Hellow every one just wondering if anyone may have had experence with transmission adapter plates verses a bellhousing to mate things up for a 322 buick to chev t 400 transmission ?I dont know if anyone makes a bellhousing type adapter in US .But i do know a company who do adapter plate kit with flywheel.$595.00 us www.transmissionadapters.com Has anyone had experece with these types of job before and would any one know of a company who do bellhousing cast type kit. Any feed back would be greaty apreciated.
Regards Patrick Maiden BCAus 991 nsw

Pat
If you can wait a little longer, I plan on getting pictures and description of this same project that a friend is doing to a 54 Century 322. It is a few weeks away from driving and stopping under its own power. After that we will make a date for a drag race to see if a more modern step gear transmission can beat a stock dynaflow.
Willie

Instead of trying to put a Chevy 400 trans into a Buick, why not put a Buick ST400 into the Buick. Buick developed the 400 turbo trans, using it first in the '65 and '66 Riv's. The ST400 trans goes one step further in that it is a dual range trans.

A second option is to use a C-4 Ford trans. Ford used the C-4's in commercial vehicles up through E-30 1 ton vans. The C-4's are small so they don't create frame issues and they will take all the HP a 322 or larger can dish out.

I am putting a 401 with a '66 ST400 in my '40 Buick.

Bill

Thanks guys for your replys.
Bill the trouble in Australia is that its hard at times to sourse parts ie st 400(and if u could they would be a bit dear) When chev t 400 are every where. What i would like to do is drop a 425/401 st 400 in it but the ol balance of payments and trying to find these parts makes it a bit of a ask.And looking at the positive side for a second or two it keeps the engine bay standard and the way the price of petrol is going up a 322 may well be the pick anyway( thats what i tell my senceable side anyway)A freind of mine has a c10 ford box suitable for reco he will give me but dont know of any company that will do adapter for this for my 322.There seems more choises for 364:and bigger. What i dont understand is how those switch pitch st 400 work but sound trick.

The only real reason i doing this job is that getting dynaflows recoed in aus is a bit of a hit and miss affair whith the common story being of tranny being pulled out more than once parts like pump housing cracking tring to to find these parts ect . The fact that i love the 55 but plan to drive it a fair bit with my family. With some round trips up to 1000 km to get weekend get togthers ect.
Looking forward to hearing how 322 goes with new box Willie
Kind regards hope all are well and happy
Patrick Maiden BCAu 991 nsw

Patrick, I understand the problems you encounter in your part of the world trying to keep the old iron running reliably and safely. I was able to pick up three '66 Riv's with the 425 engine and ST400 trans for $600. Two of the engines were cracked and the third was to nice a car to part out so I bought a 401 and bored it out .60 making it about 413 CID.

The free ride on fuel costs we here in the States have enjoyed, compared to the rest of the world, is as everyone knows a thing of the past. Gasoline here in So. Cal hit $3.54 a gallon yesterday, and it is expected to go higher.

I am hoping to get 15/16 mpg on my '40 Buick with the AFB Edlebrock carb I am going to use. Hopefully the ST400 will help because of it's lockup feature. only time will tell if things work out the way we figure.

Bill

Patrick

Contact Wilcap Company

P.O. Box 763 Pismo Beach CA 93448

(805) 481-7639

FAX (805) 343-5000

www.wilcap.com

EMAIL pmcguire@wilcap.com

They will have in stock or can cut you an adapter for your Buick 322 to a Chevy or Buick/Olds/Pontiac TH350, TH400 or 700R4. I'm guessing Holden's used these three transmissions so they should be easy for you to find. I don't know if the Holden used the Chevy or the BOP bolt pattern.

I would be almost positive that it would be the Chev bolt pattern. GM Holden and Chev were / are much aligned with mechanical designs and some parts. Pat, just check with any local auto trans workshop and they will give you the correct information. Even the local hot rod fraternity will have the good info. I did see a Buick T350 ( cheap ) on Ebay Australia some time ago, it did not sell if I remember correctly. Make enquiries through the BCA ( NSW) and see if you can locate someone wrecking a suitable car if you want to stay Buick. If it was me I would go for the Chev trans , much easier to locate. A T350 would be cheaper too.
Depending on how many HP your engine will put out , will decide which one to go for ( T350 or T400 )

This from an earlier post in the same thread...I had a chance to briefly looks at the project (no pictures). My conclusion is that if you are set on changing the drive train you should do it. I had a lot of trouble getting a dynaflow rebuilt and had to change it 4 times (big pain). But after seeing what it takes to switch...well that is a BIGGER PAIN! Much more expensive and considerably more time. This friend has built dozens of rods and is using techniques he has used in the past, but everytime he solves one problem he creats 3 more...I noticed and pointed out a few things that he had not thought of or noticed. I am finding the same problem with my 264 nailhead engine swap into a 51 F-1...it would have been easier and less expensive to rebuild the flathead and even add some performance goodies and bling.
As promise I will get some pictures and description eventually.
Willie

If you find a Chevy T350, it would probably be fine behind the 322 AND take 15 less horsepower to run than the T400. I suspect that if you will be having less than about 350 flywheel horsepower (US), then it would do fine, as would the T700-OD automatic (IF you have a deep enough rear axle to really use the OD and not bog the motor too much on the highway).

