Re: Borg Warner Overdrive

Posted by Bob Carabbio on February 19, 1997 at 22:58:03

In Reply to: Re: Borg Warner Overdrive
posted by John Mabry on February 18, 1997 at 18:35:58

I don't know that the Studey unit is wrong.The answer would be to disassemble the rear end of the unit and see if, when the universal joint ball housing stuff is removed you wind up with a flange at the back of the unit that an adapter plate could bolt to.
The building of the flanges is probably the biggest, and potentially most expensive part of the operation, unless you have a sympathetic machine shop that you can use.
The torque tube has to be cut and MACHINED straight so that the flanges will seat and weld on straight.
The unit should locate as far forward as it can without interfering with the radius rods, or the underbody bracing. You also need to leave room for whatever couplings you use.
The couplings, as far as I know are not available as stock components, but are generally made from available stuff - for example the driveshaft coupler from a '46-48 Ford rear end is a splined sleeve that can be bored out and slipped over the Studey mainsheft end and welded in place.Then use a shord piece of the back end of the ford driveshaft welded to the front stub of the "A" to connect.etc.
There needs to be an oil seal at the back of the unit so the SAE 90 doesn't leak down to the differential The studey unit may have one in place already.
The use of a high speed rear end may be an unneeded expense. It would be a good idea to find out what the ratio of the Overdrive is.They varied from 0.7 to 1to 0.76 to 1 depending on the make and year.The 0.7:1 units are a mighty "Tall" gear.
If you're running 600/16 tires a high speed rear end will get you back to "Normal" since the 16" tires are smaller in diameter than the stockers. If you have a heavy car Like a Fordor you may run out of motor before you run out of RPMs with a high speed rear end.

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