more olds questions

[theracedude]

i have a 1957 371 olds with junk trans. i think i am going to replace the jetaway with a 40 ford stick. i have the trans and bellhousing. i need a flywheel and to know if my 57 crank was drilled for the pilot bearing at the factory. any one have the answers or the part?

 

[donsrods]

I play around with Olds engines, and some of the cranks are drilled and some are not. Only way to know is to pull the convertor off and look for a hole. Generally, they do not though as they get newer. Olds only had automatics in the later years leading up to '64, so they didn't need the pilot hole.

Several places have developed ways around this. One is this site:

http://www.transmissionadapters.com/ and I lost the name of the other machine shop that makes adapters for these engines. I even spoke to the guy on the phone and have his prices down here, but I didn't write down his name or phone number.

Essentially, to solve the no hole problem, they make an adapter that bolts to the crank and has a hole in it. Then they space the tranny back just a little to make up for the room the adapter takes up.

It isn't a real cheap affair, and costs about $ 1500 to get the entire stick setup so that you can bolt a GM stick tranny to the engine. But it does get you there. Sorry I couldn't be more help, but that is all I know about it.

Don