65 4 speed in 71 Duster?

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bridger5228

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I have a '71 Duster that I am putting a 440 in. I found a complete 4 speed and bellhousing assembly for sale for $500. The guy says it's out of a '65 B body with a big block. How hard would it be to make this work in my Duster that is currently equipped with a 904?
 
I think the trans mount is too far back on the tailhousing.
An a-body 4-speed only?
 
Its been done before. One of my instrument panel customers bought a Demon and discovered it had a early 4 speed trans. Custom made mount, drive shaft, shifter linkage, were required. Probably clutch linkage too. Only thing that hadn't been conquered by the previous owner was the speedometer cable. That piece had to be custom made also.
Most of that would apply to the A-body 4 speed too.
 
pntastar69 said:
I would hesitate if it has the ball n trunion set-up behind a 440.
Click to expand...

Actually this would be the least of the conversion problem. You can have a shaft made with a built in slip yoke, using conventional U joints, and a front flange drive.
 
My opinion is the cost/work necessary to make it work, you would be better off buying the trans. For an a body. Especially if you don't know for sure waht the condition of the trans. Is.
Bellhousing is no big deal. Just my opinion.
 
If you go this route, I got my custom speedometer cable from Kris's Mobile Speedometer Service. $60.
 
You'll have to cut up the floor and the cross member to mount the shifter on that transmission.
 
Hmmmm. Sounds like a huge pain in the ***. The problem is that these trannies are super rare around here(Oregon). Is the bellhousing the same at least?
 
The shifter mounting is too far forward on the tranny. I think it will hit the trans crossmember. I could be wrong though. The A-body shifter mount is on the rear. If it was a E-body type with dual mounting for the shifter you could make an adapter plate as outlined on Bigblockdart.com.
 
Here's a pic of shifter mounting locations.
 

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hi, the trans mount is in same location as an A body trans, a driveshaft from an A body with 727 will fit perfect.you will have to make a plate that bolts to shifter mounting hole to get shifter in proper loacation in floor,the reason , I know about this, is I had a B body trans in my duster, this is how I made it work. clutch linkage will have to be fabricated for the big block setup, its not very hard to do. the shift linkage for an A body will fit perfectly. by the way, the 65 B body has a slip joint output shaft. the first year they came out, the A body cars got it next year( 1966). just food for thought.
 
Ok. Some good info here. The picture of the transmission shows that it is not the slip yoke style. So maybe the trans is actually a '64?
 
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Here's a pic. What do you guys think it's worth?
 
hi looking at the photo, that looks like a 64 -65 A body trans, the shifter mount is too far back for a B body mount. the b body mount was up closer to main case. just food forthought.
 
That's a B body trans in the photo with a "home made" ? shifter adapter.

Russ.

Edit: Early B body trans.
 
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