The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop saginaw conv. worth it?

Aloha!! A local "mechanical restoration" guy who has many, many cars and is a great source for hard to find stuff thinks that the saginaw conversion is a lot of work and expense for little return, and suggest's that if I'm going to go that far I might as well go to the next step and do a complete different rear-end and well, just a whole lot more work. Now, this is for my stone original low mileage 1951 Suburban, and if they EVER post the photo's i sent you will understand why I want to keep this truck as near to original as possible. Although I am planning an engine swap, I have a 235 but this discussion forum has me jones'ing for a 261, I'm going to keep the orig engine and make sure the truck is returnable to it's original state. ALSO, I pull a matching year ('51) 22' Silver Streak Clipper (similar to airstream) camping trailer with it, I'm not looking to get speeding tickets but would like a bit more power going up grades and whatnot. WHEW! that was a mouthfull! SO. my question is: Is the saginaw swap worth it and would the return in performance be worth the work and expense? Many Mahalo's in advance

Are you talking about the saginaw overdrive or just a 4 speed?

I think an overdrive is worth it. I added a Warn overdrive to my Willys Jeep and made the 5.38:1 gears useable on the highway (with 31" tires). Top speed went up from 55 to 75.

If you are just changing to a 4 speed you should put in a differant axle since 4th is still 1:1 and you have to change to open driveline anyway. I am planning on putting a 3.08 rearend in my 261 powered truck. I still have the 4.11 gears in it but it really gets up and goes with the 261. I have been able to keep all my modifications bolt-on for now, and I think you should be able to. You might want to consider a double circuit master cylinder if you are pulling a trailer. You may even want to add trailer brakes. I would like a trailer like that to eventually pull with my truck.

Yeah I meant the 4 speed as per patrick's, OD would be great. Brakes are not a prob, the trailer has brakes and my brake guru uses modern **** 4X4 brake shoes with no mods, because their 4X4 they're just heavier and are killer, he used them on my '59 lb fleetside also that carried a 1000 lb alaskan pop-up camper (1958 model of course). As for gears I just don't know what is preferred for towing, low end torque? high end speed? So I'll just keep reading, youse guy's just keep posting! many, many mahalo's

I just finished putting a saginaw 4spd,and 10 bolt blazer rear in my 51,3100,I only drove it about twenty miles, The truck is a lot more fun to drive with the 4 speed,I used the hurst linkage from patricks so all looks original.I noticed some loss in low end torque,but it now can go down the highway at sixty five with no strain.I looked at all opions and found it being cheaper to swap the rear then buy the gear kit and keep the torque tube. mid eighties full size blazer exact same width as original rear.

I was considering putting a Saginaw 4-speed with OD (from a 3-speed) in my '55 1st. The hitch was that no one makes a shifter for the OD any more, and Patrick said his could be modified, but the way he said it (Patrick himself got on the phone) made me worry that I didn't want to tackle it.

Then my rear end started making noise, and I replaced it with one that has 3.08 gears. 70 is easy now, but I'm not pulling a trailer. And I have a GMC 270 under the hood.

Oldsub, you make your own OD linkage from swap meet Hurst shifters. This is a 3spd Saginaw Od tranny in my cellar waiting to go in my 37 truck.Took me awhile to find on with decent OD stuff,66-70 Saginaw OD's are rare and the OD parts themselves are pretty much made of "Unobtanium" steel.
Saginaw OD transmission

Tony I ran a Saginaw 4-speed with OD back in the '70s, and was never happy with the shifter. I dug that transmission out of my dad's garage a couple years ago, and after looking at the shifter and linkage options decided that just wasn't a game I wanted to play again.

I've since sold the whole unit to another old truck guy.

WHEN it becomes time to make a change I plan to go with an automatic...