Powerglide for a bucket

[Gerry]

Gerry, what you got in the motor in the Topolino? What converter? What gears? I love those little car! :hyper:

351 Cleaveland with 4V heads, always wanted 2Vs or have I got that the wrong way round..(it is Saturday you know) and a 1/2 race cam of some sort (I say that cause I cant remember its spec. Came on at 3100 and ran out at 5750.) Headers as you see them. It was just built right by my buddy John. STRONG motor, if you get my drift.
In the vid its still runnin the FMX as standard but with a tweek to the VB springs to bring the pressures up a bit. The TC was standard which is why I could not get above a 1500 rpm stall on the line/
The Glide has a converter built by JW racing mapped to the car and stalled at 3200 just above the 'on cam' point. Made a HUGE difference.
Build em strong. You know when you got it right by the sound under load, they SING even through a helmet.
G

 

[sstock]

Good morning all,

One thing worth mentioning regarding the compare and contrast of a turbo 350 vs the old tried and true powerglide is gear ratio. 1st gear on most is if I recall right about 1.76 to 1, I believe 1st gear of the 350 is 2.52 to 1, both trans have a top gear of 1 to 1. One could surmise that first gear is tall even with torque multiplication of the convertor in a full weight car, probably not to bad though trying to move a 1800lb t bucket of the line. However most of us like our cake and eat it too, I'd much rather go for the 350 trans because I could run a lower numerically(taller) ring and pinion to keep the revs down on the freeways and still be able to flatten your eyeballs off the starting grid with 3 forward gears. Both trans are the same size, 350s can be had for a song,yadda yadda. my .02

Steve

 

[Screaming Metal]

Good morning all,

One thing worth mentioning regarding the compare and contrast of a turbo 350 vs the old tried and true powerglide is gear ratio. 1st gear on most is if I recall right about 1.76 to 1, I believe 1st gear of the 350 is 2.52 to 1, both trans have a top gear of 1 to 1. One could surmise that first gear is tall even with torque multiplication of the convertor in a full weight car, probably not to bad though trying to move a 1800lb t bucket of the line. However most of us like our cake and eat it too, I'd much rather go for the 350 trans because I could run a lower numerically(taller) ring and pinion to keep the revs down on the freeways and still be able to flatten your eyeballs off the starting grid with 3 forward gears. Both trans are the same size, 350s can be had for a song,yadda yadda. my .02

Steve

You are right, also.....they make a bunch of different ratios for the powerglide. You can pretty well dial it in to whatever setup you have.....

 

[Screaming Metal]

Here's just a few.....
Ratio 1.651 1.801 1.921 1.981
For Standard length Powerglide Transmissions (27 9/16 overall length) includes planetary ring and flange gear
Super Set Planetary Set 747406
747407
742250
743050

For Shorty length Powerglide Transmissions (19 1/2" overall length) includes planetary ring and flange gear
Super Set Shorty Planetary Set 746820
745930
746962
747120
For Shorty Length Transmissions for 4-Link Dragster Applications
Super Set Shorty Planetary Set 746825
745935
746962
747125
1 Straight-cut gears

 

[Screaming Metal]

Friend of mine had a bracket car.....he bought a 1975 Nova 2 dr. minus the driveline. He ripped out the interior, put in a roll bar, some guages, centerlines skinnies on the front, big, huge firestone slicks out back with a good set of ladderbars, driveshaft loop.
He had a well worn performance 396....just re-ringed, put in a mushroom tappet bracket cam, a Scorpion intake, and a 850 doublepumper that'd been leaned just a hair. He had a performance powerglide from TCI and a 8 in. Banana torque converter and a 12 bolt out back with 5.56's.

Took it out to the track....I went with him....he wanted me to ride thru 1 pass so I could tell him what he needed. he heated to skins up doing a pro burnout, backed up.rolled forward into the lights...bumped forward thru the beam, lights came on....launched....It scared the Bejesus outta me... thing lifted the frontend, couldn't even see the track, he kept into it, went into high, frontend finally came down....the rat was winding out about 100 ft.before we broke the beam at the other end.

My replay, Glasses came off my head about the 60 ft. mark, my smokes and lighter came outta my shirt pocket about mid track, and I swallowed my chewing gum just before the end.

I quietly looked at him and said...'Your a mad-man!' He laughed....Ran a 10.25 first time out with a .02 reaction time. From then on....I've had nothing but respect for the powerglides....he finally got the car to where it'd run consistant low 10's everypass. The only part we changed was the 1st geat in the trans.....

