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Although overdrive transmissions were not introduced on Plymouth autos until 1951, they are a very popular retrofit. They are an exact fit for a P20 R-10 transmission. Over a period of time, I have been able to collect a little information about them. Finding one, rebuilt or not, now that is the challenge. I found mine in a car that was being parted out but I had to buy the entire car (what was left of it) in order to get the OD. When you consider that the trip to get it ended up around 1,500 miles, it was no bargain - but it was mine! What I did with the rest of the car is another story for another time.
George Asche, an old timer in PA, is fabricating dual intake and exhaust manifolds from your sent-in stock parts. I haven't talked to George personally, but I understand he is a wealth of info on these flathead engines. He builds engines,and rebuilds and sells overdrive trannys too. He doesn't use e-mail or the internet, so you'd have to call. Here's his contact info:
Asche Mechanic Distributors
George Asche
1693 Fertigs Road
Venus, Pennsylvania 16364
(814) 354-2621
Pete Anderson has written a great article about his adventures in acquiring, rebuilding and installing his overdrive. It is posted on his website - www.50plymouth.com . After you open the site, click on the "Transmission" link on the left side of the page. He goes into quite some detail. When you read it, you will agree with me that it is worth the read.
I did a Google Search on the internet for "Borg Warner Overdrive Transmission" and found a number of manuals available for downloading. This is a great place to start and perhaps with Pete's website and this page, you will be on your way. This page will be a "work in progress" for a while as I collect more info, but this is a start. - Hope it helps you.
Click here to visit Pete Anderson's page.
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Hans Reinhardt was kind enough to send photos of his overdrive installation (above and left). Hans writes "The OD was from George Asche. He's more than 70 years old and knew the 50 Plyms when they were new. He is very experienced in Mopars
and has revised dozens of OD's.
The OD came from George in an as-new condition including the wiring harness and all the switches, solenoids etc. The mounting took us 4-5 hours. The dimensions were absolutely indentical with the manual gearbox. Originally, it was an OD from a 1953 Plymouth with a partly new gear set ('long' second gear) and new bearings, sealings etc.; it cost $1750.
For the installation I have copied a Borg-Warner OD-manual from the net. The technical details were almost identical with the OD from George, including wiring. The wiring was correct without any change to the harness. For the mechanical on-off switch, I have made an aluminum support and placed at the right side of the steering column. By using a 6V-alternator from 5th-Ave (Randy Rundle) I could drop the
voltage regulator, the OD-relay was installed there, fixed by the same screws.
All works now well and nowbody can tell that my P-20 was not built with an OD except the push-pull switch (and some wiring in the engine compartment). Driving is smooth even at 60 mph and in the mountains here (Hans lives in Switzerland) I switch the OD off for better motor-braking.
For more of Hans' car, click on the link below.
Click here to see Hans' car.
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CAN'T FIND AN OVERDRIVE? - If you can't get one from George Asche for some reason, here's how I got our overdrives:
First one - I noticed a guy parting out a 50 Plymouth on ebay (could have been 50 thru 54) and contacted him to see if, perchance, there happened to be an OD in the car. He said that there was and I offered him $500 for it. He was too lazy to pull it for me but said that I could have the whole car for $800, including the OD and anything else he had not already sold on ebay. The only problem was that the car was in Walla Walla, Washington and I live near Salt Lake City. To make a long story short (and believe me it is a long story), we drove up and hauled the car to my brother-in-law;'s place in Oregon where we stripped it of anything we could get off it (lots of trim, hood, fenders, grille etc. plus the OD). The stripped car was then crushed. When we drove back to SLC, our Grand Caravan was FULL! I then took the OD to a friend's garage and he rebuilt it and installed it for me. I sold just about all of the parts we stripped and figure the OD actually cost me about $500 before rebuilding. Most guys who are stripping a car don't even know if it has an OD. They usually just want to strip trim, radio etc. and make a quick buck before crushing the car so you might follow my lead there.
Second one - A fellow in Texas sent me an email asking what he could get for his 54 OD. I offered him $500, which he grabbed immediately. Since we were planning to go to Texas on vacation anyway, it was no problem to pick it up, thus saving a small fortune in shipping charges. I took it to my friend in SLC to have him check it out and he had to put some new bearings in it. I picked it up recently (10/30/07) and have driven it just a few miles but it feels smoother than the first one.
Finally, there's always ebay. If you can't find it under 50 thru 54 Plymouths, you might try "Borg Warner Overdrive". they come up occasionally there but command quite a price when they do.
Be careful, Borg Warner made the R-10 Overdrive for Hudson, Studebaker, Dodge and Plymouth ( and ?? who else) and, although most of the internal parts are the same, the housings and input shafts are different. Even if the unit appears to be a good match for a bolt-up, be sure to measure the input shaft before buying one. It should be exactly the same as the input shaft of your existing tranny. The OD unit includes the transmission and is not an add-on. It should be the exact same length as your existing tranny with the OD taking the place of the long tailshaft housing. No alteration of the driveshaft should be necessary.
Bill
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