Hydraulic Clutch?

['70 C/10 SS500]

I have a '70 C/10 that I'm going to be swapping in a Caddy 500ci motor in soon. I have a TH-350 now but want to switch to manual. I'd like some ideas about a suitable tranny that can hold up to the torque and thrashing that I'm definately going to inflict upon my truck. I have 4.88 gears so I'd really like an overdrive, but I've done 1:1 for so long that it isn't really a must, just would be REALLY nice! I'm thinking a NV-4500 might be a good idea. Does anyone know about any hydraulic clutch setups that are made specifically for our trucks? I heard that there is a conversion kit that replaces the stock pedal assembly to do just that. Any tranny ideas and clutch / linkage ideas would be greatly appreciated. Two other trannys I thought about are the SM-465 and the Muncie M-20. What I want MOST of all is a smooth shifting trans that feels like a sports car, not some beater dump truck. I want a hot rod, not a Yugo. Please, anybody with CADDY motor experience don't freak out about the 4.88s, they are going to stay and that's it!

[jhwkns]

slave cyl. conversion We use one of these in the race car. It works fine. I recently had to rebuild it. The seal blew out due to a clutch disc failure. The biggest drawback to these is that the trans must be removed to adjust the clutch. This is acheived by adding, or removing shims that are behind the assembly. The slave and the release bearing are incorporated, and the whole assembly rides on the input housing.

BTW I noticed this your first post !
Welcome to the board from Las Vegas

[krue]

Welcome to the board from South Mississippi!

There are several people on the board w/Caddy's in there trucks, so I'm sure you will find out what you need to know!

[greasemonkey]

Um, if you want a "hot rod truck", throw out any idea of the 465. It feels like a dump truck. Impossible to shift fast, although very strong.

['70 C/10 SS500]

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

[Longhorn Man]

Welcome to the board...and a caddy powered fan too...this is awsome!
Personally, I think I owuld stick with a real good Th400. But that's me. From what I understand, there are not too many sticks that can hold up to the caddy...esp if you start putting in performance parts. Mine has 4.56 gears and I would do just about anything I could to get something more like 3.07 or even 2.76. (mine is a one ton, so those fears are all but non-existance on my budget)
For an overdrive, you can look into the gear vendors underdrive/overdrive set ups. Expensive, but then you could get a stronger 4 speed tranny and leave the OD stuff the the strong as nails gear vendors. http://www.gearvendors.com/commercial.html
As for whats is the best tranny to use, talk to the guys on the caddy message board, these guys are the caddy pros. http://www.hwforums.com/2089/
For the hyd clutch part, you need to talk to a member of ours...Huck. He has done this with a late model 5 speed into his 72 LWB fleet side. I drove his rig, and that clutch deal was pretty sweet. Oh, and he used pretty much all GM parts too if that matters to you, at a minimum, parts are readily avalible.
Have you started your caddy swap yet? If not, you might want to look at my site. Even if you've already done it, it makes for good reading for a caddy fan.
Again...welcome to the board from Ohio, this place is awsome. Anything and everything you'll ever need to know right here.