Lower cost transmission options?

MOPEkidD-3 said
I'm currently going through swapping the drivetrain in my '70 Duster from 318/904/7.25 to 360/904/8.25. I was planning on having the original A-904 rebuilt with lots of goodies by A-R-T Automotive in Franktown, CO but have now come to the conclusion that it's out of my budget. It was going to get an A&A reverse-manual VB, A-999 low gear set, deep cast aluminum pan, PTC converter, heavy-duty everything else... Basically the works. I know this would be the "right" way to get a good performance trans behind my 360 but I just can't afford it, unless I wait three months to save up the cash (and that's aside from all the other stuff I still have to buy for my car). What should I do? Find a used one in good shape and pull it apart myself? I've never played around with transmissions so it would be my first experience. One important point, I do plan to convert to a manual tranny (4- or 5-speed) in the near future (few years?) so the trans I run now doesn't have to be totally bulletproof. But I would still like to have peace-of-mind that it won't blow on me a few months down the road.

I agree with strokerscamp, "Why? You gonna drive it on the street? At any rate, if you REALLY want a manual unit, get the Mopar Performance chassis manual"
I dont think you need too much, heres what i did although I have a 727, but you can do the same with the 904, I bought the Performance rebuild kit from Mancini, AND the bolt in sprag, then had a local tranny shop rebuild it total cost was $600.00 and it works AWESUME, not sure how powerfull of a 360 your building.... I left mine standard pattern as I also have a factory slap stick from a chally and it has NEVER missed a shift. I drive mine mostly on the street so manually shifting all the time would suck, also someone correct me if i am wrong but you need to leave the kickdown linkage hooked up unless you are going FULL manual. I bought the Lokar kickdown, it looks and works better then the factory unit.