Hmmm!... sorry if my choices made a few here upset-..
I dont dissagree with the fact most "car" trannies have less torque capacity and higher gearing in first than the SM465 does,and they might not be a good choice for a heavy truck--dont get me wrong,I think the SM465 is an awesome tranny (and the similar M20) for a large GVW truck like a C-60,that isn't expected ro be speed shifted and needs a creeper gear,I just didn't care for the wide jump between ratios in the ones I had,and the non synchro granny gear was not of much use to me in street driving...at least with a Muncie you can use all 4 gears and downshift it !..
My two trucks with SM465's had 3.08's,so that only aggravated their undesireable charecteristics...(I never felt the need for an overdrive ,thats for sure--felt like they needed another gear between second and third though)...
I have not even driven any 90's trucks with the newer manuals ,so I have no clue what they are like,but listening to some take off at traffic lights,they do seem too high geared in first gear,and like anything newer,they probably aren't built as rugged as the good old SM465 was...
I like the Alison automatics,one of those would be awesome behind a BBC ,like a 8.1 litre in an older truck..
Maybe I'm showing my age here ny praising the straight sixes,it may just be nostalgia why I am finding them more desireable as I grow older--their simplicity and ease of maintenence outweighs their "disadvantages" in my case--I would have no trouble plowing or going to the dump with my truck if I had a 292 in it,but I agree if Iwere to tow a trailer with it of any size it would be a very poor choice,and I'd want a 454 or a 8.1 in it!..but for what I do,the six would suffice,and hell,I've seen them in everything from 1 ton dumps to school busses,and they might not set any acceleration records at the drag strip,but they will run forever with any kind of maintenence..
The 283's and 207's & other small blocks were ALL WE HAD 30 years ago,and they seemed to be adequate then,when speed limits were 65 mph,so why are they any "worse" now..granted they might pale in comparison to a newer TBI small block,but look how much simpler they are to maintain and work on --there is no comparison...but then,I'm an old hippie stuck in the 50's and 60's who'd rather have points and carbs over computers and EFI...I like things I undestand,that are simple,and dont make me feel "stupid" when I open the hood!...
Some other drive trains I dreampt about were :
A 425 Buick Nailhead V8,with a "switch pitch" TH-400 and a divorced NP-205 T-case..now THAT would have plenty of torque for ANY use you could think of,and would be cool looking to boot...
The caddy 500 engines and a good Th-400 were a good swap for a GM truck,they look almost factory and are a simple swap...
I have seen an Alison V-12 aircraft engine grafted to a 70's GM truck,with an Alison tranny,but the guy who had it built was a milti-millionaire...very cool rig though!..it was only a 2wd,made exclusively for drag racing..but he took it to a few cruise nights too!...the engine went into the cab and had a "doghouse" like a van does,it was simply too long to fit it all under the hood...it looked like a 454 on steriods...
I saw a GMC V-12 at a swap meet back in may,that was built factory by joining two 351 GNC V-6's together.a "twin-six"--the thing was awesome,but you'd need a truck with a nose as long as a van to get the thing to fit under the hood!..you probably wouldn't even need a tranny behind that beast!..
a lot of guys dont like straight sixes,and I wasn't their biggest fan either actually,and have ripped 2 of them out of GM trucks in the past ten years to replace with V8's ,and was rather dissapointed with the results...I learned a lowly "camel humper" 250 has more guts than the '73 304 I put in my van,and the '86 305 I put in y '79 Bonnanza wasn't much better than the same six I yanked out of it...the v8's do get slightly better MPG's though,and seemed a teeny bit peppier...not worth all that work though!...
..
I dont dissagree with the fact most "car" trannies have less torque capacity and higher gearing in first than the SM465 does,and they might not be a good choice for a heavy truck--dont get me wrong,I think the SM465 is an awesome tranny (and the similar M20) for a large GVW truck like a C-60,that isn't expected ro be speed shifted and needs a creeper gear,I just didn't care for the wide jump between ratios in the ones I had,and the non synchro granny gear was not of much use to me in street driving...at least with a Muncie you can use all 4 gears and downshift it !..
My two trucks with SM465's had 3.08's,so that only aggravated their undesireable charecteristics...(I never felt the need for an overdrive ,thats for sure--felt like they needed another gear between second and third though)...
I have not even driven any 90's trucks with the newer manuals ,so I have no clue what they are like,but listening to some take off at traffic lights,they do seem too high geared in first gear,and like anything newer,they probably aren't built as rugged as the good old SM465 was...
I like the Alison automatics,one of those would be awesome behind a BBC ,like a 8.1 litre in an older truck..
Maybe I'm showing my age here ny praising the straight sixes,it may just be nostalgia why I am finding them more desireable as I grow older--their simplicity and ease of maintenence outweighs their "disadvantages" in my case--I would have no trouble plowing or going to the dump with my truck if I had a 292 in it,but I agree if Iwere to tow a trailer with it of any size it would be a very poor choice,and I'd want a 454 or a 8.1 in it!..but for what I do,the six would suffice,and hell,I've seen them in everything from 1 ton dumps to school busses,and they might not set any acceleration records at the drag strip,but they will run forever with any kind of maintenence..
The 283's and 207's & other small blocks were ALL WE HAD 30 years ago,and they seemed to be adequate then,when speed limits were 65 mph,so why are they any "worse" now..granted they might pale in comparison to a newer TBI small block,but look how much simpler they are to maintain and work on --there is no comparison...but then,I'm an old hippie stuck in the 50's and 60's who'd rather have points and carbs over computers and EFI...I like things I undestand,that are simple,and dont make me feel "stupid" when I open the hood!...
Some other drive trains I dreampt about were :
A 425 Buick Nailhead V8,with a "switch pitch" TH-400 and a divorced NP-205 T-case..now THAT would have plenty of torque for ANY use you could think of,and would be cool looking to boot...
The caddy 500 engines and a good Th-400 were a good swap for a GM truck,they look almost factory and are a simple swap...
I have seen an Alison V-12 aircraft engine grafted to a 70's GM truck,with an Alison tranny,but the guy who had it built was a milti-millionaire...very cool rig though!..it was only a 2wd,made exclusively for drag racing..but he took it to a few cruise nights too!...the engine went into the cab and had a "doghouse" like a van does,it was simply too long to fit it all under the hood...it looked like a 454 on steriods...
I saw a GMC V-12 at a swap meet back in may,that was built factory by joining two 351 GNC V-6's together.a "twin-six"--the thing was awesome,but you'd need a truck with a nose as long as a van to get the thing to fit under the hood!..you probably wouldn't even need a tranny behind that beast!..
a lot of guys dont like straight sixes,and I wasn't their biggest fan either actually,and have ripped 2 of them out of GM trucks in the past ten years to replace with V8's ,and was rather dissapointed with the results...I learned a lowly "camel humper" 250 has more guts than the '73 304 I put in my van,and the '86 305 I put in y '79 Bonnanza wasn't much better than the same six I yanked out of it...the v8's do get slightly better MPG's though,and seemed a teeny bit peppier...not worth all that work though!...
..
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