green49wayfarer

If I'm reading my 55-56 Mopar parts manual right, they did change the bellhousing from 55 (shifter on the dash) to 56 (pushbutton). However, the six-cylinder adaptor plate (between the bellhousing and engine) is the same. So I don't know why you'd have any problem bolting up a pushbutton Powerflite (or torqueflite) to a flathead six so long as you have a six-cylinder adaptor plate and a 56 or later pushbutton bellhousing. BTW, neither Powerflites nor cast iron (56-61) Torqueflites had a park pawl.

Yep, the Dodge would have had fluid drive. Input shaft of the fluid drive tranny doesn't go all the way into the crank, but ends inside the fluid coupling. So the crank wasn't finish machined to take a pilot bushing. Same is true for most later automatic trans cranks. Fix is to machine the rear of the crank for a pilot bushing. Ideally the crank would be out of the car and set up in whatever it takes to ensure that the hole is straight and concentric, but I have done it with the engine in the car, using nothing more than a hand reamer.

Well, guess this can be my first post. I'm in the process of getting rid of the fluid drive in my 49 Wayfarer, which had a fluid coupling (mine was leaking), a clutch assembly and a conventional three-speed manual trans (not the dual-range 4-speed tranny with planetary gears that the more expensive Dodges came with). It's not done yet, but here's what I have so far: I picked up a 55 Dodge manual trans, bellhousing, flywheel and clutch assembly. The bellhousing appears interchangeable with (albeit not identical to) the 49 fluid drive bellhousing. I'm hoping I can just leave the 49 bellhousing on and use that and I'm fairly certain I can, although I haven't gotten quite that far yet. The 55 trans setup compensates for the lack of a fluid coupling by having an extra-long input shaft and a funky looking extra-long throwout bearing. Advantage to using the 55 Dodge setup with either the 49 or 55 bellhousing is I won't have to move the rear crossmember or modify the rear mounts in any way; I can just use the factory 49 Dodge rear mount setup. The 55 trans main case and cluster gear have the same part ## as the 49. From visual inspection, it looks to me like the gearshift levers are exactly the same, and so my 49 shift linkage should hook right up. Obviously, the input shaft and the bearing retainer are different. Also, as you can see in the attachment, the extension housing on the 55 trans is longer. What I'm hoping to be able to do is swap the 55 input shaft and bearing retainer onto my 49 trans. That way I won't have to cut the driveshaft or lengthen the emergency brake cable. I have run into the pilot bushing problem; my fluid drive crank has been drilled, but not finish-reamed for the bushing. NAPA used to offer a thin pilot bushing to use in such a crank, pn 615-1033. I've read that it's been discontinued. I'm hoping to find one; if not, I have a friend with a machine shop and we'll just turn down a factory bushing to fit. May not be ideal, but I don't want to have to remove the engine just to machine the crank for a bushing.