V-drive transmission

[78hallett-ss]

I Have A Ss20 Hallet With A Velvet Drive. It Is A Good Cruiser But I Wanted To Put A Transmission In It. I Run A Powerglide In My Race Car But I See Everything For Th400's In All The Catalogs.... Is There An Advantage To The 400 Over A Powerglide? Has A Mild 454, Casale, And A 3 Blade Prop. I Have No Idea What Gears Are In It Or Prop Size. I Am Checking Into That Tonight.

[msmeads1]

power glide gear ratio's are way to low. The TH400 is the ony way to go.
I spent a lot of meny trying to make a glide work only to find out the hard way$$$. :yuk:

[MKEELINE]

I have a TH400 in my 78' Hallett SS. It has a reverse shift pattern and 1st has been removed. Works great. I can get you some pics if you like, just let me know.

[63stevens]

I have a 400 in my 63 stevens and a glide in my 21 foot cruiser. remember that a glide has a 1.76 frist gear and that the turbo has a 1.48 second gear. both are only good for 5mph areas. the 400 is alot cheeper to beef up to handle horsepower. If you have a space problem the glide is shorter

[steveo143]

In my twin turboed BBC v-drive cruiser, 29 gears, 12-16 2 blade, take off in second and shift @ 6500 rpm 65mph and hold on till 100+.

[78hallett-ss]

I have a TH400 in my 78' Hallett SS. It has a reverse shift pattern and 1st has been removed. Works great. I can get you some pics if you like, just let me know.
cool thanks for all the info. if you could send me some pics i would appreciate...i can get pg's done pretty resonably but if the 1.48 is the 2nd gear then the 1.76 would be a bit short.
thanks...

[Jim W]

Just wondering here.
The TH 350 is MUCH lighter than a TH 400 and can be built just as strong.
Case in point. The guy who is a record holder running the Buick Grand National turbos has kits etc. uses a TH 350. Forget his name at the moment.
Is there a reason the 400 is always used??
Be good, Jim

[coolchange]

350 has a 1.52 2nd, 400 has a 1.48. Not much difference. But a 400 with a 1.24 second would be the stuff.

[Marty Gras]

John Kilgore Transmissions in Burbank Calif., makes 1.32 second gears. 1.32's = less driveline breakage when using power above 1000HP. With 45's, you get, 1.13% over in second and 1.45% over in high. Much less driveline damage. "Spending money, can save money"

[GofastRacer]

Just wondering here.
The TH 350 is MUCH lighter than a TH 400 and can be built just as strong.
Case in point. The guy who is a record holder running the Buick Grand National turbos has kits etc. uses a TH 350. Forget his name at the moment.
Is there a reason the 400 is always used??
Be good, Jim
Because it's a lot stronger than a 350 to begin with, and it costs more to make a 350 as strong as a 400 than it is to build a 400!..

[Fiat48]

Cannot see why mess with a trans if you have the velvet drive. To replace the velvet maybe I can see. But no reason to have gear reduction really. Had a Sanger daycruiser with a turbo 400 and 1st gear useless...2nd gear...yeah maybe idle out...but high gear is diect and what you want to do. You have V drive gears and a prop for top gearing. Most guys that turbo 400s did them to have a reverse and get rid of the velvet drive that I know.

[Marty Gras]

"Fiat" when you run big gears it's hard to pull a heavy boat up onto plane. Flatbottoms don't need a trans, but cruisers do. Blown or turbo, it's hard to have enough torque @ 1600/1800RPMs to pull a heavy boat up/ or keep it up. The major problem I have found is 'too much gear spread'. This problem causes driveline failures. A smaller gear spread tends to put less stress on the driveline and cause less failures. I will say that I don't understand why people put auto transmissions in flatbottoms! But the auto trans does have a place in heavyer V bottoms and cruisers. Also, a cruiser with 12's in the V-drive (for instance) does NOT need a trans. If the motor on it's own will not get the boat up and running (without a trans) the motor needs work!

[Marty Gras]

"Jim W" Kenny Dutwiler knows that a T400 in first gear has the entire drum assembly spinning in the opposite direction, and this may cause a case failure durring upshift into 2nd. He also knows that a T350 has a lower first gear than the T400 and may gain 'launch' with the smaller trans. Either way, the drag car does not equate to the HOT BOAT! Please don't confuse the issues.

[superdave013]

John Kilgore Transmissions in Burbank Calif., makes 1.32 second gears. 1.32's = less driveline breakage when using power above 1000HP. With 45's, you get, 1.13% over in second and 1.45% over in high. Much less driveline damage. "Spending money, can save money"
You know, I was just looking at my T400 today. It's sitting there mocking me just like it was when I pulled it out. Anyway I was thinking of having someone take a peek at it as I have know idea what's in it other then a reverse shift set up. Hopefully this cat is in the phone book as a smaller gear spread would be nice too. George, thanks for the tip.

[Jim W]

Yes Marty Gras,
Kenny Dutweiller is the guy I was thinking of.
Be good, Jim

[Marty Gras]

"Dave" you are welcome, and I was not here. Try 32's with 32's, it's a really nice combo with a (AZ) Menkens SS 11 5/8" X 16 three blade with the 'full radious cup', on your Schiada. The 90 degree cup around the blade tips holds the tail down, and pushes the V-drive like a MO-FO.