The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - 55.2-59 power steering and automatic conversion

unclebrad · 02-23-2023, 12:12 PM

My truck was originally a straight six (with a 3-speed column shift transmission). But the previous owner put a v8 (348) and th350 transmission in it. The radiator support is still in the six cylinder position.

My story around this is...

Soon after buying the truck, I found that the engine and transmission needed replacing (along with the radiator and transmission... but I am over it now.). My skills are just good enough that I figured an engine swap was doable. I decided to upgrade to a slightly larger engine (409) and an o.d. transmission. (700r4)

The previous owner didn't do any change to the shifter other than hook it up to the transmission and so, shifting was "by feel". It seemed to work, but I didn't like it.

I had seen a picture of a truck on jalopy journal, talking about a different subject, and noticed that the guy had converted the column shifter to a factory shifter from a 53-54 Chevy Bel-Aire. I loved the factory look and asked him how he did it. He basically told me what car the shifter pieces came out of, and said that he just worked out what to do as he went, and that anyone could do it.

It was a bit intimidating to me, but I took a shot. And I took pictures and notes along the way.

02-23-2023, 12:12 PM	#14
unclebrad Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Concord, CA Posts: 131	Re: power steering and automatic conversion My truck was originally a straight six (with a 3-speed column shift transmission). But the previous owner put a v8 (348) and th350 transmission in it. The radiator support is still in the six cylinder position. My story around this is... Soon after buying the truck, I found that the engine and transmission needed replacing (along with the radiator and transmission... but I am over it now.). My skills are just good enough that I figured an engine swap was doable. I decided to upgrade to a slightly larger engine (409) and an o.d. transmission. (700r4) The previous owner didn't do any change to the shifter other than hook it up to the transmission and so, shifting was "by feel". It seemed to work, but I didn't like it. I had seen a picture of a truck on jalopy journal, talking about a different subject, and noticed that the guy had converted the column shifter to a factory shifter from a 53-54 Chevy Bel-Aire. I loved the factory look and asked him how he did it. He basically told me what car the shifter pieces came out of, and said that he just worked out what to do as he went, and that anyone could do it. It was a bit intimidating to me, but I took a shot. And I took pictures and notes along the way.