Well i got rid of 98% of all the squeaks/rattles in the truck and i just did my favorite mod to date on it..... put in the muncie 319 with the R10 overdrive. All i can say is WOW WOW WOW! Its like a totally different truck now. The new trans is silent quiet compared to the other growling gear boxes in it before and now in OD it just basically idles around. You cant even hear it running goin down the road. The modern LS power paired with the old R10 overdrive is like a beautiful symphony while driving. I honestly cant believe how well that 1950’s overdrive works. Its a real thing of beauty. Just got back from a long run in it. Took my wife for a scenic cruise just to get her out of the house since shes been off from work from the crazy issues in the world goin on. Even she commented on how much smoother and quieter it was from when she first went for a ride in it. I hooked the overdrive up with the proper lockout cable and wired it with the governor to a 40A relay and a pull on headlight style switch. I can leave the cable in and switch on and it functions normally besides no kickdown. If i want to kick it back to direct simply push the switch in and let up on the gas for a sec and your back in direct drive. I honestly never have to kick it down with all the power of the mighty 5.3 but ive done it just to test it. It automatically drops out while slowing under 27mph just as designed and it will upshift beautifully. Next on my list is finish refreshing the entire interior and adding a underdash AC so i can comfortably drive it all summer with no issues. I would like to send a big shout out thank you to “Pre ‘68 Dave” for his time and insight that helped me take care of the famous 3rd gear pop out. His knowledge on the situation helped me out big time in understanding why these ancient boxes do what they do. I also made a new trans crossmember to mount off the tailshaft mount and had a complete new driveshaft made for it locally. Heres some pics i snapped along the way. **** Just a FYI I got this trans in on the truck deal in the boxes of parts I started with. He told me he pulled it out of a old collapsed garage that was open to the elements for some time. The heavy pitting on the trans case definitely confirms that but the internals were very clean. I cleaned up the case and shot it black then cleaned up the governor and bought a used 12v solenoid and I was in business!
