Re: 700R4 behind a 288/327/356

Posted by HH56 On 2015/5/31 22:11:43

If you mean Bendtsen's GM adapter, there have been some installs on V8s but AFAIK, only one that has been mentioned here on an inline 8. There may be others. The more common conversion has been to the Chrysler TorqueFlite. From the accounts of those who have given feedback, the GM conversion works quite well and may become more popular since it has been reported the people making the Chrysler adapter apparently stopped making them.

The V8 GM conversion requires few other changes but downside to the Bendtsen adapter for an inline 8 is the requirement for the modern small hi torque starter and 12v. Some have no issues with going to 12v -- particularly those who also want to add AC -- but others that would consider the transmission don't want to change other aspects of the car any more than the minimum and particularly don't want to mess with electrical.

That may be one reason more of the inline 8s have not been done but another reason is properly maintained and driven, the original 50-54 Ultramatics used with the inline 8s are much less troublesome than the late 54 Gearstart which transitioned into the V8 Twin Ultramatics. Behind the low torque, low HP inline 8s the Ultramatic is actually quite robust as long as it isn't driven like an indy car.