The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline '55 2nd Series 3600 235 Tranny Rebuild vs. swap

Wondering if anyone has any information on a price difference between purchasing parts to rebuild the original tranny on the 235 or purchasing the adapter and a 200-4R for instance?

I am brand new to this forum, and this is a brand new vehicle for me. If anyone knows any good links for information on anything about these trucks I would love to know it so I can start really diving into the research.

Welcome. When you say original tranny, do you mean automatic or standard? 3-speed or 4-speed?

You can pick up a used manual transmission fairly cheap if you keep an eye out. A lot of those get discarded for automatics in the resto-mod community.

Phartung, I have a 2004R in a street rod and it has worked out great. However, a good one with converter, oil cooler, TV cable, TV cable geometry adaptor, and shifter is NOT inexpensive. The one I bought from Bow Tie Overdrives was about $1600 including shipping, and that was about 6 years ago. A shifter from Lokar was about another $200 from Summit Racing.

The overdrive ratio is 0.67, so the RPMs are really low in overdrive and that's a consideration with an antique engine.

Also, the 2004R has no vacuum modulator. Internal oil pressures are regulated by the TV cable alone. If you check Bow Tie's site or any other seller of those transmissions you will see information on how absolutely critical it is to have perfect TV cable geometry at the carburetor. According to the information provided by the builders, if the TV cable geometry is not perfect the trans will self destruct almost immediately. Kits to correct the geometry are available for carbs commonly used in street rods.

Bow Tie provides a check off sheet to verify correct internal pressures under many different conditions. This requires use of an external pressure gauge to measure and record pressures. Then you phone this infromation in to them. If the pressures are all corrrect, they activate your warranty. If the pressures are wrong, they help you to find and correct the source of the problem. If this procedure is not followed there is no warranty, and that is understandable considering that these transmissions will self destruct immediately with incorrect TV setup.

Installation of a 2004R or 700R4 is not for the "Quick and dirty" mechanic if the trans is expected to last. Done right, it is a really sweet overdrive.

The cost for parts for rebuilding a manual trans. depends on what is wrong with it. If you need some brgs, seals, & gaskets it would be less then $100. If it needs a lot of major parts you would be better off like Tmater says & get a used one.

I have the automatic 4-speed

You might try contacting Northwest Transmission Parts. The have parts for old 4 speed Hydromatic, and are very nice to deal with. I've bought parts from them for my 3 speed/overdrive, they were very fair on their prices.
If you do decide to install a later automatic, Langdons and Buffalo both make adapter plates to bolt a late model Chevy bolt pattern automatic to the 235. I would personally suggest the 700R4 for your application, the 200 is way too light for truck use.

thanks everyone for the good advice, once I start working I'll post more updates as the truck comes along

Whatever you do, please don't trash the HydraMatic that's in it now if you decide to do the swap. They're very scarce, and if you've got one in working condition, or even all the parts, somebody out here will probably want to recycle it. You've also got a lot of unique accessories like crossmembers, brackets, starter motor, bellhousing adapter, and linkages that need to be swapped and saved if the assembly is going to be reused by someone else. Even the shape of the hole in the cab floorboard and the cover plate for it is different on the HydraMatic trucks.
Jerry

Edit: If you decide to rebuild what you've got, FATSCO transmission parts specializes in rebuilding kits and hard parts for obsolete automatic transmissions.

http://www.fatsco.com/index.htm

Jerry

its really kinda blasfamous to talk of replacing the old hydro from a chevy truck. you rebuild them. If you got a hot rod itch do it to another vehicle. These trucks are rare enough tokeep origional are worth it to rebuild. the adjustments are easy with the correct tools. Learn to do your own adjustments.

Hotrod Lincoln,

Thanks for the info, I am leaning toward a rebuild. I contacted fatsco and took a look at their website. I would like to keep it original.

I would love to do my own adjustments,but where does one acquire the adjustment tools to do so?
tks,
dg