Powerglide in Corvettes

[Walter F.]

Was the powerglide transmission used in Corvettes any different then in regular chevrolet passanger cars?

[Cecil L.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

Yes, except the HP 305 hp 348 engine with HD PG from 59 to 61 was the same as Corvette.

[Mike M.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

corvette tail shaft housings differed from pass car tails so as to accept the floor shifter. mike

[David B.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

'56 -'57 cast iron powerglide trans. is essentially the same as Pass. car with a few minor differences.. As pointed out by Mike tail shaft has provision for attaching floor shifter. Corvette installation also does not provide for oil lines to radiator and requires these openings to be plugged. Other minor differences for attachment are required but they do not effect the actual transmission itself.

[Russ S.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

The newer mid years didn't have the shifter mounted to the tailshaft. In these cases the power glide in a corvette was the same as the passenger car except for the kick down linkage on the shaft that goes into the side of the transmission.

[Mike M.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

russ: i'm certain that 63 vets with power glide had provisions for mounting the shifter on the tail house as i have one. i suspect the 64 and 65 c-2's had similar provisions for shift mount on tail. not sure about the 66 and 67 power glide critters. mike

[Cecil L.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

I was referring to the internals and agree that the Corvette trans had provision for the shifter that the Pass car did not but the internals were the same for the 348 305 hp cars and the Corvette PG.

[Steve G.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

64 still had provisions for the shifter on the tail housing. I think the change came with the 65 shifter with the button on the top of the knob. I'm pretty sure there were others that used that tail housing, might have been Chevy II, to mount the shifter. They weren't that hard to find when I was looking for one.
Steve

[Russ S.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

Mike, That's why I said newer mid years. I did some checking and 65,66, and 67 shifters mounted to the fiberglass tunnel.

russ: i'm certain that 63 vets with power glide had provisions for mounting the shifter on the tail house as i have one. i suspect the 64 and 65 c-2's had similar provisions for shift mount on tail. not sure about the 66 and 67 power glide critters. mike

[Walter F.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

What I was trying to find out was the powerglide built with stronger internal parts to handle the increased touque of the 2x4 carb cars and the 250HP fuelie set ups. Were the units prown to increase failure in these cars? Did they have different shifting points ? I remember my Moms 53 failing under normal driving conditions after several years and well under 100,000 miles.

[John S.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

What I was trying to find out was the powerglide built with stronger internal parts to handle the increased touque of the 2x4 carb cars and the 250HP fuelie set ups. Were the units prown to increase failure in these cars? Did they have different shifting points ? I remember my Moms 53 failing under normal driving conditions after several years and well under 100,000 miles.

in 1955 corvette went to the 33 bolt torque converter. passenger car and trucks use a 18 bolt converter.

[Steve G.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

What I was trying to find out was the powerglide built with stronger internal parts to handle the increased touque of the 2x4 carb cars and the 250HP fuelie set ups. Were the units prown to increase failure in these cars? Did they have different shifting points ? I remember my Moms 53 failing under normal driving conditions after several years and well under 100,000 miles.

Joe Lucia would be the person to ask. It would take quite a bit of research I suspect to determine that. You'd have to go through the breakdown of the parts list for the corvette trans and compare it to the break down for the passenger car.

Off the cuff I would speculate that the glides behind the 250/300 hp small blocks are mostly the same internally as the passenger car counterparts. There may be minor differences in things like valve body springs and settings to tailor them to the application. However, the glide behind a 390/427 is almost certain to have different internals to the glide used behind the small block of the same year, passenger car or not. Often this will be things like higher disc count in the clutch pack, but could be hardier hard parts like shafts.

Life cycles on most things in cars built in 53 were not what we expect today. If you got close to 100k with a trans you did well. You probably already had at least one valve grind and may have had rings done already. It was a different world.
Steve

[David B.]

Re: Powerglide in Corvettes

What I was trying to find out was the powerglide built with stronger internal parts to handle the increased touque of the 2x4 carb cars and the 250HP fuelie set ups. Were the units prown to increase failure in these cars? Did they have different shifting points ? I remember my Moms 53 failing under normal driving conditions after several years and well under 100,000 miles.

Walter, Since you did not specify what year powerglide I will assume you are referring to 1957 2x4 & 250 HP FI. To answer your question specifically. The 57 powerglide had improvements over the 56 version (externally similar) as follows:
New throttle valve linkage adjustment. Redesigned Stater assembly. Planet reverse sun gear thrust washer changed. Clutch drum thrust washer changed. Numerous other changes throughout which might affect interchangeability with 56 etc.. These changes made for the 1957 powerglide included all passenger car units. There is no difference in the Corvette and passenger car version in 1957 other than mentioned externally in previous threads.