Waco Demon
Well-Known Member
Has any one installed a Gear Vender over drive in a A body
Thanks Harold
Thanks Harold
Gear Vendor
- Thread starter Waco Demon
- Start date
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DesertRat
Leading edge boomer
I installed one in my 67 Barracuda Notch. Details are in my build thread-------------------
I really like it FWIW------------------------
I really like it FWIW------------------------
Auto or 4 speed?
DesertRat
Leading edge boomer
Automatic
Fast340cuda
Well-Known Member
I’m running one behind a 4 speed in my 68 barracuda. Great upgrade on my opinion.
Are you able to provide information about your installation? I'm considering this for my 69 Swinger.
Fast340cuda
Well-Known Member
A few notes from my install:
-Requires E/B body output shaft on an a body 4 speed
-mine did not require slotting and dropping the rear cross member. I ground a little clearance on the gear vendors cast aluminum adaptor, shifter mechanism adapter plate and put a few smalll clearance dents in the trans tunnel
-overdrive controller mounted in the glove
box
-shorter driveshaft required
-I’m running 3.91 gears, when OD is energized they are roughly a 3 to 1 ratio
Let me know if you would like any other info
Thanks for reply, sorry to original poster for hijacking your thread.
Any driveline angle issues with shorter driveshaft? Vibration?
Do you use the gear splitting features, or strictly as OD?
Fast340cuda
Well-Known Member
No vibration issues and I use it strictly as an overdrive.
67dodgedartconv
Well-Known Member
When you use the B/E output shaft are you able to use it with the A body tailshaft housing so that the shifter location is not changed?
You dont use the tailhousing, you use main case, B or E body main shaft, the gear vendors replaces the factory tailhousing and provides the new location to mount shifter.
Iv'e had a Gear Vendor in my 73 340 Scamp with 904 and 4:11 posi for 2 years now and love it.
I did away with the brain box I was having issues with it, it would drop out of overdrive at highway speeds once in awhile. And yes if you have it in over drive and back up it will toast the over drive so need to put a safety switch in line or be careful.
I did away with the brain box I was having issues with it, it would drop out of overdrive at highway speeds once in awhile. And yes if you have it in over drive and back up it will toast the over drive so need to put a safety switch in line or be careful.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
Recently put one in a 71 Dart Swinger with a 904.
Splitting the tunnel and making a raised area under the seat was mandatory.
In this cars case we had to remove the exhaust and redo it because he had an H that was right in the way.(basically moved the H forward more by cutting two straight sections ahead of the H and putting them back in behind it)
No mods to the cross member, but the driveline had to be shortened (no vibrations)
We split the tunnel about 12 inches down one side and across the top to the other side, lifted that and then welded metal back in the gaps to create a 1.5 inch rise in the hump giving about 1 inch clearance all the way around.
The wiring was easy, and we added a relay to power the solenoid.
I see people talking about gear splitting, but in my own opinion doing it manually without the electronic controller just isn't worth the effort.
The guy that owns the car brought this up and I asked if he thought he was fast enough to manually change gears along with the in and out of the OD to make it worth it, and he agreed there was no way.
I teased him about by the time he finally got into 3 OD I would be so gone he wouldn't even see my tail lights at night.
After all the above we found that the pump in the OD was shattered and it wouldn't work anyway.
Would think that is costly to fix.Recently put one in a 71 Dart Swinger with a 904.
Splitting the tunnel and making a raised area under the seat was mandatory.
In this cars case we had to remove the exhaust and redo it because he had an H that was right in the way.(basically moved the H forward more by cutting two straight sections ahead of the H and putting them back in behind it)
No mods to the cross member, but the driveline had to be shortened (no vibrations)
We split the tunnel about 12 inches down one side and across the top to the other side, lifted that and then welded metal back in the gaps to create a 1.5 inch rise in the hump giving about 1 inch clearance all the way around.
The wiring was easy, and we added a relay to power the solenoid.
I see people talking about gear splitting, but in my own opinion doing it manually without the electronic controller just isn't worth the effort.
The guy that owns the car brought this up and I asked if he thought he was fast enough to manually change gears along with the in and out of the OD to make it worth it, and he agreed there was no way.
I teased him about by the time he finally got into 3 OD I would be so gone he wouldn't even see my tail lights at night.
After all the above we found that the pump in the OD was shattered and it wouldn't work anyway.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
For 800 bucks and the old one in return they will send out a new or rebuilt one.
