Early A body. SB with Lakewood

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TrWaters

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Wondering if anyone is running a 63-66 A body with a sb and Lakewood shield. Any insite would be appreciated. Thanks.

TrWaters
 
I had a Lakewood and a small block in my 72 and it was a pain in the butt. Those things are necessary but man I hate them.
 
I was gonna convert my 65 Valiant to 4spd, I even found a 65 pedal assembly. I bolted the 833 to a Lakewood housing and mounted it to an engine stand so I could see what I was dealing with. Started looking at the engine compartment and decided the car was going to stay stock. Especially after finding out the headers were going to cost almost $1k, over that once you add on the shipping. Now I'm gonna sell the car so I have extra 65 pedals :roll:
 
I guess the Lakewood is pretty tight from the previous posts. Can you make clearance by hammering the firewall/tunnel or do you need to do any cutting?
 
66 Dart W/factory 4 Speed I am now running a Lakewood bell had to flatten the pinch weld flat & bump out a few areas for clearence (10lb slege) but nothing major & no cutting
 
I have the same issue but it should work just fine as far as I know. Keisler sold me the Lakewood bellhousing for my 340 5-speed swap going into a 66 Valiant. They did not mention any serious mods that had to be made. I don't think they are selling it anymore because they are selling their own bellhousings.

I plan on posting a resto/swap thread once I really get things going a bit more.
 
hi dave,, are you also useing there hdy throw out brearing?????
i have a 66 b cyda ,,and considering there 5 speed,,i was told you have to cut the flor out,but they give you a pre made piece to weld in,,,
do me a favor please,,, e mail me if you are useing there hdy out bearing,,,
i currently have a 833 box,,,tilton hyd throw out bearing that needs replacing,,keisler tells me 300,000 miles on the bearing,,
i have a anson scatter shield was made to fit the early A,,

fstfish66#aol.com,,, thanks don
 
I will post the conversion with tons of pictures once I get started on it. Yes they give you a sheetmetal template in the kit. I am using their hydraulic clutch and throwout bearing. It will be another month or two before I can get started on the engine and tranny swap. The car is being painted right now. I am going to mock up the 340 to the lakewood and tranny soon just to see what I'm dealing with. I will post pics of that too.
Dave
 
Please post pictures, cause I'm sure one of these days I will end up with the lakewood also in my early A. Thanks.

Lee
 
Just another addition. I will have the tti full exhaust system, lakewood and keisler setup. I believe everything should fit but will be tight. Tti could not answer me as far as the Lakewood housing. Once I get my exhaust I'm going to mock the tranny, lakewood, exhaust and engine in the garage. If I run into problems I will be sure to post on here. I will have a full-on posting with everything on it. Wish i had a video camera too, wouldn't that be sweet.
 
Dave - Be aware of the following - I used a lakewood scattershield in my 73 340 sport with early cast iron 340 exh manifolds. I used an accurate exhaust system. The stock starter would not fit with the exhaust because the lakewood housing moved the starter location. i ended up using a mallory starter, expensive but it fits perfect without mods.

Id mock up the headers and starter on the motor with the bell housing in place before installing in the car. Could save you alot of headaches and extra costs later.
 
I had to buy a special mini-starter from TTI. It is made by Powermaster and was specially designed for the early A-body and the Tti exhaust system.

Id mock up the headers and starter on the motor with the bell housing in place before installing in the car. Could save you alot of headaches and extra costs later.

No doubt. I will mock up the whole system before placing it in my car just to see if I am going to have issues. I plan on sending the pictures to tti also beacuse they have not seen the keisler, lakewood, and full tti system on an early A with a SB. It should be a good tech tread and maybe a ***** session too if I have problems or headaches. Thanks for the tip.

Would be great to mock up the entire setup witht the K-frame and all. the just drop the body over the top of the engine. That would be cool. :lol: Have seen it on some video somewhere.
 
I'm about to put a 4-speed in my '65 Valiant, and seeing as I will be racing it, I'm not even considering using a stock housing. I guess I'll have to pound a little on the body to clear that Lakewood... unless I cut the tunel out and replace it with a larger tunnel from a later car?? It's either that or a race-built 904.
 
Here's a picture of the Lakewood and 340. Not installed in the car yet but getting closer to the full mock up with my exhaust and starter. Will have the headers next week and hopefully will have time to put them on during the weekend.

47b6cf25b3127cce8eb4cf9c333800000016100AYs27Ji3ZsmPg.jpg
 
try to find an ansen scatter shield,out of production now but i seen one at carlisle ,i should of bought it,,just incase,,,,the ansen scattershield is made to fit the early A body, i have one i found n.o.s it is in my 66 b cuda,,got rid of the lake wood,,i also have an extra for a big block,,,,

when searching for one at a swap meet they are anidised gold color,,
they are stamped nhra and ahra approved,,the ahra tells ya hoow old they are,,but they still exsist,,,,


also check,,mc cloud i believe they have a scatter shield that is smaller in size is also gold in color,,not that that meens any thing,,,but the size makes clearances easier,,,also that shield has adapters for several different tranny bolt patterns,,,
 
fstfish66 said:
try to find an ansen scatter shield,out of production now but i seen one at carlisle ,i should of bought it,,just incase,,,,the ansen scattershield is made to fit the early A body, i have one i found n.o.s it is in my 66 b cuda,,got rid of the lake wood,,i also have an extra for a big block,,,,

when searching for one at a swap meet they are anidised gold color,,
they are stamped nhra and ahra approved,,the ahra tells ya hoow old they are,,but they still exsist,,,,


also check,,mc cloud i believe they have a scatter shield that is smaller in size is also gold in color,,not that that meens any thing,,,but the size makes clearances easier,,,also that shield has adapters for several different tranny bolt patterns,,,

Is this for a stick or auto?

