Powerglide transmission performance

[kencombs]

AMAitkins, Look at your oil pressure gauge, If it reads to 60 lbs or so it has full press oiling and rods with inserts and aluminum pistons O. E
If gauge only reads to 15-20 lbs O E. was splash oiling. Manual transmission 53 had splash oiling but I thought PG had full pressure oiling

53 was the first year for pressure fed rods.

 

[kencombs]

Dunno about the steep hills but I had a '65 Impala with a 283 and powerglide trans. I used to pull my 18' wooden boat with it a half a dozen times a year. The launch ramp was fairly steep but never had any problem with it...

65 was the much improved aluminum PG. That and the hp from the 283 made a really nice package.

 

[Keith True]

65 was the much improved aluminum PG. That and the hp from the 283 made a really nice package.

Yes,the main thing in common between the aluminum glides and the cast ones was the two speeds and the name.Not the same transmission.There were even a number of different cast glide models.I don't know if the later cast glides had park or not,the early ones didn't.

 

[buickanddeere]

IMO, the thing to be concerned about is not the PG, as it will handle all the power the old babbitt rod 235(if original) will produce. They are ok in mild hills and flat country but lack enough to keep up with modern traffic speeds.

IF, you want to change transmissions I'd strongly recommend a newer matching engine and transmission. Avoid engineering a mismatched engine and transmission as that always cost more. Use something the factory has done the engineering already. And, include an overdrive in the planning. My choice would not be a TH700 as it and the preceding 400 both eat up a lot of power. A 200r4 is more than strong enough, /much lighter and efficient. Of course that also means a rear end change as there are no modern transmissions that mate up to the torque tube rear.

In my mind the first decision is stay near stock and live with 60-65 cruise speed and weaker uphill power or upgrade. If you do that a later full pressure lubed 235 (or 261 if you can find one) would be great. In my area a 261 with the powerglide would be fine, except for the interstates. Not going to beat on an old engine like that. But, I've driven 216s,235s and 261s and know what to expect.

My first 'good' car was a 52 chevy. Really slick all stock, low mileage car that threw a rod on hwy66 passing through our town. 216 just couldn't handle the speed the owner was asking of it all day. It got a later 235 and was a great high school car.

TH700R4 and 4L60 are jut a TH350 with OD and lockup . The TH400 is another kettle of fish .

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

A: I'd leave it original.

B: Don't expect much & it will do more than you want. It's like an 8N.

C: I don't recall hearing much about Chevy having anything too powerful for a few years yet, after your car was built. Maybe look into adding another venturi or two under the hood? The tranny would hold up to an upgrade like that.

Mike

 

[Duner Wi]

53 was the first year for pressure fed rods.

Kencombs, My friend who is Chevy guy says not all 53 PG cars had full pressure oiling. Transition year I guess.

 

[Gene Davis(Ga.)]

The 53 standard shift car had babbit rods and a plain 235 engine. The 53 powerglide cars had insert rods and a special camshaft that gave it a few more ponies under the hood to make up for the hydraulic slippage of the powerglide at times.

 

[olddavid]

The 235 had a lot of torque and depending on the axle ratio it might be ok.

 

[Keith True]

I played with a LOT of these things in the 70's,and back then it seemed like every time I turned around I would discover different facts about them.Thinking about them now some of these things keep coming back to me.All 235 cams were not the same.Large bore and small bore,different size holes in the block.I'm also thinking the glide equipped cars used a shorter water pump because the radiator was thicker,to help with the extra power the engine was needing to run that trans.Those things ran reliably for millions of miles,treat it like a 70 year old car and enjoy it.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Last chevy I worked on .I was told the engines would just swap out .Well Chevy never did. I had to change every mount or bracket on it to get it to bolt in and have all the toys align and work. even had to change the exhaust manifolds over from a 305 to a 350. An old small block Chrysler was less work and interchanged better.they would fit from the 273 all the way to the 360 unless you had an old Saw tooth 318 .Those were a pre 1965 engine. So No I didn't find a Chevy so interchangeable in a pickup and was a lot of work to make fit compared to an old Chrysler. Old Chevy trucks made good wagons and trailers if you got away from the ball bearing wheel hubs.

 

[da.bees]

Something that always comes to mind when I think of power-glide transmissions is a neighbor farmer who lost his right arm in ww2. Very determined man that managed to get things done one way or another. He bought a mid 50s pg and it pulled everything standard shifts could. One thing it did better was pulling in mud, the accelerator pedal could be feathered to keep tires from breaking loose and spinning. I thing you will be fine with the 2 sp pg.

