And so it begins,,,,,, 5-speed Duster swap!

-
jbc426 said:
I'll know in the next 48 hours, and post here..
Click to expand...
Sorry to report that I'm delayed in determining if the 4L60 will fit where a 200R4 had been in service for years.

I'm swapping my N/A 408 & 2004R into a '57 Dodge D100 swapped onto a shortened Dodge Dakota frame and stuffing a fresh blown 408 & 4L60E into my '68 Barracuda. I had to separate the transmission from the motor to drop it into the Dakota frame because of the Kevco truck oil pan I'm running.

I've attached 2 more pics to show the size differences are not too different. The black trans is the Extreme Automatics Stage 2 with a bolt on Reid Bell housing. The silver color transmission is from Performabuilt Stage 2 4L60E with a six-pinion, higher 1st gear set.

20240912_082846.jpg


20240911_124259.jpg


Heart.png


20240721_174212.jpg
 
Last edited:
Icetech said:
yeah i would want a 6spd.. but damn
Click to expand...

Even if you had to only cut 60% of that to get a TKX in, you're already doing all the hard work of cutting and welding so an extra 40% really isn't a big deal one you're already dug into the job.
 
Finally got a chance to work on the 5-speed swap this weekend. I was able too cut the bottom out of the original trans crossmember. The energy suspension T5 trans mount fit in perfectly. I bent a 3/8 piece of steal for the trans mount to sit on, and welded it to this crossmember. I am going to weld a piece of 3/8” steal to the back side of the original trans mount, to help the rigidity of the OE torsion bar crossmember. My machinist has a water jet, so I’m going to have him cut the 3/8” steal.

IMG_3590.jpeg


IMG_3591.jpeg


IMG_3592.jpeg


IMG_3593.jpeg


IMG_3594.jpeg
 
My plan for the 46rh is to remove hump section of cross member and modify out of te car
 
I got the 3/8” steel plate cut, drilled, and welded to the trans crossmember and boxed in the front side of the crossmember. Should be plenty strong. I fitted it into the car. Seems to fit well. Time to take it back out and put some paint on it!

IMG_3613.jpeg


IMG_3638.jpeg


IMG_3639.jpeg


IMG_3640.jpeg


IMG_3641.jpeg


IMG_3642.jpeg


IMG_3643.jpeg


IMG_3644.jpeg


IMG_3645.jpeg
 
I realized today that I forgot to make a hole for the speedometer cable. The Tremec speedo hole ended up right in the middle of the torsion bar crossmember. So I ended up grinding some paint off and cutting a hole. After another trial fit, it looks like it should work just fine. I plan on taking some rubber hose and putting it around the cable where it passes through the trans crossmember, so it won’t rub through. I also picked up some grade 8 bolts, for when the transmission goes in for the final time!

IMG_3655.png


IMG_3656.png


IMG_3657.jpeg
 
I took a few minutes and fitted the shifter today. I’ll probably make a steal spacer and put between the shifter handle and the shifter, to space it towards the driver a little. I may even taper the spacer a little to lean the shifter towards the driver a little.

IMG_3738.jpeg


IMG_3739.png
 
Measuring bellhousing runout is much more complicated than I anticipated! But I think I’ve got it figured out. I made 4 marks around the opening of the bellhousing, I zeroed the dial indicator at the starting point, I stopped at all 4 spots, writing the gauge reading on the bellhousing, ending up with zero at the spot I started. The largest reading was directly across of the starting point, with only 3.5 thousands. If I’m doing it right, I should be well within Tremec specs.

IMG_3749.jpeg


IMG_3747.jpeg


IMG_3748.jpeg
 
darndart said:
Measuring bellhousing runout is much more complicated than I anticipated! But I think I’ve got it figured out. I made 4 marks around the opening of the bellhousing, I zeroed the dial indicator at the starting point, I stopped at all 4 spots, writing the gauge reading on the bellhousing, ending up with zero at the spot I started. The largest reading was directly across of the starting point, with only 3.5 thousands. If I’m doing it right, I should be well within Tremec specs.

