'37 Cad/LaSalle trans to 59A or 8BA

[91A-77B]

Need adapter. Putting into '40 Ford chassis. Want to adapt Ford rear trans mount to LaSalle floorshift case, to retain torque tube drive. Anyone out there done this, or have leads as to where I can find adapter? Tried all the adapter companies, no one has one.
Also, info on assembly/disassembly of trans would be appreciated. Email me at [email protected].
Thanks, guys
Bill

[Bruce Lancaster]

There are adapters of this sort for sale frequently on the HAMB. I found 2 old magazine articles (one very good, one terrifyingly incompetent) on the torque tube adapting, and both have been posted on the HAMB, AND there have been several good tech articles on the trans itself in there as well, written by people with experience.

[Ol' Ron]

We made several of these back in the late 50's from a 2" block of aluminun, as the input shaft is very long. However, we were using open drive rear ends.

[91A-77B]

Thanks, Bruce. Not familiar with how to retrieve posts and tech articles you mention on the HAMB. Would appreciate some assistance, if you have the time. Many thanks.

[91A-77B]

Thanks, Ol' Ron. I'm going to measure difference between length of Ford trans and LaSalle. If LaS is longer, the 2" spacer plus extra LaS length may mean shortening input shaft so location of front engine mounts and rear trans mount can remain in the same chassis location.

[alchemy]

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Originally Posted by 91A-77B

.... location of front engine mounts and rear trans mount can remain in the same chassis location.

Not gonna happen. Unless you can shorten the input, you will need to move the rear trans mount back, and shorten your torquetube.

[91A-77B]

I agree. Shortening the input shaft would be the answer, if it can be shortened enough. Don't want to mess with the frame, and shortening the torque tube would be a lot more work than doing the input.

[Seth Swoboda]

What it the advantage of the Cadillac/LaSalle transmission? I'm too young to have any experience with the Cadillac LaSalle transmission. I am assuming that it is a stronger transmission able to hold up under more extreme driving conditions? My grandfather had a '40 LaSalle sedan but it was gone by the time I was born.

[Ol' Ron]

Very popular in the late 50's and early 60's behind blown Olds.

[woodiejon]

The Lasalle trans is about 3" longer than the ford. You can remove the rear tailstock, remove the rear output shaft. It has to be shortened & resplined & drill & tap for a ford u-joint. Machine a ford trans mount to fit & bolt to the trans. Your drive shaft will have to be cut too. There are some old hot rod mag, specs on this on the hamb.If you want I will find them & post.

[rotorwrench]

Those old boxes were about as close to bullet proof as you could get back in the day but they are still a 3-speed.

[expavr]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

What it the advantage of the Cadillac/LaSalle transmission? I'm too young to have any experience with the Cadillac LaSalle transmission. I am assuming that it is a stronger transmission able to hold up under more extreme driving conditions? My grandfather had a '40 LaSalle sedan but it was gone by the time I was born.

I'm not sure there is any advantage to a Caddy LaSalle behind a flathead other than the WOW/nostalgia factor. Back in 1958 I ran a Caddy LaSalle behind a 354 CI Hemi in order to deal with the Hemi's torque (390 lbft) and HP (325). It was the only trans available at that time that I could find that would stand up to that level of performance and take a beating in the process. For our flatheads there are other less pricey ways to deal with that today.

[Ol' Ron]

I think the T-170 is probably the best bet here, nice floor shift and OD to boot. Can be converted to torque, but the torque nust be shortened. OR convert to opend drive which I think is the better option.

[91A-77B]

I'm building a period flattie. Nothing newer than what an old-school rodder would have had to work with in 1948. I have a 1938 McCulloch supercharger, and am doing what the boys were wrenching before the overheads came in '49. Building a 59-A. Remember, REAL hot rods don't have valve covers! They also don't have billet anything, 4-speeds, etc., etc.

