For you "Bolt Action" fans

Joined
Dec 19, 2013
Messages
7,933
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
Tremec T-56 Magnum 6 speed I fitted into a 1956 Chevrolet 2 door post......

Found a pretty neat product from American Drivetrain, They sell an adaptor to retain the original 3-speed/4-speed Bellhousing, Clutch Fork & Clutch Linkage......The Flywheel & Pressure Plate was in such good shape & it already had a 11" clutch.....All I needed was a 11" Clutch Disc that fit the T-56 Input Splines.

This car still had it's factory Cast Iron 3-Speed Bellhousing, I wanted to upgrade to am Aluminum 4-Speed Bell.....But the 2 I had in my stash have slightly worn Dowel Holes.
Pretty impressed that the 65 year old Cast Bell was within .001" & good slight press fit over the Block Dowels, Probably because you didn't remove the Bell for Clutch Jobs on these.

Had to fold the Pinch Weld over to clear the Adaptor/Front of the Trans Case, Slight messaging of the tunnel was necessary at the Shift Tower.

The Only issue I had with the Adaptor was......T-56's are Canted 17 degrees from the factory, The Adaptor is "Supposedly" drilled for 17 degree cant to keep the Trans Mount Pad level along with another set of holes to put the Trans Case & Shifter level....Then you can shim the Mount on one side.
I decided to keep the Mount Pad level.....Well it's not quite level being off about 4 degrees, Not the end of the world. As this rotated the Shifter over to the Driver Side.....I only had to open up the previously cut 4-speed hole by 1/4".

Have a good 8 hours doing the Trans swap, Including wiring the Back-Up lamp switch & Reverse Lock-out switch to the Brake Switch.

The engine had a pretty good leak out of the Rear Main Seal, The owner assumed it could be fixed with the Trans out.....Not on a 2 Piece Seal Small Block ;).
Removed the Oil Pan & the Pick-up Tube was laying in the bottom, Tack welded it the Pump while I was there, The top Main Seal half was installed backwards with a bunch of silicone packed between seal halves......Clean all that up, Rolled the upper seal in, Applied Hylomar M between the seal halves & between the Main Cap & Block (Just the rear part) as oil can & will seep between them.
The oil pan was some thin cheap aftermarket part & was distorted pretty bad at the bolt holes, I wanted to use a Fel-Pro 1-Piece Perma Dry oil pan gasket as I'm not fighting with Cork gasket strips upside down with oil dripping in my face. Bought a Milodon 4 quart replacement which are really thick & well made!!

I've done quite a bit of other work to this car over the last couple years......
Installed the Weiand 177 Street Blower, Tuned the 750cfm AFB Carb (W/ a Wide Band O2), Recurved the Distributor, Aluminum Radiator, Power Steering Conversion with a Chrome Ididit Tilt Column.
*While it does have a 383 Stroker in it....It has some big chamber smog heads with what looks like some "jobber" Pistons (using a bore scope), It just didn't make any power....He wanted more power without opening up the engine, I said you have 2 choices.....Nitrous or Boost? He chose Boost & it works VERY well!!

mo8zzcJ.jpg

WYwWC40.jpg

TkyDhH0.jpg

PNDLGWu.jpg

F8a7fv4.jpg

cyeD16C.jpg

Do0QA12.jpg

2Wwwba1.jpg

7GlR2VQ.jpg

q0UJnnZ.jpg

CsuIfKo.jpg

NpWnsBI.jpg

S23lleK.jpg

KmkdljX.jpg

yIhHZ8U.jpg

gAxZkAQ.jpg

o9r8EWT.jpg

NDrXfy1.jpg
 
I did weld-up the relief cuts I made on the pinch weld & touched up the undercoating before the final install of the trans.

Another reason I wanted to run a Aluminum 4-speed (Muncie) Bell.....Get rid of that 70 pound boat anchor of a starter & use a Planetary Reduction Starter from a '96-'02 Vortec.

It needs a Bel Air Horn Ring.....That's a reproduction albeit smaller diameter steering wheel, They don't make a 2-spoke "210" version, Only the 3-spoke Bel Air version.
 
Old school hot rodding... such a rarity around here any more. NICE!!

I'd imagine you'll have to shorten the drive shaft considerably....

It's all new, But yes it's is quite a bit shorter.

I don't normally rehash the driveshaft when doing overdrive trans swaps as vehicles without overdrive are so old that the ends are usually beat to death from U-Joint changes.

Another reason.....I was having a 1969 Camaro (Boosted LS1/T56) dyno tuned, It had a shortened factory shaft. It came apart at around 130mph. Did about $10,000 worth of damage to the car & I needed 4 stitches on my face from a small piece of shrapnel going clean through the meat at my cheek bone.
 
Gotta love that iron starter... My L36 Vette used to eat parts store starters yearly. One day in desperation I installed a mini starter; so light and easy to bolt up! Dang thing spun that old BB like a charm. Never looked back.
 
It's all new, But yes it's is quite a bit shorter.

I don't normally rehash the driveshaft when doing overdrive trans swaps as vehicles without overdrive are so old that the ends are usually beat to death from U-Joint changes.

Another reason.....I was having a 1969 Camaro (Boosted LS1/T56) dyno tuned, It had a shortened factory shaft. It came apart at around 130mph. Did about $10,000 worth of damage to the car & I needed 4 stitches on my face from a small piece of shrapnel going clean through the meat at my cheek bone.

You could’ve put your eye out!
 
I need to look over your shoulder for a few weeks. I would love to watch and learn.
 
Brings back some memories, and that’s a crap ton of power in that old farm truck chassis. Needs a sway bar or two!
 
Brings back some memories, and that’s a crap ton of power in that old farm truck chassis. Needs a sway bar or two!

Has Front & Rear Sway Bars, Pretty far from a Truck Chassis of the era with a Solid Axle & Leaf's up front. I built a 1957 Belair that makes A LOT more power than this '56 using the factory front suspension geometry albeit with a Rack & Pinion conversion & Sway Bars.

Sure....You're not going to Autocross a Tri-Five with stock suspension geometry & be anywhere near competitive, But can be fairly decent on the Street & Drag Racing with some good Shock/Spring combinations & all new Ball Joints & Bushings.
 
interesting read as i had a 56 post belair i sold to buy a pickup in 2008 when i retired. it had a GM target motor big cam + 2X4's a read dog with low comp, changed the cam + dumped one carb + put double hump heads on + it ran great! had a 4 spd from previous owner!! surely EZE to work on compared to todays overcrowded hi tech stuff, a MSD distributor was the only "tech" on it!!!
 
It's all new, But yes it's is quite a bit shorter.

I don't normally rehash the driveshaft when doing overdrive trans swaps as vehicles without overdrive are so old that the ends are usually beat to death from U-Joint changes.

Another reason.....I was having a 1969 Camaro (Boosted LS1/T56) dyno tuned, It had a shortened factory shaft. It came apart at around 130mph. Did about $10,000 worth of damage to the car & I needed 4 stitches on my face from a small piece of shrapnel going clean through the meat at my cheek bone.
My upgrades to the 1969 Mustang didn't involve a Tremec but the stick shift transmission that I installed came from a pullout when installing a Tremec. Lot's of other upgrades including Edelbrock Performer Aluminum Heads, Limited slip 9 inch rear end and she ran 186 mph.
 
Don't know how i missed this, it is pretty cool... been threatening to do that to my bump but theres a lot of other stuff that needs doing...
 
Speaking of starters, is that starter susceptible to heat soak there inTexas? A lot of GM started from that era were and it sits pretty close to the headers.
 
Back
Top