Packard Forum Index » Modification Discussion

Packard made a good, tough transmission, so tough that rodders used to buy them from junk yards back in the 50s.
Find youself another Packard trans and make the swap, isn't that hard to do.

If your 41 is in good shape you should not have to shift much. It should idle down to below 10 MPH in high gear and pull away without a buck.

Some drivers used to start out in 2nd gear then shift to 3d and leave it there unless they stopped the car.

I know when I drive an old car I tend to shift gears way too much, being used to newer cars that have little toy motors with no torque.

Your car should be very easy to drive if the trans is working correctly. I suspect the gearshift linkage is worn as well as the transmission. This can cause balky shifting and even transmission damage as you experienced.

Shift linkages are usually easy to repair. Possibly some new bushings. And you have to weld or braze worn areas in the mechanism and file the new metal to the shape it had when new.

Look at the shift linkage at the base of the steering column. If you clean off the grease and dirt you should see what I am talking about. Have someone work the gearshift lever and you will see where the excess free play is and where the parts are worn down. The sloppy parts are pretty obvious.

The whole modern transmission swap is one of those things I go back and forth with in my own head. The fun(quirks) of the original ride vs. the drive-the-wheels-off ease of a modern trans. My conclsion is one is not "better" than the other. It's a matter of what you personaly want/expect of your old car.

Now that I have my disclaimer out of the way, here's a place that looks like it makes some pretty well-built adaptors.

transmissionadaptors.com/index.htm

Thier product development page says they are developing a Packard straight 8 to a Chevy trans. Might be worth watching.

I just (Almost complete) got a 727 installed in my 55 and this turned out to be a bigger job than what it is worth. I'm sure it will work great but if i knew now what the process involved was I might have thought twice.

Thanks for the link for that Adapter Company. Curious to see how their Packard version comes out.

I have emailed the tranny adapter manufacturer since their product development schedule shows summer 2009 for the Packard straight 8 to Chevy automatic adapter. Will post here what I receive. I am seriously considering this for my '41 120.

WHICH chevy trans?????? What's wrong with your current trans???

When the time presents itself, ask them about a conversion for the Packard V8 too. Prefer one with Overdrive for gas mileage purposes.

If it's an adapter for a Chevy trans, ANY Chevy bolt pattern trans will blot up, manual or auto.

An adapter for the V8 to a torqueflight is already readily available and is what was in my '55 Clipper Super when I acquired the car. The '41 stick has just gotten progressivey worse with hardly any distance separation on the gear shift lever between neutral and 1st and a couple days ago it all jammed in the road. I got it unjammed as such but now it can't find neutral to start and the linkages are very widely separated. Then there's the flip the switch to activate the 6-volt solenoid and pull the OD cable in and out depending on forward or reverse; it's just ridiculous to go through all that. If a conversion had already been available, it'd already have been done.

Which chevy trans do u plan to use????