powerglide in a fox, speedo help

[silverstangman]

The car i'm buying has got a 420 windsor with a powerglide behind it and since it is a gm tranny the speedo doesn't work. is there any type of adaptor or anything that will make it work in a ford gauge cluster? otherwise i will just have to keep my eye on the tach and guess at the speed which will suck but i will do. appreciate any help.

 

[dragnazz5.0]

youre going to drive this beast on the street?

 

[silverstangman]

yeah i'm decamming it slightly (608 lift compared to 669) but yeah it will be driven infrequently on the street mostly to the track. it wont get the best gas mileage but its a solid car.

 

[Rick 91GT]

Autometer makes a electrical speedo that should work for you...

 

[jrichker]

Powerglide? Ugh!!! Unless you are a bracket racer, it's a boat anchor. Two speeds: half a** and no a**. I had a 65 Chevy 250 HP, 327 with one and it was a dog!

Check to see if there is a speedometer shop in your area. If there is, ask about the Stewart-Warner speedometer gearbox. I believe it is either a 777 Series Drive Joint Kits and Parts or 666 Series Drive Joint Kits and Parts. It is a small gear box that fits between the speedo pickup gear on the transmission and the speedometer. It has quick change gears that allow you to choose almost any tire size and rear end gear ratio you want. This will allow you to get the accuracy with within 1%-3%. The drawback is that it isn't cheap.
Please excuse the typo (their's, not mine) in the following picture - it should read Custom ratio adapters, not Custom radio adapters.

See http://www.gaugeguys.com/ratioadapt.htm for more info.

 

[90NotchBack]

Why do you say it's a boat anchor. My glide is 4 tenth faster than my C6 or C4 ever was. Most every car in Street Renegade is running a Glide. Any class that NMRA or FFW a loud's Glides. They will be running them.

 

[jrichker]

Why do you say it's a boat anchor. My glide is 4 tenth faster than my C6 or C4 ever was. Most every car in Street Renegade is running a Glide. Any class that NMRA or FFW a loud's Glides. They will be running them.

Try running it on the street in a heavy car with a small engine. Two speeds suck unless you have so much power that you don't need much torque multiplication to get rolling.

 

[Rick 91GT]

Well the NMRA Street Renagade guys are required to run a C4, most have to be freshened often.

With a lot of power on tap or a limited tire class the glide is the way to go, they will hold a lot of power. I have one in my D/R car....

 

[rd]

If your question was how to adapt the cable from the glide end to the Mustang dash, it should be doable.

You need to find a shop that can make a speedometer cable housing with a Mustang cluster end and a GM fitting on the transmission end.

Have you compared the glide speedo drive setup with the Mustang cable? It may just screw on. If not the cable ends need to be swapped.

I'm sure someone has done this. Also check 4wd places, since this stuff is more common with swapped 4bys.

 

[90NotchBack]

Well the NMRA Street Renagade guys are required to run a C4, most have to be freshened often.

With a lot of power on tap or a limited tire class the glide is the way to go, they will hold a lot of power. I have one in my D/R car....

I thought in Street Renegade they aloud glides. It was like two years ago my buddy switch from a C4 to a glide because they were alloying them now. He now is running Drag Radial

 

[silverstangman]

yeah u cant mess with a glide in the right car. my car isn't heavy nor is it weak, weighs 2700 lbs and on the bottle should dyno over 700 to the tires. another plus with the glide is you dont have as much lift as compared to what you have with a c4, because the longer your car is in the air the slower u go. i wasn't crazy about having a gm tranny either especially after one of my friends called me a crossdresser, lol. but u gotta stick with what works and what will handle those power levels, don't have to worry about missed shifts any more either which rocks.

 

[jjd975]

Try running it on the street in a heavy car with a small engine. Two speeds suck unless you have so much power that you don't need much torque multiplication to get rolling.

Thats the key.

If your not making good power they are not a good tranny to run. A 200 hp street car would suck with a glide.