[91A-77B]

wododie john, if you could retrieve those articles, I'd really appreciate it. By the way, I have a LaS trans that has been converted to an Olds short tailshaft, but that's an open-drive option, which isn't my first choice.
Thanks,
Bll

[expavr]

You might get some info regarding an adaptor from these folks.
http://www.egmcartech.com/store/Cadi...657605810.html
The other possibility is modifying a Hogshead to fit the Caddy LaSalle transmission using it as the adaptor along with reworking the input shaft. Its not likely that whichever way you go the use of the Caddy transmission will fit the OEM trans envelope on the 40 chassis which means reworking both the X member and the torque tube/driveshaft. FWIW there were a lot of flathead and OHV powered rods running around with a Ford toploader and LZ gears back in the day which is in keeping with your build idea. Unless you are planning to do some serious racing you will have significant $$$$ invested in the Cad LaSalle modification that might be better used elsewhere. JMO.

[George/Maine]

Its nice to do old school but the rear-ends are still old and tapered shafts could brake easy. Most people could care less with that trans.
What was done in the day was use a 39 or truck trans.
This is what I did on my 47 put a truck case and tube back./or just use a 39 floor shift.

[Ol' Ron]

The last Cad/ LaSal transmission I bought cost 75 bucks, and I thought that waz very expensive. So we went to Buicks they were cheaper.

[91A-77B]

Cad LaSalle trans is my choice for 2 main reasons; ratios and bulletproof synchros. Anyone who's had experience seeing "gold flecks" in their gear oil after a few hard flathead trans shifts, knows the weakness of the Ford synchros. Anyhow, guys, the LaS route is the one I'm going to follow. I appreciate all the advice, but that's not what I need. If you look at my first post, I need an adapter, and any tech info on the mods I need to make. Anyone with experience rebuilding one?

[Ol' Ron]

The cad/ LaSale trans had several problems as I recall The first was the pin in the shift lever, it broke quite easy when speed shifting. This also lead to the shift levers bending. There was a shop in BP CT that made "W0w" pins and shift levers. Also the old cad/LaSale syncros were useless in a high RPM engine as they locked up around 4k. Probably why the pins broke and the levers bent. The side shift boxes had the same gears so things didn't get any better. However the Blown drag cars of the day used them, before B&M began producing their beefed auto transmissions. I know this dates me, I broke allot of Sh*t

[expavr]

The attached HAMB thread is a good primer for your rebuild. One Tip: When you drive out the shaft on the cluster gear take care not to lose any of the uncaged needle bearings which support the cluster front and back. When it comes time to reassemble use a heavy grease to hold them in place while driving the shaft back in.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...lshaft.185196/

[Bruce Lancaster]

The HAMB search function is cranky and primitive, but about all you need to do is put in "Lasalle". Use the advanced search just so you can tell it to give you newest results first and perhaps specify that your research term is in the thread title...
Definitel search the parts for sale with newest sort on, as there have been a lot of parts and adapters lately.
There is good tech on the innards and rebuilding, and at least the 2 articles I sent people on converting to torque tube...the good one and the BAAAD one.
Remember that the basic trans case itself is maybe three inches longer than Ford...NO modification is going to get ti into your Ford chassis without shortening the tube.

[super flat]

[QUOTE=91A-77B;1169800]wododie john, if you could retrieve those articles, I'd really appreciate it. By the way, I have a LaS trans that has been converted to an Olds short tailshaft, but that's an open-drive option, which isn't my first choice.
Thanks,
Bll[/QUOTE


I have a 37 lasalle trans that is converted to torque tube and I might trade you if your trans is in good shape. Thanks, Gary

[91A-77B]

Ol' Ron, it's an honor to have you respond to my request. Thanks for your memories. As to synchro in the LaSalle trans, I probably won't be winding it hard, especially past 4k. But I'm sure you'll agree it's a far better trans than Henry offered. Have you any assembly/disassembly info you could share with me?
Thanks, Bill

[super flat]

91A-77B Did you read my post above with your quote in it? I have the trans you need and might trade for yours, Thanks, Gary

[91A-77B]

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Also, I se you have a McCulloch s/c. So do I. Is yours water cooled? Mine is not - a '38 model. I'm missing the tensioner spring and generator to head mounting bracket (Mine has pulley drive at rear of blower housing). Would appreciate detail photos of your set-up, as well as any copies of factory shop manual, pic's of blow-ups, etc., as I plan to pull mine down before installing on engine. Thanks! Bill [email protected]. 519.442.1143

[Tom Walker]

Hi 91-A I built my Cad 3 speed, its a strong ol box. One thing I worked out the hard way.. the bearings on the lay (cluster)shaft are loose needle rollers. If you push the shaft out they will go everywhere. The shaft is 1.00" diameter, and spans the length of the box, to outer edges. Find a piece of 25mm tube/bar and cut it the length of the box inner faces. Use this to drive out the shaft, so when it sits completely in the lay shaft, you can lift the shaft out of the box, complete with rollers. My shaft was badly worn, so I made a new one, and replaced the rollers.

