51 Chevy Transmission

flyboyron · July 22, 2015

A friend of mine has a 51 Chevy with a 216 6 cyl. and was asking about putting a Turbo 350 transmission in it.

He doesn't want to change the engine, just the transmission.

Is that something that is reasonable to do without a lot of modifications?

Steamguy · July 23, 2015

A million years ago I used to work as a mechanic and our shop truck was a '49. I had lots of hours in that truck, customer rides, parts gettums. Same truck... Okay so why do you want to put an auto into it is the first question, just for driveablility in traffic? Or somebody just can't drive a stick?

You should be aware that this engine is a a real slow-turner, maximum speed should be held to about 55 in third. The engine has a low-pressure oiling system and oil dippers on the rods. It was a real workhorse but made for slow speeds. If you put an auto behind it, you'll overspeed it all the time and inside of six months, won't have an engine anymore. The other thing is that if you think the truck is slow now, you put an auto behind that engine, you're going to make it even slower...

The point is here if you're going to go and fiddle with it, you might as well change the old 216 to something more modern that can handle the speed. May I suggest finding a wrecked mid-60's Nova with a 194 and pull the engine and tranny from it for a transplant. Or if you want gas mileage, find one of the 4-bangers; either should drop right in with lots of space. And either one will make more horsepower and be more reliable with an auto.

Hope that helps - good luck!