I met a guy at the local car show yesterday(awesome show, may I say) but he has a lot...a lot of old cars, all Chevys. Anyway he wants to show me his 69 GMC Jimmy later on tonight, but I will probably see it tomorrow, I m tired.

>> Back to my question: This guy has a 66 Impala with a 283 and a Powerglide. I recommended to him that the Powerglide is a suckie tranny and he should upgrade to a 3 speed or a 4 speed, especially since he says he drove the car from Ohio to NYC this past winter. Now since the 283 was a lame motor, only in base model Impalas, Bel Airs, C10s, and Novas, I dont know what else...I know the 3 speed alternate is TH350. But did this motor make it to the 80s? Or did anything from its family make it to the 80s where it would have been mated to a 4 speed?

 

The 283 didn't make it past the late 60's. One thing with putting something other than a 2 speed tranny is that, shifter ect. That combo of a 283 with a powerglide isn't that bad. My 57 bel air had that combo.

 

Yea, but a 2 speed automatic is not a real highway car. I recommended that he should watch craigslist for a rusted out Blazer or some beat up Caprice that he could gut the engine and tranny for his Jimmy. But why not for the Impala also?

 

I guess my argument on that is there where highways back in the 50's, and cars were actually made of steel. Might not realize the gas mileage, but.

 

1. Shift linkage will need to be modified.
2. Transmission crossmember will need to be relocated
3. Driveshaft yoke will need to be swapped.
4. Driveline length will need to be altered.

If your friend likes to tinker he can swap out the PG for a TH350, but there's more to it than just rippin' one out and slappin' the other one in. It can be done, but why? He's never going to see phenomenal mpg out of a '66 Imp anyhow. I say leave the 283/PG combo in it and enjoy it while it's still a runner.

 

I hear you kev. there were highways back then but a 2 speed wears out the engine faster than anything with overdrive. A motor screaming at 3900 rpm trying to hold 60mph wont last as long as one running 70mph at 1400rpms. I thought about the TH350 but it also requires a different steering column.

I d recommend like I said, you know, a beat up Scottsdale or Vandura with a 350 and 700R4 to use for a donor.

Phenomenal MPGs, no, not really but I think it would be a better driver with overdrive.

I m going to look on Craigslist and see what junk they have. He wants my help to drop the tank on the Jimmy tomorrow. I ll try to take pics. 1969s are so cool. My grandpa has a 69 GMC Suburban or is it a 1971? Hmm, let me check.

 

So did you buy a 66 Impala?

 

Not me. The dude already owns the car. I met him at the car show last night. I m not interested in older Chevys, I d rather have a Oldsmobile or a Cadillac. Or boring Buicks like the Regal/Century/Apollo. What I d like to have is either a 75-77 Cutlass or Pontiac LeMans/Grand Prix or a 77-79 T-Bird or 75-78 Cordoba.

 

Reducing the rpm of that 283 down to 1400 @ 70mph would require the engine to work harder because it would be below its optimal power/torque curve. Excessive wear and reduced mpg would be the result unless you did a cam swap and recurved the distributor advance. You wouldn't need to change the entire steering column...just the shift indicator. It wouldn't be so bad with a TH350, but dropping an OD tranny into it would (imo) require more work than it is worth.

 

Is the 66 Impala his main driver? What does he want out of it? If not main driver then it should be left alone as an original classic. It is worth more in original setup and as many have said previuously the mpg won't go up significantly.