518 is in!!!

[superdart]

I picked my car up from Miller Performance yesterday. Man what a difference!! Since I have the 2.45 gears I can't use the OD yet, but the trans is great.

I'll wire the OD up sometime before I get the axle rebuilt (with 3.91 gears).
Pictures will be posted soon. I found it interesting that he was able to make it fit without modding the floor of the car at all!!

He also put in my new swaybar (had to weld on the LCA's) and made subframes for it. I'm amazed how much better it rides and handles with those mods.

 

[rumblefish360]

HEY! Lets see some pictures of the LCA welds and sway bar with the tranny installed.

 

[71DusterStruck]

Yep lets see them, what is the thickness of your sway bars? I use 1 1/8'' in front and 1'' at the rear. It amazes me how fast I can put the car in a really tight corner and if I need to turn it even more the car responds with no problem, it does not understeer and if you are gentle with the throttle it does not oversteer either.
I just love the frustration on the faces of other drivers who have new European and Japanese cars, when they are just slower than my Duster in corners... it is great fan

 

[rjsjea]

Pics of the tranny install......:happy2:

 

[speedyb-cc]

If you go to this site they have everything you need for the swap, it comes with all the hydraulic and electrical and vacuum hook ups so the trans works on its own.
http://www.transmissioncenter.net/highperflist.htm
Hope this helps
Bruce

 

[superdart]

I'll post pics today.

I've seen that site before. I can't really say I like the way they do their crossmembers. But I will buy their OD kits.

 

[superdart]

Well here you go. He cut the original crossmember tie out and welded in a wide thick strap that he welded to the underside of the tunnel and tied it to the original crossmembers. He then refabricated the trans mount to accommodate the new trans. Note where he welded through the floor to tie in the new strap.

The subframe connector is 2x2 box channel. He cuts a hole in the front crossmember and slides the connector in the hole, then welds everything up.

 

[375inStroke]

How far below the frame rails does the bottom of the trans pan sit? How deep is the trans pan?

 

[rumblefish360]

Very good questions. I can not exactly answer any of them, but, te 500/518 trans pan is alittle deeper. Um, the MP versions at least. I don't know about OEM.

Did the angle of the rear change at all due to the extra lenght and/or because of the tranny hieght?

 

[abodyjoe]

nice. would love to see step by step pics. i really want to do that trans in my car.

 

[mean318]

=P~Wow, it works! I was thinking of doing the same with tying a thick strap in between also but I was worried if the torsion bars would still have enough support. I guess I was waiting for someone to try it first I guess.8)

 

[superdart]

OK, I've been working on other things and my garage has been torn apart. Tomorrow I will take side shot pics of the car with a tape measure to show clearance to the pan.

According to my Mopar parts guy..all 727 pans (except the cast aluminums) have been superseded. All transmissions (727, 518, 46,47,48 ) all show the same stamped pan with reusable gasket, which is the pan I have on my car. The cast pan in the pics, appears to have met the road pretty hard on a few occasions, and was beat up pretty bad. It wouldn't seal once we tried to put fluid in it.

The angle on the tail shaft looks good, and although it's REALLY close, the transmission does not appear to be contacting the floorboard, even when not bolted to the subframe.

 

[superdart]

Forgot, I had this picture from when it was on a lift. That B&M pan is about an inch thicker than an OEM I think...My headers are still the lowest thing on my car, and they don't hit the road at all.

 

[autoxcuda]

Did they cut/modify the top of the trans crossmember that is welded to the floor? The primer spot on the tunnel make me wonder?

Did they say the engine angle was not changed at all? Or a small amount?

 

[superdart]

That I can tell, the engine angle didn't change at all.

Yes, they cut down the cross member where it passes over the trans tunnel. It's nothing I would have tried myself, but my friend who did the work builds race chassis and does a lot of custom fabrication. I have seen a lot of his work and he knows what he's doing, so I have faith it's plenty strong enough..

 

[340sFastback]

He did a nice job on that cross member.

 

[C130 Chief]

Looks like they just plain removed the upper section of the crossmember.

Thats a lot of beef to lose. As the entire weight of the front of the car is carried by that skinny piece of metal to begin with.

 

[superdart]

OK, to put the clearance in to perspective, I measured the height of the subframe to the ground and the height of the pan.

The ground to subframe clearance is about 7 inches.
The ground to trans pan clearance is about 4.5 inches.

As you can see in the pic, the pan (not including my installed drain plug) is about the same distance to ground as my header collector flanges. So far I have had no clearance issues, even with speed bumps in parking lots. Still, I always pay attention to parking lots with strange inclines, just to be safe.

Oh yeah...one of the guys here is wondering if I can get the trans mount fabbed for him. I'm looking in to it, but it was a one-off fab, so I'd need to take mine off my car to get another one made.