[Bill70]

The other night I was looking at a 1961 Chevorlet overhaul manual I have. The book describes the Turboglide as a shiftless transmission. Sure enough the diagram showing the internals indicates the one forward gear set and cluthes. It describes the torque converter (its pretty big) as having multiple stators for different gear mutiplying effects. Has anyone ever heard of this? Are they useful? BTW it's not a Powerglide, that was also in the book.


[This message has been edited by Bill70 (edited 02-09-99).]

 

[JWagner]

Turboglide was used from '58 to '61 and as I remember, it was not a very robust design. i do not think that it is useful, as many of these got replaced with something else that worked better.

 

[Coppertop]

Turboglide=LEMON!
I think they were even available in '57. The initial responce to these from the engineers and public was wow! But soon Chevy found out what looks good on paper is sometimes a mechanic's nightmare. They usually started having problems after the cars was broke in from routine daily driving. When they (car magazines) first tested them they were in brand-new condition in certain conditions. They had shift adjustments/problems that needed to be worked out after John Q.Public started putting regular miles on them. After realizing what hassels they were causing the turboglide "dubbed the troubleglide" was canned, and the powerglide continued production.

One of the FEW times Chevy had an "Edsel".

[This message has been edited by Coppertop (edited 02-09-99).]

 

[Fred Ont canada]

It was a piece of crap some thing like the Buick Dynaflow.Or Crys Torque Flight.Slip and slide...FRED

 

[Cam]

Ditto on everything above. The Turboglide was a sort of infinitely variable, 1 speed, with a 5-element converter using 3 stator blades instead of 2. Usefull for conversation, not the real world. I understand they were '57 - '61, but I remember a restored '62 Impala in Peterborough Ontario in '80 with one.

 

[jholp]

It actually came out in 1957 as a friend of mine purchased a new 1957 Chevy with that transmission. I drove this car back then as a young kid. It was rather interesting one speed transmission, there were no shifts. If you stomped on it hard it just seemed to find the correct "slip" and moved you down the road. At open highway speed it did not appear to be slipping anymore than a power-glide.

The transmission was so much trouble and was replaced several times that GM actually replaced it with a 2 speed power glide under warranty.

I haven't seen one since so if you find one it would have collector value.

John

 

[Sean Flanagan]

My buddy has a 1968 Firebird 400 with a turboglide, At first I just thought it was some sort of weird Poncho version of the powerglide... Rare???

------------------
Sean Flanagan
Heavy '73

 

[Keith Tedford]

Later on Chevy had what I believe was a power glide without a valve body for automatic shifting. It was a base automatic which you shifted manually.

 

[Cam]

Re: '68 Firebird 400 'glide. Pontiac offered the Powerglide behind the 350s, but not behind the 400s ever. They used TH400s. Perhaps it was (is?) a 350. The 400 Poncho is a drop-in over a 350 Poncho.

Also, Keith mentioned the manual shift Powerglide. It is called Torque-Drive, and it was offered from mid-'68 through '71 in Camaros, Novas & Vegas, behind engines ranging from 140 - 250 cid.

 

[Sean Flanagan]

We just picked it up a few months ago from the original owner(his wife actually), It sat in the garage since '82, It is a 400 and all indication shows that it hasn't been messed with but you never know! I'm going to get all the numbers this weekend so I can research deeper!

------------------
Sean Flanagan
Heavy '73


[This message has been edited by Sean Flanagan (edited 02-12-99).]