Overdrive transmission for 1952 Dodge

[Guest Goschill]

Hello,

I am new to this site and wondered if any of the expert can help me make my all original 1952 Dodge Meadowbrook more enjoyable to drive on longer trips. It has a 230cid flathead and a Giromatic Transmission, but to drive at highway speeds one has to rev the engine pretty high which is not very comfortable.

I heard that there are overdrive transmissions which would fit my car and would reduce the engine speed by about 30%. The challenge of course is to find one of these. Does anybody have one of these for sale, ro maybe knows what other options with maybe newer transmissions would be available.

Any information on this subject would be appreciated.

[alsancle]

Go here and search. Any question you might have would be answered. There was one on Ebay last week complete for 1100. The going rate seems to be 800 to 1500.

Homepage

[Guest Goschill]

Go here and search. Any question you might have would be answered. There was one on Ebay last week complete for 1100. The going rate seems to be 800 to 1500.

Homepage

Thanks for the information. $800 -$1500 would be the range I would be happy with. There seems to be one for $3000 on eBay, they call it a Borg Warner P10, but that's about 2/3 what my Dodge is worth and out of the question.

[JACK M]

I think you will be up against more than just a tranny change as you will also be looking for a bell housing and clutch assy.

There is also some wiring to deal with and a couple of switches.

Not impossible as I recently did this on this wagon, but it already had the correct bell housing and clutch.

There is a guy on Portland CL that has an engine and OD trans assy that shows up once in awhile. Don't remember the price

[Guest Goschill]

Thanks for the response. I am still a bit in the learning phase to find out exactly what it takes to make this change, but it seems to be worth it, since I would like to take my Dodge on a few longer trips where cruising at 60-70mph would be desirable. I am not afraid of actually doing it, but want to avoid any surprises on the way. I might check with you once I have all the parts together, since you already went through this process.

What speeds do you comfortably cruise at with your Dodge station wagon with overdrive?

[JACK M]

60-65 comfortable. It will go faster but its only a flat head six so no need to beat it up.

In another thread it is mentioned that you will need a shorter drive line as well.

[Guest Goschill]

Hello Jack,

cruising comfortably at 60-65mph is a lot nicer than cruising at 50mph, if you want to go somewhere. Looks like I found a R10 transmission, but will not start the conversion before later this year. I also found some BW overdrive manuals on the Internet, but I still might have to ask you for some info later . I still need the pull handle to switch the OD on and off.

Gottfried

[Guest Goschill]

I found a 3 speed overdrive transmission for my 1952 Dodge and it is on the way and I have read up on everything as far as the operation and the controls of this overdrive transmission are concerned. It looks like this 3 speed overdrive transmission should bolt right in and replace my 3 speed Giomatic transmission and I might have to shorten the prop shaft

What I wonder about is if the Borg Warner R10 overdrive which is bolted onto the manually operated 3 speed transmission can also be mounted onto the 3 speed Giromatic transmission I currently have on my Dodge. I wonder if anybody has done this, or if this is at all possible?

[JACK M]

Hmm, I couldn't say. But an interesting idea.