 

[Gerry]

Friend of mine had a bracket car.....he bought a 1975 Nova 2 dr. minus the driveline. He ripped out the interior, put in a roll bar, some guages, centerlines skinnies on the front, big, huge firestone slicks out back with a good set of ladderbars, driveshaft loop.
He had a well worn performance 396....just re-ringed, put in a mushroom tappet bracket cam, a Scorpion intake, and a 850 doublepumper that'd been leaned just a hair. He had a performance powerglide from TCI and a 8 in. Banana torque converter and a 12 bolt out back with 5.56's.

Took it out to the track....I went with him....he wanted me to ride thru 1 pass so I could tell him what he needed. he heated to skins up doing a pro burnout, backed up.rolled forward into the lights...bumped forward thru the beam, lights came on....launched....It scared the Bejesus outta me... thing lifted the frontend, couldn't even see the track, he kept into it, went into high, frontend finally came down....the rat was winding out about 100 ft.before we broke the beam at the other end.

My replay, Glasses came off my head about the 60 ft. mark, my smokes and lighter came outta my shirt pocket about mid track, and I swallowed my chewing gum just before the end.

I quietly looked at him and said...'Your a mad-man!' He laughed....Ran a 10.25 first time out with a .02 reaction time. From then on....I've had nothing but respect for the powerglides....he finally got the car to where it'd run consistant low 10's everypass. The only part we changed was the 1st geat in the trans.....

Yep
GLIDES da man
G

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

Yep
GLIDES da man
G

Ive run powerslides behind my blown big block for the past 5 years & I havent busted one yet. Upgraded recently and will take car to the track at the weekend (start of our quarter mile season down here) and see how we go. To get one done for constant abuse cost me around US$3300 including the convertor.

I have always thought a second hand Lenco 2 speed with reverser would be the ducks nuts in a bucket. I see them for sale second hand for prices similar to what I have in the glide.

My car is still street legal, so gets out for cruising too. Can those who have Lenco experience advise whether one would be a good choice on the street?

Thanks
Todd

 

[Screaming Metal]

Ive run powerslides behind my blown big block for the past 5 years & I havent busted one yet. Upgraded recently and will take car to the track at the weekend (start of our quarter mile season down here) and see how we go. To get one done for constant abuse cost me around US$3300 including the convertor.

I have always thought a second hand Lenco 2 speed with reverser would be the ducks nuts in a bucket. I see them for sale second hand for prices similar to what I have in the glide.

My car is still street legal, so gets out for cruising too. Can those who have Lenco experience advise whether one would be a good choice on the street?

Thanks
Todd

Go over to the Lenco website and look around....they're tough! Put it this way, Lenco trans. are usually std. equip. in diggers and funnycars.....nitro or alky....

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

Go over to the Lenco website and look around....they're tough! Put it this way, Lenco trans. are usually std. equip. in diggers and funnycars.....nitro or alky....

They are a tough unit all right. But can they work on the street without endless clutch adjustments?

At the track they get constant servicing - can I go 500 miles to a rod run?

And I see some can come with a convertor instead of a clutch. Is that a better option for the street?

Thanks

 

[Martin72]

They are a tough unit all right. But can they work on the street without endless clutch adjustments?

At the track they get constant servicing - can I go 500 miles to a rod run?

And I see some can come with a convertor instead of a clutch. Is that a better option for the street?

Thanks

Take a look at this site:

http://www.lencoraci...MasterPage.html

 

[Ted Brown]

I used a good stock Powerglide in my first T, no problems until you get frisky with your engine, like changing to a big block, then they will need inside help, as the second gear goes away easy when under full power shifting... who knows? may have just been my way of driving...

 

[Screaming Metal]

I used a good stock Powerglide in my first T, no problems until you get frisky with your engine, like changing to a big block, then they will need inside help, as the second gear goes away easy when under full power shifting... who knows? may have just been my way of driving...

Teds right...stock....I used to call them the powerslide! Stock, put them behind a healthy bigblock and they'll crumble under the pressure. Now, take that same trans and put heavies on the inside and you can hammer on her like a anvil!
The Lenco's, I love them! I can take them apart with my eyes closed. BUT, they're a track trans. They really don't have 'gears', so-to-speak, but clutch paks. I've set a couple up for my customers on the street and they had good things to say about them. Remember though, you can break anything and you can misadjust something and mess it up.
One such street machine was a 32 highboy with a 540 Ford with a Lenco....worked good. Alot of folks try to get me into their cars so they can take me and show me the performance....I'm plenty happy standing on the sidelines and watching.....