Just a thought,
NTX5467

You can't bolt an ST400 to a 322, the bell housing on the 322 is 1" larger in diameter. And, the dynaflow connects to a torque tube drive shaft whereas the ST400, as well as the TH350, C-4, et al all fasten to an open drive shaft via a u-joint. If you use a transmission with an open drive shaft, you're going to have to engineer and create new mounting linkage for the rear end. The torque tube is an intergal part of the rear end and it positions the rear end and keeps the pinion angle geometry correct. The bloke is correct when he states that solving one problem usually creates three more.

I just heard from a Nailheader in CA who's always experimenting with engines and transmissions. He's in the process now of working out the bugs on a three speed automatic for the early nailheads (264/322.) At present he's having some machine work done that will enable him to mate the original Dynaflow bellhousing with a C4 Ford three speed automatic. C4's with the right modifications are pretty stout transmissions. Stay tuned for further developments.

I see that Bendstens makes adaptors for Nailheads & Straight Eights - availiable for several GM transmissions TH350, 700R etc. not sure if the Holden version is the same though...

http://www.transmissionadapters.com

I am considering a kit for my Straight 8, has anybody dealt with these guys? positive/negative?

I forgot sbout the old Buicks having the torque tube driveline. That creates a problem with switching to a later model open propeller shaft transmission and driveline. That can be a lot of time and money in converting.

Find a good transmission shop and have the DynaFlow rebuilt.

For all:
See my comments about my Self-shifter in the August Bugle. A step box will be an invitation to a possibly very harsh shifting situation with a torque tube. No sense in repeating what Buick learned the hard way in 1938.
Regards, Dave Corbin

Check out this article. It on putting a chevy trans behind a Straight 8.

http://www.webrodder.com/article.php?AID=235&SID=6&CID=

Maybe you guys can help me. All I plan on doing to my 53 super is put the complete running gear from a 56 (engine,tranny,and rearend) The v8 is about 100 hp more,and bolts right in. The biggest question is will the 56 rearend work. Any helpful suggestions. Thanks Don53

Don

My Hollander interchange book shows the 53 and 56 rearends are different and don't interchange. However, it may as simple are relocating the spring mount pads to make the 56 fit.

Also, wheelbase of the cars might come into play. Your 53
Super has a 126 inch wheelbase. What is the 56 donor car and its wheelbase? Wheel base differences are probably reflected in the length of the torque tube driveline. I believe in 56 there were 4 series, Special, Century, Super and Roadmaster. The Special may have been a shorter wheelbase sharing a body with the Pontiacs and Olds 88.

This site is quite interesting.


http://www.transmissionadapters.com/

Close but the ST 400 came out in 1964 and was a single range transmission.

The "S" portion comes from it's ability to chnage the angle of the stator in the convertor which added an extra bit of oomph.

HMMM, I thought the ST meant SUPER TURBINE and that the switch pitch 400's were called SP400.

The switch pitch transmissions were used from 65-67 on Olds, Cadillac, and Buicks. Both the ST300 (two speed) and SP400 were switch pitch in those years. Pontiac and Chevy was a standard non-switch converter.

The 64 400's were single range and don't recall them having switch pitch converters.

Switch pitch converters are interesting devices.

To continue the "Turbine" theme established by Buick with its Dyanflow, three speed automatics (Corporate TH400's) with either single stage or varible pitch torque converters, were called ST400's - which stood for Super Turbine. Except for the bellhousings on the 65-66 models, they were identical inside to the other GM switch pitch trannies; in '67 they went to the BOP bellhousing with the introduction of the 400/430 big block. I don't know how long they continued calling them the ST400 before giving in to the corporate TH400 designation.

If you're looking for a performance update that's fairly easy, use the smaller ST300 converter from a 300 or 340 V8 with your ST400 hooked to your 401/425. The smaller converter's high stall feature will give you some additional rpm's before stalling than the larger one will. Your flex-plate is already drilled for the smaller converter. The ST300 was used behind the 401 in Skylark GS's.

Ed

Actually the ST400 transmission was a BOP pattern for the 300" Wildcat 310 engines for the LeSabres. And they used the trans in 64 up Lesabres. As far as the ST300 used in 401 Skylark GS, that was another Buick blunder. Anyone with some sense would want a 3 speed auto, not a two speed "glide" wanna be.

Buick & auto transmissions = ODD COUPLE