Lee
 
dave,,,,what all did keisler have to do ,,to make that tranny bolt up to the lake wood??
i have a ansen scatter shield,,and im considering that tranny in the furture..

also which gear ratio did you select?,,i talked with keisler,and tremec,got 2 completely different stories,,,,ide think ide have to believe tremec,,since they build the tranny,,,,,
 
Well,to make the tremec fit on the lakewood bellhousing they had to customize the housing.They filled some holes and placed new mounting holes for the tranny. It seems they really did a lot of stuff to make it fit properly. Everything bolted on perfectly. Looks very clean. I have not done the run-out measurements yet but looks good so far. Keisler does not offer the Lakewood any longer as far as I know. They offer their own bellhousing now.

I think you would have to do a fair amount of precise machining in order to make the Ansen work. The R&D Keisler has done to get their product to market is why they can charge a fair price (IMHO) to the consumer. If you are a talented fabricator/machinist then I say go for it.

If you talk to Keisler, they might be willing to modify your Ansen to fit a tremec tranny that you may already own. Not sure what they would charge for this. Better yet. It may save you a lot of headache just to buy their bellhousing and sell your Ansen. :sad1:

I have an 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears in the rear and the 1st gear ratio is 3.27, which means my car will launch like 4.89s. CAN YOU SAY LEFT WHEEL OFF THE GROUND!!!. This is the Tremec 500. Even with 3.23s or 3.55s the car will scream off the line.

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i talked with keisler,and tremec,got 2 completely different stories,,,,ide think ide have to believe tremec,,since they build the tranny

I am curious as to what Tremec had to say?

Hope this is helpful info

Dave
 
dave,,as to what tremec had to say,,,i was at the power tour,,,both tremec and keislier were there only a few feet away from each other,,,

i run a 340 6;71 blower A833 tranny from a 65 formula S which has a 3;09 first gear,,1;1 in 4th,,it is not an O.D box,, 8 3/4 with 456;1 gears,,33x22 inch hoosiers prostret radials on a 66 barracuda,,, i cruise the interstate at 2850 rom in 4th at 60 mph,,not to bad,,
keisler says the 3;27 1st gear tranny will not hold up to the blower motor,,,i thought they were blowing smoke up my butt,,,im not sure if i want to go to the other box if i remember correctly it has a 287 first gear,,with 33 inch tall tires i may bogg a little leaving the traffic light,,,( street car ).

tremec tells me both boxes will work,,for what i have,,,thats what i figured,,,after all they make the viper tranny as well,,and that is being used in the viper,,,vett c6 road race car,,and cadalac road race car as well,im sure the 3;27 first gear box isnt a piece of junk,,as keisler makes it out to be,they just want to sell the high doller box,,then they tried to pressure me in to a deposit,,i had told them i am not ready to make the switch yet,,,just looking at ideas,,

but i am going to convery this winter to the keisler hyd throw out bearing,,
im sure they dont make it,,,wish i knew who di,,maybe tremec makes it ????

i currently use a tilton nascar style hyd throw out bearing,,,and i think it is shot,, keisler told me they garuntee there throw out for 300,000 miles,,,
they also told me free to modify a bell housing,,but 75.00 to modify the scatter shield,, the ansen is a perfect fit to the early A,,,i dont wanna cut mine up,,i do know where there is one that is avalible ,,,if i go the keisler route i will pick it up,,,,cant wait to see pics and hear how your conversion turns out,,, thanks ,,don
 
Thanks for the info Don. I think Keisler may be worried about people trying to romp too hard on the tranny and if they blow it up then they may try to blame Keisler. Seems like a cover your own *** tactic to me. Liability is a huge deal these days. I would tend to believe the Tremec boys too. I have have had very good dealings with Keisler so far. Yes the tremec or TKO-600 does have the 2.87 1st gear. Would be nice to know who made the bearing. I didn't see any special markings on it. Maybe snag the other Ansen and go the Tremec route with Keisler. They told me it was good for a car with less than 500hp. That was close to 2 years ago when I actually bought the kit. Goodluck.
I will keep you posted on this thread along with my resto thread.
 
TrWaters said:
Wondering if anyone is running a 63-66 A body with a sb and Lakewood shield. Any insite would be appreciated. Thanks.

TrWaters

YOu might read up on this guys site, and/or email him with questions. He is using a lakewood in his 66.

http://www.ultrajosh.com/clutch/ - info is towards the earlier dates in his blog.
 
Sounds like josh had a helluva time with everything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I luckily mounted everything up and it works well so far. I have the 5-speed tranny too which may have been the source of many of the problems. When I get to the hydraulic clutch master cylinder and throwout bearing, that's when the fun will begin I imagine. The one thing that will be easier for me is that I have everything out of the car already and plan to install the engine and tranny together as one unit. That will save my back big time since my engine is on a stand and I can use my engine crane and leveler to slide the tranny in.

The comments about the customer service from Keisler does suck. :cussing: Luckily they have responded very promptly to my emails and tech support has been good. Maybe that's because I dropped big cash instead of just getting the hydraulic kit. Shame on Keisler if this is true. I'll continue to keep everyone updated onmy progress.
 
dave im reading all this stuff on keislier,, i kinda figured mc leod was making keisliers hyd bearing, no i read it will not work with a center force clutch,,

what brand of clutch are you useing?? is it a 3 finger or diapram style pressure plate????
 
it's made by sachs. I will post a picture of the pressure plate tomorrow. I'll be working on building my drivetrain cradle.
 
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