A518 Overdrive Questions

[PlumCrazyChris]

Will do, I keep meaning to take my camera over to the shop, but always forget it. 

I put the TCI shift kit in it Sunday, took about 5+ hours to finish.  I sure wished I'd had my trusty Mopar Muscle and Mopar Action shift kit articles with me for reference, it sure would've helped.  It was a much more in depth kit than a standard B&M or the No-Buck upgrades I've done in the past.  I did the street performance upgrade level.  I hope it works well, and doesn't leak.  I guess we'll see. 

Before I install the tranny, I going to install a new 8 3/4 with a 3.91 sure grip, with new leaf spring bushings, new fuel tank (anyone have a good source for them) a new 3/8" fuel line and sending unit and install the fuel pump for the FI , so It will be a little while yet before I start the install. 

I think the 3.91 will be a good gear ratio, that will give me a final drive of 2.70:1 and put my RPMs at 2270 at 70 mph.  I thought about 3.55s which would put it at 2060 rpms at 70, but I already have a set of 3.91s, so I'll just go with them. 

I'm enjoying driving it so much, I really hate to take it apart, but the upgrades will be nice and I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more once its done.  I've been putting off charging the A/C (my last 2 cans of R12) since I'm planning on swapping the motor too, I wish I would've just gone ahead and charged it now since it looks like it will be Sept before the motor gets pulled. 

I thought about putting a blog together about the build, does anyone know of a good website for that?  Does this site have a place for that? you'd think I'd know....

[tactransman]

I thought about putting a blog together about the build, does anyone know of a good website for that?  Does this site have a place for that? you'd think I'd know....

In the "Member's Restoration Projects" http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?board=39.0

[71bigblock]

I gotta get me one a dem der shift valves.   

[Jacksboys]

Wow, Great find shelbydogg!

I have been to two of the Pull-a-parts here in georgia (several times) and I can never find an A518 that has not been stripped to a shell.  I have an A500 in my garage that I may get rebuilt one day.

What is the going price to have one of them rebuilt?

[PlumCrazyChris]

Well, the slapstic is not going to be quite so easy.  It would probably be best to use a cable to actuate the shifter.  I was planning trimming my case to fit the tunnel today.  I've tried to mock up the stock linkage, but the shaft appears to have to pass directly through the edge of the trans case.  Trimming won't work with that.  I'm wondering if I can either bend the shaft to pass around the case, or cut a notch in the shaft and weld a bypass loop of sorts to get around the case.  installing a pivot mount doesn't seem to be much of a problem.  It looks like I can just mount a fabricated mount to one of the case bolts.  Theres not much stress on the mount. 

Since you fabbing the mount anyway, you  might be able to just move it out so the shaft is at an angle, but then the arm that the linkage attaches to will not have the same arc of motion and may through off the shift points.  Some earlier A-body linkages had adjustable arms to fine tune the shift points. If I can get one of those setups, thats the way I would try it. 

You really can't get it figured out until its installed.   But the cable is very likely the best way to make it work, but that is still not quite straightforward, because the linkage arms are not the same length and therefore not the same ratio from the slapstic linkage to the trans shift linkage.  But it would probably work out fine.   

If anyone else is near this stage of the conversion and has some ideas, please let me know. 

Chris

 

[tactransman]

Rebuilding?   This is what Terry said on page 3 of this thread.  But I've done 727s and it shouldn't be much different.
Rob

Rob,if the OD planetary set is bad,OD piston housing is bad,the intermediate shaft is bad,it could get a lot more expensive than a 727. Great find on the Non lock up!

[ntstlgl1970]

Since the weight of the front of the car is taken through the crossmember (torsion bar anchor) I would think it would be ok. The extra planetary clutches etc in the OD section add about 50-70 lbs to the weight of the trans. I had a hell of a time getting the trans out of the back of my car when I brought it home..

[tactransman]

Rob,it's not the being in OD that causes the OD planetary problems,they had a lube problem in the early units ('90-'93) They went to a bigger bearing and added an extra lube hole that helped greatly.

[ShelbyDogg]

Can you show me where this extra lube hole is so that I can add it?  I'm hoping that it isn't too late for this one since it came out of a 93.

Rob

[tactransman]

Yes,I have one that I am working on today.Let me take some pics and I will post 'em.

[tactransman]

Rob,here is the hole that needs to be there.
The other pics are the updated bearing,bigger is better.

Early bearing


Bigger updated bearing


Side by Side Comparison


Shaft hole to be added

[ShelbyDogg]

So with the bigger bearing on the newer parts, all I can really do is drill the hole for additional lubricant right Terry? My shaft should already be hollow so adding  the hole gives it an additional exit point, right?

Thanks for your help.
Rob

[tactransman]

So with the bigger bearing on the newer parts, all I can really do is drill the hole for additional lubricant right Terry? My shaft should already be hollow so adding  the hole gives it an additional exit point, right?

Thanks for your help.
Rob

Dang,CC.com was down for awhile again.         Yes,you drill the hole if it is not there. That extra hole lines up right where the bigger bearing runs so it sprays fluid all over it.

[PlumCrazyChris]

Dang, I wished I'd have known about this when I had mine apart. 

Transman, Is this a standard upgrade when rebuilding the 90-93 models?  My 90 has obviously been rebuilt, but I don't know if they did those upgrades to help the OD live a little longer.  No way to tell now that its back together right? 

Thanks,
Chris

[tactransman]

It's a standard upgrade to a tranny rebuilder that rebuilds with all of the updates!   There is no way to tell if it was done now that it is not apart.