Just got my used 727....now what?

[71chally416]

So this car is using a 2.76 rear and a 727 with a small block?  I hope you don't have any performance aspirations. New pickup trucks will beat you.

[shadango]

It's what I have to work with right now....

If money were no object I would be doing it differently.

Not everyone can just shell out thousands for engines, rears and trannies that make the most horsepower, and not everyone wants to wait years to see the "perfect" car built while they save up....

I want to get it on the road quickly and then start tweaking up.

What can and cannot beat me on the road is not a concern right now......  LOL

[71chally416]

You will likely feel differently the first time a pimple faced kid in a primered Honda Civic beats you and the sound of his fartcan muffler and boombox ring in your ears as he pulls away.

I just answered your thread question with the best advice I have. The reason for the 904? The cheap 2.74 low gear set. $50 at the boneyard for an old lockup tranny from a Diplomat or $220 at Mancini. You could buy a good low gear set for the 727 for about $500, or buy a convertor and the mandatory tranny cooler for $400+ to try to get the same 60 ft performance, but you always pay a price in mileage with a stall convertor. Ride in any new vehicle and see how long it spends in 1st gear. They ALL have low gearing in the tranny and high (numerically low) rear end gearing for mileage. Would a 904 be the end-all be-all tranny for your combo? No, but 904's are dirt cheap to buy (you can probably trade your 727 for 3 of them or get one for $25...Don't know where the 1,000's of $$$ comes from  ), the low gear set would make it a lot more fun to drive and it's totally adequate strength wise for a typical street car in stock form.

Here's a few 904's at the track. The car (Wes Leopold) has a 396CI stroker with about 950hp and traps at 10,000RPM and the SMR truck has about 850hp>

http://streetwalker.homestead.com/files/8secondSBMope.wmv

http://streetwalker.homestead.com/files/9secondDakota.wmv

[tactransman]

shadango ,I had a lot of fun with my '73 Chally with a 318 and a 727/2.76 rear gear. 

[shadango]

shadango ,I had a lot of fun with my '73 Chally with a 318 and a 727/2.76 rear gear. 

Thanks tactransman.....I figure I will too.

Again, I am using what I have right now to get the car on the road soon.  I am having enough "fun" tracking down other necessary parts......I am spending a lot of cash on other stuff to get it together.....$30 here, $100 there, we all know how it goes.....we have all done it.....

Sure, would love to pop in some "better" gears in the back end, etc.....but again, I have what I have now...they are installed already and free.

Once it is running and I see what kind of shape the engine is in, etc, I will decide on changes to the formula.

I know the 904 is lighter and with a 318 the extra weight of the 727 will lose me some power.

But I am not looking to gain a tenth here and there like drag racers do, where every pound and every horsepower counts....I just want a street car that will take some abuse (for now).......and it seems to be the general consensus that the 727 is better suited for that.

As for the "pimply faced kid with a ricer".....well, I never said I was trying to build the fastest car on the street.

If I were, a 318 in stock form wouldn't be my engine of choice....

Just looking to get the car together to have some fun with it this summer....

And quite honestly, some of those ricer cars can kick some serious butt......I am not interested right now in being the neighborhood hot-rod champ....LOL

Future mods ? Who knows what the future holds! 

[71chally416]

On the car I did the swap on I knocked 1/2 second off my ET going from a 727/10" convertor to a 904/2.74 1st gear/stock vert. From 13.50's to 13.0's in a week. I'm very old school about racing and I never change more than one thing at a time and I always write everything down. If you don't you'll never know what helps or what hurts. Maybe the 727 was wounded somehow or the convertor was real junk, but the car was consistent, the tranny looked normal upon disassembly and I later used the guts in a BB case. I really don't know where the "tenth" thing ever originated from. Maybe the originator of that myth changed 5 other things too, or it applies to some other combo much different than what I had.   In a way I'm glad the rumour persists, because I got a new $1,200 Dynamic 904 tranny and convertor for my 416 for peanuts because the guy that had it was convinced his 400hp 408 stroker motor would surely break it.