I also made 2 new gears of different ratio for the input shaft and its corresponding gear on the layshaft, to speed it up and lessen the gap between 2nd and high.

Let me know if you want any details on the above, cheers Tom.

[HotRodmicky]

Originally Posted by Tom Walker

Hi 91-A I built my Cad 3 speed, its a strong ol box. One thing I worked out the hard way.. the bearings on the lay (cluster)shaft are loose needle rollers. If you push the shaft out they will go everywhere. The shaft is 1.00" diameter, and spans the length of the box, to outer edges. Find a piece of 25mm tube/bar and cut it the length of the box inner faces. Use this to drive out the shaft, so when it sits completely in the lay shaft, you can lift the shaft out of the box, complete with rollers. My shaft was badly worn, so I made a new one, and replaced the rollers.

I also made 2 new gears of different ratio for the input shaft and its corresponding gear on the layshaft, to speed it up and lessen the gap between 2nd and high.

Let me know if you want any details on the above, cheers Tom.

Hi, i would like to hear the details on the gears .
I will use a caddy box in my current build

[HotRodmicky]

If someone makes a ford hogstead to cad lasalle aluminum plate ,i would buy them

[Tom Walker]

Originally Posted by HotRodmicky

Hi, i would like to hear the details on the gears .
I will use a caddy box in my current build

Will do, are we hijacking , 91A?

Do you have the workshop manual spec page? If not I can scan it and send it to you...

[HotRodmicky]

Yes, please
[email protected]

[Bruce Lancaster]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...caster.408427/

I hope that works...old magazine article on fitting torque tube. Basically plug Lasalle bolt holes, cut front of Ford mount to accept OD of lasalle bearing and snap ring, drill Ford bolt circle, have lasalle tail shaft splined for Ford Ujoint.

[Brian King]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but since it died in 2015, I think it's ok.
Trying to put a 37 Cad LaSalle behind a flathead, in a 32 Ford, while retaining the original K member AND a closed drive line. The rough measurements tell me the Cad LaSalle, minus the stock tail shaft, is about 3" too long.
Do I have any hope here? Short of hacking up my K member, I don't see it happening.
Thanks for all your input.

[Ol' Ron]

This was done back in the day the tale shaft was splinted to match the ford U joint and the rear trans retainer was modified to bolt onto the caddy box. then the drive shaft was shortened to fit. All this is unnecessary labor and expense just to insyall a Caddy box behind a Flathead. Much better options. First, get rid of the rear end.

[Bursonaw]

Originally Posted by Brian King

Not trying to hijack this thread, but since it died in 2015, I think it's ok.
Trying to put a 37 Cad LaSalle behind a flathead, in a 32 Ford, while retaining the original K member AND a closed drive line. The rough measurements tell me the Cad LaSalle, minus the stock tail shaft, is about 3" too long.
Do I have any hope here? Short of hacking up my K member, I don't see it happening.
Thanks for all your input.

Your measurements are correct about 3” longer. If you don’t want to mess with the K member you have one other option is to move the engine forward 3”, which has other issues. After doing quite a bit of research on this, there was a shortened input shaft available for this conversion that would make the transmission about 1 1/4” longer. I had searched for any information on shortening an input shaft, but I could not find anything except an old speed catalog that advertised them for sale. I was also able to talk with an old timer that had done the conversion back in the day as a bolt in and he vaguely remembered that’s what was done. You would still have modify your motor mounts to move the engine forward. I had also found that the Offenhauser adapter bell housing is not made for the shortened input shaft. You would need to modify or make a custom bell housing as well as clutch linkage. It is not impossible but certainly requires some engineering thought. I unfortunately learned all this the hard way. I spent a couple years acquiring about 90% of everything needed to do the same conversion, but when I found out that I needed to find or have an input shaft shortened I sold everything at a loss.

Good luck with your project.




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