View attachment 1716322980

View attachment 1716322981

View attachment 1716322982
Click to expand...
I think that's acceptable.
 
I got the Tremec hopefully mounted in the Duster for the last time. This is the first time I’ve put in with the clutch assembly installed. It went smooth and seems to line up perfectly. All of the clutch linkage fit nice and seems to work smooth. I’m pretty impressed with the Lakewood bellhousing in the kit form. It pretty much comes with everything but the clutch arm. It’s got all new good quality bolts, 2 different clutch arm pivots, boot for the clutch arm and inspection cover!

IMG_3835.png


IMG_3829.jpeg


IMG_3834.jpeg


IMG_3833.jpeg


IMG_3828.jpeg


IMG_3830.jpeg


IMG_3831.jpeg


IMG_3832.jpeg


IMG_3826.jpeg
 
I know it’s cheating, but I decided to fill the trans before I bolted the shifter down. I went with a Steeda Tri-Ax. I heard they are one of the better shifters for these transmissions.

IMG_3883.jpeg


IMG_3884.jpeg
 
darndart said:
I got the Tremec hopefully mounted in the Duster for the last time. This is the first time I’ve put in with the clutch assembly installed. It went smooth and seems to line up perfectly. All of the clutch linkage fit nice and seems to work smooth. I’m pretty impressed with the Lakewood bellhousing in the kit form. It pretty much comes with everything but the clutch arm. It’s got all new good quality bolts, 2 different clutch arm pivots, boot for the clutch arm and inspection cover!

View attachment 1716328309

View attachment 1716328310

View attachment 1716328311

View attachment 1716328312

View attachment 1716328313

View attachment 1716328314

View attachment 1716328315

View attachment 1716328316

View attachment 1716328317
Click to expand...
you got lucky with that bell i have one thats .056 out and they sent me a second thats .046 out
 
I finally got a chance to work on the Duster this weekend. I picked up a new set of Doug’s header’s on Black Friday sale and got a sweet deal. But I will say, I am not very impressed with their fitment. The car previously had a warmed up 340 with ported J heads and TTI headers, they fit amazing with no issues. I built a new 340 with Edelbrock aluminum heads. The coating on the TTI headers was flaking off in multiple places so I decided to buy the new Doug’s headers and save the TTI‘s for another project. In hindsight, I should’ve just had the TTI‘s recoated. I got the passenger side Doug’s header in without denting any tubes, but it is within 3/8 of an inch from the torsion bar on one pipe. The driver side is a whole Nother story. I installed a new Borson small sector power steering box. I elongated the mounting holes to .810 to allow the box to slide away from the engine about 3/8” for extra clearance of the header tubes. After having the steering box and header in and out about 5 or 6 times, I ended up still having to put a small dent in one of the tubes going by the box. I also had to put dings in two more of the tubes because they were touching the torsion bar. There still is only about 1/4” of clearance, so hopefully they won’t bang against the torsion bar with the engine running. Now that they’re in I need to get the exhaust hooked up and order up a new driveshaft. I also had to modify the Z-bar for clearance, it fit perfectly with the TTI headers.

IMG_4640.jpeg


IMG_4639.jpeg


IMG_4642.jpeg


IMG_4641.jpeg


IMG_4621.jpeg


IMG_4622.jpeg


IMG_4620.jpeg


IMG_4644.png


IMG_4580.jpeg


IMG_4579.jpeg
 
I decided to replace my exhaust system before I let the car down off of the hoist. I bought a Jeg’s exhaust pipe kit for A-bodies back in 2013, finally get to use it. It’s 2 1/2 inch Mandrell bent pipes, that goes basically from the headers all the way out to the rear bumper. I definitely had to do a little cutting and welding, but all in all it fit pretty well. I finished up the driver side, now I need to get the passenger side done..

IMG_4738.jpeg


IMG_4741.jpeg


IMG_4760.jpeg


IMG_4759.jpeg


IMG_4762.jpeg


IMG_4761.jpeg


IMG_4764.jpeg


IMG_4765.jpeg


IMG_4766.jpeg
 
Nice! I have dumps now but I've been thinking if I want to go out the side or the back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top