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Posted By: RRC on December 21 2010 at 10:59:02 AM
I appreciate everyones input. Has anyone ever used an automatic chevy trans and if so, what type/year would you look for and how would you "doctor it up" for use? I'm thinking on how you could cool the fluid as in passenger cars where the lines go into the bottom of the radiator for cooling.If i'm not mistaken some use an automatic in a vintage car application which is what i would be doing.
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Im just going on a limb here, but, some of my past racing experiance was with a IMCA type modified, (pre sprint dayz) our door cars (enduro n such) we just ran a finned cooler mouted anywhere basically capable of getting airflow , obviously near the fan was best, but, ours ended up in the rear window area on a car capable of running for a lengthy race (besides bashn the crap out of it in a front impact lol) anyway, a powerglide was commonly used back a few years ago , Bushore happens to be a company specializing in the "doctored" up style you might be looking for? ,i belive a shorty style tail shaft is common for drag racers also something to keep in mind, many IMCA drivers started using a Bump start or eliminating the torque converter to take some rotating wieght off the mill, couplers and shafts are avalible for this , I belive there is a pump added to the internals of the glide, now currently, most IMCA type mods are using a Falcon,Bert, or Brinn they are lightwieght and possibly another option for bump starting your hottrod , as for coupling the driveline to the rearend ? ya got me there? seems so short to do something effectively without sacraficing movement? (it must have been done? ) I never looked other cars over much that are steet legal versions to understand how they did it? anyway, if your going with a glide, maybe give Bushore transmissions a try, they can lead you in a helpfull direction as far as internals ,bump start,tailshaft,ratios,gears,couplers n such .
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It's been a long time but as memory serves me the supers we ran in the western Ohio area in the late 50's early 60's used an early Ford top loader three speed with everything removed except high gear (direct drive). We used a home made hub bolted to the crankshaft which the front spline shaft of the transmission slid into. The rest of the drive line was stock banjo type Ford with the wishbones split and a quickchange center section added. Woodbury Machine Shop in Union City Ohio/Indiana fabricated an aluminum quickchange that was added onto the center section. A little later they cast an aluminum in and out box to replace the transmision. It was smaller and lighter and had a hub bolted to the crankshaft with a slider gear to engage the hub gear. And we too used a rubber strap to hold the thing in gear. They also made a quickchange 3/4 ton Ford truck rear end which was stronger (and heavier) as the old banjos would shred ring and pinions with regularity. Many used truck hubs and brakes to survive the loads on the spindles what with the big steel wheels etc. We also drilled and taped the side bell to accept a bolt which had brass brazed to the end of it to keep the ring gear close to the pinion. Weekly maintenance was to adjust that bolt to with a few thousands of the ring rear. Most of the components used were just whatever you had or found in the wrecking yard!
Woodbury built some really good cars for Chick Hale, Audie Swartz, the Pratt brothers and many I don't recall. Cross spring front with wedge bolts and some used torsion bars on the rear (Packard) I believe. No idea what they weighed but they were heavy but fast. Vern Steck (Jack's Dad) built some really strong cars as well that were frequent winners. I can't attest to the accuracy of this but as an 18-19 YO it was a great life just racin! Eldora, New Bremen, Kilkare, Powell. Cols Motor Spdwy, Forrest Park, Dayton Speedway, Ft.Wayne, Toledo, Sandusky, Chillicothe, Cinn. Race Bowl. Glen Este, Lawrenceburg to name some. Gone but not forgotten.
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