That's what my buddy is going to do, and he'll still come out a lot better off than buying one outright.
67dodgedartconv
Well-Known Member
Did your shifter end up in the same location in the 4 speed hump or did you have to modify the hump? This part wasn't clear to me when reading on the gear vendors website. Thanks.
That sounds good I paid 3 grand for mine 4 years ago.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
My friend will have 1,300 into it when done so he's ok.
I tried to talk him into the OD trans swap like mine has, but?
That cost me about 400 all said and done with a stage 2 kit.
After all is said and done your better doing it your way. I didn't want to cut my car up so left all the cutting and welding out to keep it stock and just use bolt on parts.
I don't know TrailBeast I'm starting to think cutting and modifying is better.
Fast340cuda
Well-Known Member
My shifter ended up in the stock location using the adapter plate from gear vendors.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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No mine didn't. The GVOD comes with a long tail house like on the B/E bodies. I had to purchase a long MS to make it work.
The front mounting point cannot be used as it sits right in the cross-member, and in fact, I had to grind a portion of the mount off so the adapter would fit in there. That leaves you with having to use the rear mount. At the time I got mine, nobody mentioned an adapter plate, so I made my own. That gives you an opportunity to put the shifter anywhere you want to. I chose waaaay back and waaay up,between the buckets, and then installed a really short stick. I love it.
As for splitshifting, the only box that this works properly on is the od box. The ratios are;
3.09-2.41-1.67-1.30-1.00-.78/.73od-.54double od. GV in red. Splits are
.78-.69-.78-.77-.78-.73........... So you get Seven useable ratios.
There are a few problems with this.
Issue #1
with street tires, say 27s,there's only one rear-gear you can use to get three ratios to rpm-peak at 60 mph. Say your cam peaked at 5400. To hit 60 at 5400 in the third-ratio of 1.67 would take ~4.30s. BUT, that gets you a starter gear of 13.29. Which,IMO, is insane. I drove my combo like that for two summers, and said enough!
Issue #2
Double od makes 65=1875. So any cam bigger than ~223*.050, is gonna be hard to tune for economy, and will be operating in a poor efficiency zone. But using .78 overdrive, the Rs climb to ~2700, so kindof not what you want either.
Issue #3
The much much weaker .73od will get you ~2530, which is good, but when you put it into .73od with a badboy clutch, you gotta remember to take it real easy; so you don't shatter it!
Issue #4
a nice starter gear might be 11/1, and that would be 3.55s, and you can guess the rest. So in the end and after breaking two of those od gears, I jumped ship.
There is another option; the Commando box with ratios of
3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00 - For a description of this , see my signature below. I've been running this now since ~2004. With 3.55s and 27s, this cruises at 65=2240. My 230* cam seems to be ok with this but likes cruise timing of mid to high 50s; and there-in lies
issue #5.
With power timing of ~24* @2250; (14initial+10 in the flyweights), plus a modified Vcan timing of 22*, this gets you just 46* total cruise timing. Couple that with a cam that has a very short extraction period, and a lot of overlap, and you have a recipe for horrible fuel economy that is impossible to cure . Throw low-compression into the mix, and, the very reason you probably bought the GVOD, is now questionable.
My cure was a stand-alone,dial-back,dash-mounted, timing delay box that has a range of 15 degrees. I set it so that I can dial in the missing cruise-timing. And that introduces
issue #6
What happens if you forget to dial it back out when you come in off the hiway? With 10 to 14 extra degrees all the time, if you nail the gas, you could be buying pistons again real soon.
The good;
With a .78 split, the rpm drop from 6200 would be to 4850,just 1360rpm, and there is no good reason to run any LSA bigger than 110. If there is another cam in my future, I think I'll try something like a 106, maybe even a104. With a tighter LSA,headers, and the short powerband requirement from the trans, you can back off at least one camsize. I dropped three.
My 3650# tank felt real good with the 367 and a 223* cam, and was into the twelves on it's first and only run, with 3.55s and 245/60-14 streets, spinning a long long way.
Other than that, and what others have said, I really like my GVOD.
But if I had more money, I would get me a proper 5 speed. Cuz if you back up just 6 inches with the GV engaged; oh Snap! ......... If you do it twice, you coulda had a TKO.
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AJ If anyone would know the precise measurements or gear ratio it would be you. You thought me more in 1 year than my school teachers after 12 years.
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