Gawain

Greetings all, I need references to experienced/reliable hydramatic "slant pan" transmission repair shops. I live near Atlanta, Ga. but will travel to find an experienced shop. I also need help for the treadle-vac brake system; would be great if same shop could do both. Thank you for any help.

redoldsman

I have a retired guy south of Fort Worth that rebuilt my transmission in my 54 in February. He knows what he is doing. That may be a little far for you. For the treadlevac I would recommend Karp's Power Brake Service in Upland, CA. Talk to Jeff. He did the one on my 54 and put a stainless steel sleeve in the master cylinder. Others on here have used some other companies and I am sure they are good too. Karp's is the only one I have dealt with and have been very satisfied. Here is their link:

http://www.karpspb.com/

Charlie Jones

Steve P. is the "guru" of early GM Hydra-Matics .
You will have to travel , as he is in West Roxbury , Mass .
He does run a fully equipped shop , and re-builds these transmission on an almost daily basis .
Here is a link to his profile , on the Pontiac forum ;
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...r.php?u=140274

Here is a thread on treadle-vac brakes;
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...e-rebuild.html
You may want to join the 54-56 owners on this thread here;
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ers-unite.html
Lots of good info there .

Tedd Thompson

If none of those work out or if someone closer is in need of a good shop that's closer to the West coast I have a guy in Chico California that raced Oldsmobile's in the late 50's and 60's and just happens to own a transmission shop for about a half a century, he knows his stuff and does good work. http://www.transamaticinc.com Tedd

redoldsman

It is good to know there are still some folks around who can still rebuild these old hydra-matics. These things are old and haven't been made in about 50 years.

Gawain

Greetings to all who replied so promptly. I honestly appreciate your suggestions. If anyone knows of any shop nearer to Atlanta, Ga., that would be really helpful. If not, then I suppose I will have to ship the car to one of the shops suggested. Again, thanks to all who replied. Gawain

redoldsman

It will be expensive but if you cannot find a shop in the Atlanta area, you might want to consider having a local shop pull the transmission and then strap it to a pallet and ship it to whoever is going to rebuild it. Surely there is somebody in the Atlanta area that can rebuild it. I got the name of the guy that rebuilt mine from a transmission shop I have used on later model stuff. It would be worth calling some of the locally owned shops and telling them what you are looking for. The guy I used is 77 years old and does about 3-4 a month in his shop at this home. Most anybody that knows anything about these old hydra-matics is going to be in their 70's at least. There might be a few young guys out there but I doubt it.

Tedd Thompson

My guy has to be in his mid 80's but when I had some work done a couple years ago he had his manager stand by him and explained what and why he was doing what he was doing.Kinda on the job training for a guy who has already been doing transmissions for 20 years.

I think these transmissions are close enough in basic design that if someone educated in them could point out the unique areas and the tools are still around they could be rebuilt by many or most shops but the money is in the masses of common daily drivers.... Tedd

Oldcoyote

For most transmission work in the Atlanta area the best is Hi Tech Transmissions in Doraville. I don't know if they do 1954 trans. You can also post an inquiry to the Dixie Olds Club in Atlanta. See web site and Facebook page.

slantflat

I've used Thurman's Automatic Transmissions in Stockbridge, GA with good results. They rebuilt a 700R4 for me and also the cast iron Powerglide in my 57 Chevy.

770-389-3963 They're on North Henry Boulevard (Hwy 138).