For what it's worth. (Probably 1/2 second..)
 

[FJ5_440]

shadango ,I had a lot of fun with my '73 Chally with a 318 and a 727/2.76 rear gear. 

Way back when, I had a car with a 318, 727, and a 276 peg leg.  With a $69 "RV" cam from PAW and the 4 barrel and intake I got along with the junkyard 727, I had a great time.  It was no drag strip terror but on the interstate it was a blast.  As an added bonus, it got mid twenties MPG on long trips.

[dodge freak 2]

I told my trans guy about how the drag racers use the 904 trans, he was like yeah but they rebuild them every season, if not several times a season.....

I had a 2.74 gear car in the late 80's...it got me 16 mpg driving 55 mph back when I had 11 points on my drivers licenses (you lose it at 12 or more)

I have a 3.91 gear car with the 2.74 gear 904 trans..pickups are a joke trying to stay with me, lol.  Have my foot halfway down while passing them and hear their engine screaming away.

[bb71challenger]

Heck yeah, run what you have and enjoy it. Save up for parts while you are enjoying your car, nothing wrong with that plan at all. An all out drag car is about the only time I would run a 904 personally unless that is all I had. 727 is just so much more healthier from the factory. People might not agree with me in thinking this way but to me a 904 trans excites me about as much as a 2 barrel 318. Both are dime a dozen imo. I know, my Challenger came with both lol.

[71chally416]

I have a 3.91 gear car with the 2.74 gear 904 trans..pickups are a joke trying to stay with me, lol.  Have my foot halfway down while passing them and hear their engine screaming away.

Great combo 

[shadango]

Well, found a guy locally that a Barracuda (3 of them) neighbor of mine uses religiously.....Mopar guy.....

He tells me it'll run $550 including a properly matched convertor....plus an extra $150 or so for a shift kit....he said he looks at the core and if it warrants it  he adds the billet servo.....(do you think I shoudl insist? I dont want to come off looking like I know more than he does, cuz I dont!)....

He has a 12month, 12k mile parts and labor warranty.

Seems about right overall.....

Gonna drop it off tomorrow, he says he could have it done by the weekend....

[tactransman]

EVERY Torqueflite out there could use a billet rear servo. I would insist on it. He is alittle much on the shift kit.

[shadango]

Hey Tactransman, can you help me out?

dropped the tranny off at the shop today.....guy seems honest etc.....we discussed what he was goiung to do.,...

....rebuild with all new clutches/bands etc, replace servo unit with billet, replace 2nd gear strut......install transgo shift kift....we talked a bit about this one.....He said its way different than the B&M "junk" out there etc....

Ok, well, he said he would go with the kit that offers sharper shifts etc and use it in "HD mode".....

He went andlooked up the price andcame back and said  $180!   

Ok, now he originally said $150 and you thought that was a little high....so I started looking around on the web....I cant find ANY transgo kits online for more than $75 for the 727.....Am I just looking in the wrong place?

Maybe I am misunderstanding what I am getting?  He made a point to say there is no chargefor install of the jkit since it will all be apart.....

I am really confused......I cant see how his markup could be $100....

 I have no reason to think the guy is trying to hose me......my neighbor recommended him......seems like an honest guy......we went thru a list of parts that he COULD replace like going with kevlar or "red" clutches, but he said that I would bewasting my money....so if he wanted to hose me he would have done it there I think.....he has to order the kit as he doesnt stock it he says....or the billet servo etc.....

What am I missing here?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

A local shop put a Trans-Go shift kit in my car. What a neck snapping experience!!   

My mind is foggy, since it has been a few years, but I know I paid over $100.

[bb71challenger]

I remember buying a shift kit for my 904 right after I bought my car. It came with the drill bit, very detailed instructions for marking the bit depth, where to drill, what to do etc. If you have mechanical ability and dont mind spending the time behind the guy you can install a shift kit yourself with little problem.