Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Hi Guys, I have the opportunity to buy a powerglide from a '65 nova for 30 bucks! Does anyone know what the gearing would be in that specific year of tranny? Also would a powerglide of that year be suited better to a high revving motor or one with low revs(bottom end power)? The reason is because well the trannys cheap and it works and I am building a 302 SBC to put in a '78 280. I would think that the glide would help with traction issues and would be good if the gearing is not too low. Any opinions on the glide would be appreciated. Oh and power wise I am going for 400-500 HP. Well depending on my fiance' and the budget. But at least 300HP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Oh and if anyone has any pics of the tranny mount and linkage, please post. thanks James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dp351zcar Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Ok I'll bite. Gearing? A powerglide has two foward gears and one reverse. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 I know that but what about the gear ratios? And would the ratios be good with a 3.54 R200? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Are you building this for a drag only car? Cause if not then the Powerglide is not the way to go. Heck even if your are using this just for a drag car I still dont think its the way to go. Most guys who use a Powerglide use a 2 speed rear end, this way they have 4 gear combinations. Dont aske me what a 2 speed rear end is cause I myself dont know. Thats just what I have heard about using a Powerglide. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 The powerglide would do great for a drag strip car. Even if you don't use it, pick it up anyway if it is in good shape. I'm not sure this is the tranny to use for a street going Z car though. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Night_rider_383 Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 The glide gears are 1.76 or 1.82 (two diff versions, one for 6 cyl cars other for v-8's) first gear, 1.00 second gear. If you have the money to spare pick the glide up. $30 is a good deal even if you just put it away for later use. The glides are best used in a high hp, low geared, high stalled drag car. Useing the higher 1st gear helps to max off line traction, and being its a 2 speed that means only one shift. That's less to go wrong, less to worry about during a pass. glides are very strong trannies from the start. They can take a beating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 thanks guys, with the 3.54 R200 that I have in my '78 280, I figured the engine rpm for different speed figures. 65 MPH@5335 RPM in First, and 3031 in second 100MPH@8207 RPM in First, and 4663 in second 160MPH@7461 in second And thats with a 225/ 60/ 14 tire. Its clear that I would have to rev my engine high which the 302 I'm building would be a good candidate. Taking into consideration that the car is going to be a street and occasional strip car, 4600 rpm's @ 100 mph is not too bad. But with the info you guys have posted I have chosen not to go with the glide for street, any suggestions on which tranny to go with then? How about a turbo 400? I like the overdrive for high speed cruising and gas mileage. Any opinions on what would be the ideal choice of tranny to mate with a 302? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Oh and i will definitely pick up the glide for the $30 , I might be able to come across a trade later on. Besides it could be a backup tranny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 6.6l_zcar Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 turbo 400 is not an OD tranny, just a three speed. turbo 350 is the lighter duty version of the 400 that will take over 400 lb/ft of torque mildly built. stick with the 350... its lighter and less paracidic HP loss. 700r4 is more of a pain but it does have a .68 OD ratio. the 700 had the lowest first gear for harder launches then the 350 then the 400. 3.54 rear with a 1:1 tranny 3rd gear will get you about 3200@70mph. top be carefull not to over gear your car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 Oops, I meant the 4L80E which has the same gearing as the Turbo400 with an overdrive of .75 or .70 or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 6.6l_zcar Posted October 19, 2003 Share Posted October 19, 2003 just remember the "E" in 4l60E means that it is electronicly shifted buy the ecm. unless you are intending on applying fuel injection to that 302 and adding an ecm that tranny wont work without adding sensors and such. The 700r4 or 200r4 should be your choice for overdrive trannys. Also the best made 700s were made from 87-90. before and after those years they werent made as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefastestz Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 i have a stock 280z and at 70 i am over 3000rpm mark.......seems like it is ok. a 240z has a 4th gear of 1.00 too but with a 3.36 diffy. so if your calculations are right i don't think that sounds so far fecthed, but then is a V8 we are talking about here not a displacement deficent L-motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 I have always been under the impression that automatic transmissions wont rev that