 

[GT63]

Teds right...stock....I used to call them the powerslide! Stock, put them behind a healthy bigblock and they'll crumble under the pressure. Now, take that same trans and put heavies on the inside and you can hammer on her like a anvil!
The Lenco's, I love them! I can take them apart with my eyes closed. BUT, they're a track trans. They really don't have 'gears', so-to-speak, but clutch paks. I've set a couple up for my customers on the street and they had good things to say about them. Remember though, you can break anything and you can misadjust something and mess it up.
One such street machine was a 32 highboy with a 540 Ford with a Lenco....worked good. Alot of folks try to get me into their cars so they can take me and show me the performance....I'm plenty happy standing on the sidelines and watching.....

Street\Strip Lenco trans

 

[Screaming Metal]

Yea, now thats what I call a std. shift trans!....when I was referring to clutchpaks....I was referring the 2 speed autos in the racers....all that puppy is is a industrial strength hydraulic unit! Ha!

Now the LencoDrive 2-speed with the torque converter is really nice. And they'll hold up to anything you could throw at them on the street! They cost though....





Looks like GT63 has found his new trans. to go in his bucket!!!! Those 2 would look good together.....

 

[Gerry]

Yea, now thats what I call a std. shift trans!....when I was referring to clutchpaks....I was referring the 2 speed autos in the racers....all that puppy is is a industrial strength hydraulic unit! Ha!

Now the LencoDrive 2-speed with the torque converter is really nice. And they'll hold up to anything you could throw at them on the street! They cost though....



Looks like GT63 has found his new trans. to go in his bucket!!!! Those 2 would look good together.....

Since we are talking transmissions, anyone ever heard of a Clutchflight. Come on you guys musta heard of this. We made one for a racer... ohhhhh must have been 30 years ago or so. Didnt work that good so we never developed it. May have some pics but no idea where they are.
Gerry

 

[Wild Mango]

Since we are talking transmissions, anyone ever heard of a Clutchflight. Come on you guys musta heard of this. We made one for a racer... ohhhhh must have been 30 years ago or so. Didnt work that good so we never developed it. May have some pics but no idea where they are.
Gerry

You are of course referring to a colonial invention by the McGee Brothers in Sydney called a "Clutch Flite" which had a coventional dry plate clutch taking the place of the torque converter ahead of a TorqueFlite mopar trans. We were showing our ignorance of how effective a torque converter can be, and of course it wasn't sucessful, just another one of those great ideas that didn't work out in practice.

 

[Gerry]

You are of course referring to a colonial invention by the McGee Brothers in Sydney called a "Clutch Flite" which had a coventional dry plate clutch taking the place of the torque converter ahead of a TorqueFlite mopar trans. We were showing our ignorance of how effective a torque converter can be, and of course it wasn't sucessful, just another one of those great ideas that didn't work out in practice.

Thats the one. We did get it to work BUT it had no advantages and proved to be slower than a Hi stall. Fun playing though.
Gerry

 

[Screaming Metal]

Sounds like the Funnycar that had the motor mounted in sideways, had a huge clutch installed, then had this big honkin' hy-vol chain connecting the 2. More or less, it was a direct-drive setup.....showed potential at first. Didn't want to come off the line clean....so turned up the power on the motors. Know what they found out?

Get a big motor, and if you put enough boost in the mix with a big dose of nitromethane....you can blow apart a anvil....regardless of hammer size....

 

[Gerry]

Sounds like the Funnycar that had the motor mounted in sideways, had a huge clutch installed, then had this big honkin' hy-vol chain connecting the 2. More or less, it was a direct-drive setup.....showed potential at first. Didn't want to come off the line clean....so turned up the power on the motors. Know what they found out?

Get a big motor, and if you put enough boost in the mix with a big dose of nitromethane....you can blow apart a anvil....regardless of hammer size....

I remember seeing pictures of that. Had a huge morse chain in it. Yellow if I can recall. I thought it was a really logical way to go. Ah well we live and learn.
Gerry

 

[Screaming Metal]

Yea Gerry, I think it was yellow or orange....had the motor sitting crossways in the chassis. Oh, don't get me wrong....when it worked well...it was a holy terror! Problem was, when you didn't come off the line the way the thing was setup to do....it's break stuff, bigtime! Wasn't consistant, except for breaking things. The clutch was suppossed to be setup for a continuous controlled adjusted slip....kinda like a hydrostatic transmission.

If you did it like the old slingshots....it was awesome. But with the power we put out on the motors, and the supersticky tires....it either stood straight up, smoked the tires (thats when it ran its best), or broke....