Part 9
Ok, we have the power production portion of the go fast requirement covered in nauseating detail so we will move on with the rest of the drive train. With the engine installation pretty much handled it was time to finally decide what transmission was going to replace the original twin cable shifted 904 auto. I had seriously considered a 4 speed and hacking the floor to get it installed even though that would have violated every guideline I had put into place on this project. About this time fate stepped in and the decision was made for me. Lets be honest with ourselves, many times what parts fall in our laps dictate the direction our projects head, and this was no exception. By pure luck one of my two best friends had decided that it was time to get serious with his car and totally dedicate it to the drag strip (9 second goal). To that end the car was taken back to a shell and everything removed was sold. He had a sweet little trans, just recently rebuilt with top of the line goodies, and offered it to me for a song. Its a A999, which is a late model A904 beefed up for medium-heavy duty use. It has additional clutch plates and lower ratio 1st & 2nd gear sets. In addition this trans had Kevlar friction plates, manual reverse pattern valve body, deep sump chrome oil pan and all new bearings and seals. It was built for drag racing behind a 425 horse 360. $250. Needless to say I couldnt get the money in his hands fast enough. Prior to all this happening I had already picked up an 8 ¼ axle out of a 75 Valiant 4 door my other friend was parting out for $125. I placed an order through a Mopar Performance dealer in Spokane, were we got a 10% racers discount and free shipping, for the following:
3.55 gear set - $189.20
Sure Grip unit - $277.20
Bearing and seal kit - $99.95
SFI flex plate - $27.50
Torque converter bolts - $17.50
MP 166K torque converter - $184.80
Just for informational purposes for the early A cohort: any A body 8 ¼ axle is 1 ½ narrower than the stock 7 ¼. Not only is it a much stronger bolt in replacement but it allows you to maximize the stock wheel well for bigger tires with another easy mod I will describe when we get to the suspension upgrades.
This brings up a little tidbit of trivia that supports the previous owners account of the history of this little blue bullet. While I was removing the original rear axle I was having a dickens of a time getting the passenger side brake drum off. The drivers side had slid off easy as pie but the other side was like it was welded together. Turns out this was not far from the truth. After quite a while of poking, prodding and prying with several flat blade screwdrivers the drum literally popped off whatever was holding on to it. What greeted my eyes was a horrible sight. The brake shoes, devoid of any lining material had very nearly cut their way completely through the drum and the resultant groove was the cause of the hang up. I broke out a lawn chair and a cold one and proceeded to give some thought as to why someone would ride the brakes into oblivion like that. Anyone who has driven into Yakima, WA. from the north on the freeway is familiar with the very looooong steep grade that brings you down off the upper plateau into the valley. The story went that the car had broken down and was towed and then abandoned due to impound fees. Obviously the passenger side shoes must have given up the ghost and were ridden metal on metal for most of that decent. Kind of fun doing a little detective work (besides quenching your thirst).
The next item on the drive train list was the drive shaft. I took an old shaft I had into NW Drive Shaft, a company who had built several for me previously, to get shortened and rebalanced. Once again luck was riding on my shoulder. As they were welding the shaft back together they blew a hole in it and rather than jury rig it they decided to replaced the shaft with new heavier tubing. For the price of shortening, balancing and new U joints I got a completely new HD shaft. For anyone looking in the Tacoma area for this kind of work these guys have my A#1 recommendation. A new polyurethane transmission mount, $74.95 (owch!), and a universal drive shaft loop (heavily modified) from Summit round out the drive train work. I guess I should explain what I did to the safety loop. It hung much too low for my tastes so I sliced off about 1 ½ from the leg of each half and redrilled the holes to shorten the hoop approx. 3. I then cut off and shortened the mounting ears and welded them back on at an angle. This did two things for me; moved the hoop forward and it followed the floor pan's shape much better. I then removed the much too small seat mounting studs from the rear of the seat rails and drilled them and the floor holes out for larger hardware to mount the drive shaft loop. Its a much more compact arrangement now.
Other items of interest in pics: Bolt in tubular subframe connectors (to be covered under suspension), drive shaft safety loop, poly trans mount, chrome diff cover (another Xmas gift from one of my suppliers). Nothing (trans oil pan, exhaust, drive shaft loop) under the car hangs any lower than the subframe connectors.