high.. Personally, I am not sure that it would be a good idea to use such a high-geared transmission with an engine that doesnt make a lot of low end torque. High reving engines that dont have as much bottom end torque typically are setup with transmissions with a broader range of gears, starting quite low. I plan to use a manual transmission with a low 1st gear with my 302 (whenever that happens to get built ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 A power guide trans is good only if you use it in a car with at least a 3:1 hp/lb ratio. Turbo drag cars use them a lot but have 1000 hp in 2500 lb cars. It would be a very big mistake to install a power guide in a high performance street car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 A power guide trans is good only if you use it in a car with at least a 3:1 hp/lb ratio. Turbo drag cars use them a lot but have 1000 hp in 2500 lb cars. It would be a very big mistake to install a power guide in a high performance street car. Did you mean 1:3 hp/lb ratio? 3:1 would be 3000HP in a 1000lb, even 1:3 would be about 340HP in a 1000lb car. The powerglide transmission can be used in cars with much less power than either scenario. I would like to see your source on those numbers in either case, unless you are just pulling them out of your hat. The key is going to be the amount of bottom-end torque and the rear-end gear ratio. From what I hear, these transmissions were a hot item back in their day, definetly not something to dismiss, however, as I mentioned, it wouldnt be my choice for any engine without a lot of bottom-end torque to get it moving (unless you have some really low rear-end gears) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 The powerglide came in two first gear ratio's, 1.82 for the 4's and 6's, and 1.76 for the v8's. Stay away from the 1.82's, they are a stamped steel carrier for low HP applications. The 1.76's can be distinguished by a slightly larger output shaft diameter, although they use the same trans yoke. The 1.76 ratio is .020 larger diameter. Powerglides came in an air cooled model that has cooling holes in the bellhousing, both square and round. Stay away from this in performance applications, this is a sure bet that it houses a 1.82 planetary carrier set and won't stay cool enough for V8 power levels or even hot 6's. The advantage to the powerglide is the torque multiplication or lack of it. It is lower than all other automatic transmissions as you take off in a gear that is typically between 1st and 2nd gears in a typical 3 speed auto. For instance, say you have a 500 lb-ft producing engine at 4K rpm and you use a 4k stall converter. The converter multiplies the torque by 2 so you have 800 lb-ft to the trans input shaft. Multiply that by 1.76 and the final drive ratio, say 4.11 and you have 5786 lb-ft to the tires. If you were using a th350 instead that would be 8285 lb-ft to the tires. So, the powerglide puts less TQ to the tires which can be a big help if traction is a problem. This allows you to build a street sleeper without tubbing the car. Easier on rear end parts as well. Do the math and you'll figure out that you can put one heck of a motor in front of a powerglide and still not blow the tires off the car getting out of the hole and charging hard in the mid track and top end. Rule of thumb is that with low HP and low TQ engines you need gears, lots of gears to keep it in the powerband. With High HP and TQ the glide works wonders for getting out of the hole and with all the HP and TQ they are typically as quick or quicker than a 3 speed auto. They have less parasitic losses and are alot lighter, about 110-120 lbs depending on converter. High stall converters are utilized to optimize TQ on launch, not HP. Powerglide traditionally eat up 5 to 8% less HP than comparable automatics. Powerglides can easily handle 900Hp in stock case form with more clutch area added and some other mods. Expect to pay for what you get. I build glides for myself and end up with $800 to $900 total including custom converter ready to rumble. This is far less than what you can pay for other transmissions that will leave you with traction problems and having to race from a sissy roll cause you can't put the package together and plant it to the ground. Real men think and find solutions, the rest of the sheep follow the leader. Build TQ, HP will follow, then figure out how to hook it all up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jap tin Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 Go for the glide. Less chance of a traction problem, lighter and simpler. They work fine on the street and strip. Don't worry about having enough gear to get out of the hole with a glide. I have run 60ft times as low as 1.15 in my glide equiped Z car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 japtin, how much power are you running? And what is your diff. ratio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jap tin Posted October 11, 2004 Share Posted October 11, 2004 japtin, how much power are you running? And what is your diff. ratio? Don't know about power, I don't play around with dynos. Maybe 4 or 5 hundred . the glide has a 1.89 first gear ratio and the diff is a 4.86 gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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