 

[john in la]

They didn't call it the power slide transmission for nothing.
I wouldn't call it the best transmission Chevrolet ever built but with the right rebuild kit the aluminum PG can be bullet proof.
The 6 cylinder PG has a higher first gear to accommodate the lower HP.
Matched with that 100HP motor the PG will be just fine.

 

[UncleTom]

GM should revisit how the power glide was made and copy the design and manufacturing process to try and build a better transmission than what they are building today for the consumer.

 

[Keith True]

Slip & slide with powerglide.Slush pump,slush box,the iron ones I had experience with worked fine,but were piggy on gas.At least the sixes were.I had one in a 57 with a 283 and that one wasn't bad at all.The last one I actually owned and drove myself was in a 54. four door.I wasn't using it,so my mother drove it back and forth to work for a couple of years.12 miles each way,but while she said it drove nice,it was a gas hog.When she quit that job in 92 I sold it.

 

[miangus]

I had a friend with a 56 Nomad with the cast iron Powerglide, we drove it around like regular car and it worked fine. The conversion to a more modern Powerglide would require a rear motor mount as noted, not that big of a deal as they make the pats. As a note the Powerglide was used in taxicab service. I ran the aluminum case Powerglide in a drag car, a 2500-pound car running low 10.30s off a trans brake using a 6500-rpm stall converter. I also built a few for circle track racers, direct drive no converter.
.

 

[Texasmark]

IMO, the thing to be concerned about is not the PG, as it will handle all the power the old babbitt rod 235(if original) will produce. They are ok in mild hills and flat country but lack enough to keep up with modern traffic speeds.

IF, you want to change transmissions I'd strongly recommend a newer matching engine and transmission. Avoid engineering a mismatched engine and transmission as that always cost more. Use something the factory has done the engineering already. And, include an overdrive in the planning. My choice would not be a TH700 as it and the preceding 400 both eat up a lot of power. A 200r4 is more than strong enough, /much lighter and efficient. Of course that also means a rear end change as there are no modern transmissions that mate up to the torque tube rear.

In my mind the first decision is stay near stock and live with 60-65 cruise speed and weaker uphill power or upgrade. If you do that a later full pressure lubed 235 (or 261 if you can find one) would be great. In my area a 261 with the powerglide would be fine, except for the interstates. Not going to beat on an old engine like that. But, I've driven 216s,235s and 261s and know what to expect.

My first 'good' car was a 52 chevy. Really slick all stock, low mileage car that threw a rod on hwy66 passing through our town. 216 just couldn't handle the speed the owner was asking of it all day. It got a later 235 and was a great high school car.

I have heard a lot about the "Babbit" Chevy 6 cylinder engines in the 50- 60's era when I was growing up. My understanding of a babbit engine rod is that you have the material of the rod and then a tin coating (the babbit) which is what contacts the crankshaft. Is the design without "inserts" like Fords and others had? Was that the beef...when you wore through the tin coating you had a knocker needing new rods where the inserts could be replaced for a fraction of the cost of new rods?

 

[buickanddeere]

I had a friend with a 56 Nomad with the cast iron Powerglide, we drove it around like regular car and it worked fine. The conversion to a more modern Powerglide would require a rear motor mount as noted, not that big of a deal as they make the pats. As a note the Powerglide was used in taxicab service. I ran the aluminum case Powerglide in a drag car, a 2500-pound car running low 10.30s off a trans brake using a 6500-rpm stall converter. I also built a few for circle track racers, direct drive no converter.
.

iirc there are marine applications of the PG with no torque converter.

 

[Sprint 6]

Mechanical reliability and performance? Fine. Power and driveability? Abysmal. Powerglide was light years ahead for its time. But today? Horrible.

 

[buickanddeere]

Cheap no, worth it ? Yes.

 

[Brian G. NY]

Kencombs, My friend who is Chevy guy says not all 53 PG cars had full pressure oiling. Transition year I guess.

Only the cars equipped with Powerglide had the full pressure oil system engines.
My B.I.L. had a brand new '54 Belaire 2 door hdtp; two-tone green with PG tranny.
It was a very good car and quite "pretty" too. He drove it for 5 years with no troubles whatsoever.
In 1959 a freind of mine in H.S. had a '52 Belaire Hdtp. I remember riding with him on the road up to his place which had a very steep 1 mile stretch. It shifted down and the engine revved up but we didn't seem to go any faster. LOL
The 283 Chevy V-8 of that era would have been a welcome improvement for his car.