iron 57 had a turbo glide option it lasted til 59-60 it was based off the buick dyna flow 62 the aluminum case power glide came out
if you want a driver swap a th 350 in be the cheapest route if u can find a shop that build the old ones there getting scarce i build them at my shop im located in west virginia that a bit of a haul from canada
 
#5 ·
I put a T350 in my 62 Parisienne, which had a cast iron Powerglide (aluminum case was a mid year change)....All I had to do was shorten the drive shaft a couple of inches. I played with the linkage a bit so the 2 speed column shift worked with the 3 speed.
The problem you may have however is with the starter mounting on the 261 six....Might be time to drop a small block in it.
 
#7 ·
If your car has a 261 engine in it and it is stock that is a Canadian built automobile and probably has Hydramatic transmission similar to the one in the '58 Olds built in the US. I'm and old timer and when GM had a fire destroy their Hydramatic Plant they moved all of the automatic transmission assembly into a Buick Dynaflow plant. Then we started seeing some different combinations. I worked in a dealership shop in those days. I even saw several Cadillac's with the Dynaflow in them. I'll bet the owners never knew the difference. My suggestion is to get the car up in the air and look for any identifier tags. AND take photos of the transmission. Then get back to us here. I'll bet we can help you and maybe save you from having a bad experience.
Normbc9
Normbc9
 
#8 ·
To mate any more modern transmission to the 261 (or the 216 and 235 engines) requires an adapter. Kits are sold through several vendors, but they are not very cheap; you'll probably actually pay less for the transmission (late model). Some come complete with the adapter, starter motor, flexplate, and fasteners. There will be a need to change the slip yoke, and possibly you'll have to shorten the driveshaft (the X-frame cars had 2 piece driveshafts). The trans mount location may need to be moved or modified. Then there's the shifter to deal with, unless you go with an aftermarket floor shifter; the stock column shifter will work, but the detents and display may be off. They make new displays for the tri-five cars so they are probably available for yours as well (I'm guessing it has the Chevrolet dash?). The kickdown linkage will need to be fabricated, but you can get by without that with a TH350; you'll just have to drop down to lower gears manually. It sounds like the direct clutches are burned up in the cast iron Powerglide; you can rebuild the trans, but rebuild kits cost more than the more modern transmissions, and rebuild shops will probably gouge you on the rebuild price(just my opinion here). If you have any real mechanical ability, you can do it yourself using an old MOTORS MANUAL, and a kit off of E-Bay. I'd try and keep the car as stock as possible; it's got to be rare, especially in Canada, and they did'nt make as many of them as say the 58 Chevrolets. One other consideration would be to use an Aluminum Powerglide, and I believe the detents of the cast iron Glide were changed in 58 and are the same as the aluminum Glide. They made an X-frame, aluminum Powerglide in 62-64 that may be closer to the right length, and would also bolt to the 261 with the same adapter. Butch/junior stocker.
 
#9 ·
thanks for all the input. I removed the tranny today it is a cast iron power glide put it one the bench and ripped it apart, found the hi clutch pack had been slipping, also found rear pump housing cracked. so far haven't found source for pump but I do have in my get to some day line of cars a 62 impala which has a 235 and an alumin case power glide so I think I will just pull that one and put in pontiac. when I get to impala I would like to put in sbc and turbo 350 anyway. this will give me a good reasin to do so.
 
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