Any advice on 727 install?

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MrDuster

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I plan to put my rebuilt 727 back in my 71 340 Duster soon. Have never done this before and am open to any lessons learned you folks might have. It's up on jacks and I plan to borrow my neighbors tranny jack. Have a friend coming over who put a tranny in his Motörhome. Thanks in advance!
 
Mark340 said:
I plan to put my rebuilt 727 back in my 71 340 Duster soon. Have never done this before and am open to any lessons learned you folks might have. It's up on jacks and I plan to borrow my neighbors tranny jack. Have a friend coming over who put a tranny in his Motörhome. Thanks in advance!
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make sure you use loctite or permatorque on the torque converter bolts. you dont want them coming loose. they are the bolts with thinner heads (picture here http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/torconhar.html)

also make sure your inspection cover is not all bent up. the bolt heads will hit it and make a heck of a racket

also there is a '71 service manual here http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=109
 
Is the '71 340 a steel or cast crank? That's the biggest issue WRT torque converter selection, then you'd want to consider the tire/gear combo and HP range for stall, etc.
 
Get car as high as you can so that the trans on the jack clears when you slide it under. Make sure all bolt holes are good in case not boogered threads nows the time to fix instead of in car . Also make sure trans is empty and convert has fuild in it and on snout.
 
Not sure if crank is steel or cast-there's no raised letters on the balancer in the front...thought I read something about cast having letters. Keith Long rebuilt this tranny and recommended a 2500 stall converter which is ready to go in. I have a one up from stock purple shaft cam, 3.23 rear, TQ, and stock manifolds--exhaust and intake. Engine was overhauled in 1996 and I haven't driven it much since then. It's a 1971 high compression motor that came with the car when i bought it in 1982 or so. original motor came apart and dealwr put thos one inand sold it to me. Plan to use it weekly for a year or so...eventually would like to freshen up the motor, but for now want to get it on the road and see how it performs. Replaced all brake line rubber, checked all brakes, cleaned radiator, new fuel pump, water pump, power steering pump, gas tank, shocks, tranission copler (going to bypass radiator-let me know what you think!),and rebuilt TQ going back on.
 
generally, if you are using a trans cooler, you route the line through the radiator first, then through the cooler then the return back to the trans (the front is the hot fluid/pressure the rear is the return)

so it's probably best to go from trans front line >>> radiator >>> out from radiator >>> cooler >>> out from cooler >>> rear line on trans

you can just bypass the radiator but at that point the cooler has to do ALL of the cooling not just part of the cooling

does the old torque converter have any balance weights on it? or if it's a flywheel that came out does it have any holes drilled out to balance it? if so you might have a cast crank. i think the original '71's were forged. so you should be ok. the front balancer should have an eccentric & lettering that says "cast crank only" if it's the externally balanced type
 
I'll be home on a couple days and will check the flywheel and converter. The reason I want to bypass the internal radiator is the lines can fail and allow water into the tranny...this happened to me in 1986. A couple folks have told me not to worry about bypassing the radiator...lets know if you or someone you know has any experience with bypassing the radiator...Thanks!
 
* When pulling the old trans and letting it down, make sure the fan doesn't hit the radiator & shroud and the distributor cap doesn't get cracked on the firewall. How soft/old your motor mounts are can affect how much the engine drops.

* I like to put a piece of 3/8" or 1/2" plywood between the center link and oil pan to protect it as well.

* Don't forget to mark the converter bolt hole & flexplate orientation. (Marker or spray paint.)

* Make sure that the new converter takes the same bolt size and they are in the same location as the originals. OEM and aftermarket have 3 different hole locations and 2 bolt sizes. (B&M flexplates cover the bases best.)

* Be careful not to pinch any of the wiring when mating the engine & trans.

* I also like to have the trans. mount/crossmember loosly attached to the trans while installing it.


* I bypassed my radiator trans cooler on my race car. A small stand-alone cooler is mounted in front of the radiator.
 
Make sure you hook the kick down linkage back up. A lesson i learned a long time ago. Your trans will burn up without it.
 
Mark340 said:
I'll be home on a couple days and will check the flywheel and converter. The reason I want to bypass the internal radiator is the lines can fail and allow water into the tranny...this happened to me in 1986. A couple folks have told me not to worry about bypassing the radiator...lets know if you or someone you know has any experience with bypassing the radiator...Thanks!
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It's not gonna hurt to bypass the radiator cooler, just make sure you have a cooler big enough to handle the cooling. I would install a trans temp gauge so you can monitor it.

Also line the converter up with the flexplate and use some spray paint and spray across the flexplate to the converter, that way when you are under there trying to line it up you don't have to fight it simply line up your spray marks and bolt it up.

When you put the torque converter in the trans make sure it seats all the way in, it won't be pretty if it doesn't.
 
Mark340 said:
It's a 1971 high compression motor that came with the car when i bought it in 1982 or so. original motor came apart and dealwr put thos one inand sold it to me.
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It should be a steel crank then, if you are saying it still has the earlier 71 engine. But considering a dealer worked on it I'd confirm. There was a change over to the low compression engine around mid '71. If you mis-match converter balance you'll be taking apart again.
 
I looked on the front balancer and there are no words on it. There appears to be a thin small weight on the old convertor and the new one in about the same location…the new one appears to have a little more weight than what I took off. The holes are the same pattern and the bolt size is the same. I did notice a small stud on the original convertor that matches up with a hole in the flex plate on the back of the engine. The new convertor does not have a stud, but there is a stamp mark near the hole that's offset…I plan to mark and the plate more conspicuous. Thanks for all the help…please let me know if you can think of anything else….I plan to put the tranny in the car the first week of March.
 
A cast crank balancer commonly has a hole or holes drilled in it. Forged balancers are solid. There may be other differences.
 
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