A-500/518 info...

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mtandrews

mtandrews

beware the Ides of March
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I have a 72 Duster that I'm currently working on. It's an original "Leaning Tower of Power" in it with AC. I got a 318 out of 1970 something Van and I'm gonna drop it in. I don't want to go the 727/904 route, I'd rather have a A-500/518 as this will be an actual road car. My other Duster is a standard and I want an auto in this one but I don't wanna be buzzing 3 grand on the freeway or switch to a 2.76 rear gear that will kill the little torque that I have on tap. What are the in's and out's of something like this? I've read a little (very little info available) on the internet on this subject.
 
You will need to do some cutting. I believe the torsion bar crossmember will need some work and the trans crossmember will need to be fabricated. I am putting a GM4l80 in my car, needed alot of the factory tunnel removed....

10.jpg
 
Im fairly certain that the a518 will not fit without major surgery. I would be very interested to know if th a500 fit with massaging and dinging.
 
yeah, that's what I've heard. In the past I have really cut up some cars/trucks but I want this one to actually look good! I got a real good welder/fabricator but the hard part is getting him to sit still long enough to do something.
 
I'll be putting the a-500 in my 72 Dart in the next month or two I'll have pics up when it goes in.
 
dustoff440 said:
Im fairly certain that the a518 will not fit without major surgery. I would be very interested to know if th a500 fit with massaging and dinging.
Click to expand...

Either tranny requires that you split the tunnel open and expand it as well as cutting out a piece of the torsion bar cross member and build a new piece around it.

The A500 or A518 are basically 904 / 727 with an OD piece bolted in place of the tail shaft. The OD section is about the same size for either tranny and that is where you need to make the clearance for them to fit.

A buddy of mine has a 67 Cuda with a 340/A518 combo. He uses the stock console floor shitfer with the car with a switch mounted to activate the OD. You can't tell by looking at the inside of the car that he cut the floor up and made the tunnel bigger.
 
I just asked this on another Mopar site and this was a link in a reply I had gotten. This was in Hot Rod Magazine in 2008/ Now take into consideration they are putting the 518 into a GTX and mounting to a 440. They are using an adapter from the company listed but the tunnel should be the same diameter and the crossmember at the same location.

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/43323_mopar_overdrive_transmission_swap/index.html

I like the pics, they show how they modified the xmbr, bottom and crossover. It looks like the crossover was removed in the hump and 1/8" flat stock was formed and welded in. As the ends of the bottom xmbr was used.
 
whitey said:
I just asked this on another Mopar site and this was a link in a reply I had gotten. This was in Hot Rod Magazine in 2008/ Now take into consideration they are putting the 518 into a GTX and mounting to a 440. They are using an adapter from the company listed but the tunnel should be the same diameter and the crossmember at the same location.

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/43323_mopar_overdrive_transmission_swap/index.html

I like the pics, they show how they modified the xmbr, bottom and crossover. It looks like the crossover was removed in the hump and 1/8" flat stock was formed and welded in. As the ends of the bottom xmbr was used.
Click to expand...
My car was done with a piece of flat stock to replace the torsion bar crossmember and then triangulated to the subframe connectors. The trans in my car is a gm4l80e, according to http://www.tciauto.com/Products/TechInfo/trans_dims.asp the a-500 is even longer (37") than the 4l80e (32 11/16")

16.jpg


32.jpg
 
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