I have a 54 3100 that has been in the family for almost 45 years now. My dad had it, I learned to drive in it, and now my kids have their eyes on it. It was originally a 3 speed on the column. When I learned that 54 was first year for hydra-matic in Chev half ton, I researched all the differences and started collecting pieces for the conversion. It wasn't easy as even the frames are different due to heavier and bolt in crossmembers so that trans can be removed from bottom side of the truck. After the change over, I can't imagine the truck any other way. It used to be that you were grabbing a different gear as you were turning a corner. Now the steering wheel is the only concern. 1st gear is real short as it is just to get the truck moving due to the previously mentioned lack of torque converter slippage. The trans shifts quick and crisp. The throttle pressure adjustment is as sensitive as mentioned. You can soften the shifts but lose the downshift as you round a corner. My truck has dual carbs and a little lumpier cam than is ideal for the hydra-matic as it also likes a pretty low idle speed for proper operation. I feel that there is room for improvement in my setup but still favor it greatly over the old manual transmission. You can push start a hydra-matic truck where you can't a modern automatic. There is no park. You park it in reverse and when the engine is not running and there is no fluid pressure, a lock pawl drops into a large gear on the mainshaft and locks the trans like a park position. You lose the foot stomp starter in favor of a solenoid starter. There is also an automatic choke on the stock carb. vs. the manual choke on a manual trans. Bottom line is that it feels like an older automatic transmission before they went to a part throttle downshift. You actually have to stab it pretty good to get a downshift and it shifts like an automatic trans that has been treated to a shift kit as related to the harshness of the shifts. Hope this helps.
