johnnyboatman

to get more speed why couldnt we take a two speed powerglide and mount it behind a factory engine that takes a bravo setup, move the engine forward, make a short drive shaft, and make it work in a boat. seems to me it wouldnt be that hard. i just wonder how many others have thought about something like that.

Lee

Good reading here. http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...issions-2.html

keith2500hd

rex marine(rexmar.com) sell drive coupler for flywheel to trans input stub. they have been selling this for inboard and v-drives. PPE have put duramax and allison in boats.

ezstriper

yep...use a shortie for a dragster, they make a Ft pump drive because you do not need a converter...merc did it years ago...not sure what happened, but they did not keep it...

sprink58

Johnny...you dug up a memory for me. Back in the 50's (yeah I know I'm older than most of you guys)...my Uncle built a homemade 24' cruiser from marine plywood in his basement. He put a 283 Chevy bored 4" to make a 302 in it with a solid lifter "Duntov" cam and "Power-Pack" heads. As you can imagine this thing was heavy so he came up with the Power-glide idea to get it out of the hole faster. Years later we were talking about it and he told me the challenge was getting the shift point set right. He never did get the "automatic" shift to his liking . He modified the valve body so that it would not shift between Low and Drive unless he moved the shifter. It ended up with 4: positions: Reverse, Neutral, Low and Drive. There was no torque converter...the water took care of that part.

As a kid I remember him and my Dad going thru a learning process of driving this thing but once they figured it out it was awesome. I remember hearing that SBC wind up and once the boat was on a plane he would hit high with it...it felt like the boat jumped 15~20 mph almost instantly. You couldn't ski behind it until they rigged up a shock lanyard to absorb the shift. Seems like it would run about 60 flat out.

My Dad and his younger brother were way ahead of the curve back in the day...I remember them telling about putting Cadillac V-8s in '49~'50 Fords for Bootleggers...but that's another story.

johnnyboatman

how would it wotk without a converter? i would really like to try and do something like that but make it shiftable after say 4000rpm

sprink58

...not sure...I'll talk to my Dad and find out. It may have been they made up a direct connection some how with a welded up coupler or something. I remember conversations about they didn't want any slippage at all. My brother reminded me that the first try was with a Buick Dyna Flow that didn't work out at all because it slipped all the time. They thought about a Hydramatic but got the PG to work.

I have seen 2: speed tranny's advertised for gas turbines before so someone is doing this as a bolt in.

I found this http://www.coanracing.com/Catalog.asp?ProductLine=XMT

FIXX

would not need one,,the water acts like one,,all you would need is to drive the pump in the trans to build pressure...

this gut has a BB 454 and a vdrive with a t400 in the boat..
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU1irj1pE70&feature=channel&list=UL[/YOUTUBE]

cheech

There was an article in speed on the water where MTI rerigged Speed Racer with those. Took the crash boxes and BPM drives out and added the glides and number 6 drives.

http://www.speedonthewater.com/boat-...eed-racer.html

Article also on the trans, bolt up to a velvet drive bellhousing.
http://www.speedonthewater.com/new-b...oser-look.html

f_inscreenname

Fixx beat me to it but the flat bottom guys on the west coast have been using car transmissions for years.
When restoring a 1959 Biesemeyer (flat drag boat) and mentioned putting a transmission in it most of the responses were there was not enough room and the motor would be to far back. Then I said I was using a B/W transmission you would have thought it was the first time anyone ever thought of it before.
Last, most people come up with this idea thinking that they will make their boat faster. The only thing it will do is get you to your top speed faster.