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Making an automatic transmission out of a manual?


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An automatic transmission isn't just a manual trans that shifts automatically....it's an entirely different machine and there's no "converting" the one to the other.

A factory '65 GTO with an automatic box would have been equipped with a GM Super Turbine 300 two-speed unit. This is NOT the same as GM's 2-speed Powerglide auto box, though they look kinda similar.

The only way to make an ACCURATE model is to cut off the manual box at the back of the block as suggested above, and replace it with an appropriate auto box cut from a different engine (or a resin part). The TH 350 looks kinda like a ST300, in that it has the servo in roughly the same place. The TH400 has the servo in a different place.

Most modelers will never know the difference anyway, but if you want to get it right, look at pix of the Super Turbine 300 and find something that looks like it, or modify what you've got until you're satisfied with it.

To find pictures, do a google image search for: Super Turbine 300

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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I asked my dad and he told me the car had a 3-speed Power glide 350. He said he had never even heard of a Super Turbine 300. Any kits with a Power glide?

I sincerely apologize for posting accurate information that contradicts what you might have heard.

All GM Powerglides were 2-speeds. Any GM 350 trans is a Turbo-Hydro 3 speed, so a transmission can be one or the other, not both. The Super Turbine 300 is a two-speed but a totally different design from a Powerglide, and was used in Tempests (which the GTO is based on) through '66. A simple and effective cure for "never even heard of (it)" is to look it up (unless you've worked with this stuff for more than 40 years, like me).

Here's a pic of a Super Turbine 300 mated to a Pontiac engine.

66resto001.JPG

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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