Frankenstein A833 or something rare?

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zpsull01

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I recently picked up an a-body a-833 in a trade. It didn’t have any operating levers, shift arms, or shifter but it was a ‘76 aluminum case, 23 spline, and 5.125” ibr so I assumed it was an overdrive unit and I was ok with that. I shuffled it around the garage a few days before noticing the side cover was a ball/detent style cover making this a 64-70 cover and not correct for an OD unit. This got me thinking about the aluminum case and the possibility that this was a pieced together unit for weight savings. Especially after I saw the car this came from was an old race car with a fiberglass nose and doors as well as lexan windows. So I decided to check the gearing, and sure enough my suspicions were correct. It appears to have 2.66, 1.91, 1.39, 1.0 gear set. But if this was a pieced together unit is there a chance it has the 2.65, 1.93 gearing from an 18 spline unit and the input shaft was changed to match the larger bearing retainer for the aluminum case? Is it worth opening up and checking for the grooves on the cluster and speed gears or is it even possible to swap input shafts in this manner? So do I have some Frankensteined 4 speed or something special? Also note it has a 30 spline output shaft.

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It's a 1977, you have to take the side cover off to see what gear set it has.
 
You have to change the whole gear set, but you wont know what it is till you pull the side cover, it's very easy to do then take a picture and post it.
 
Go to Brewers web site and they have a page on how to I.D. gear sets
 
If its been raced the inside could be trashed. You've shown us Pandora's box, now open it up!!
 
Here are the pictures. It has the 2.66 gear set. It appears to be in decent shape from what I can tell, let me know if I’m wrong.

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I've often replaced a broken case with whatever I pulled off the pile.
The points show a lotta wear.
Drop and check the countershaft/shaft bearing surfaces, if their good, new syncros, a refresh, and you may have a good trans.
 
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My memory forgets, but I don't think any of the 18 spline stuff goes with any of the 23 spline. The helix was different on some gearsets, I do know that
 
It's a four speed gear set in an overdrive case, is my guess, and they subbed in (or kept) the superior detent setup. I'm betting the case is bushed for the counter shaft?

I've considered doing that for my car, honestly, and keep meaning to ask what's involved
 
jos51700 said:
It's a four speed gear set in an overdrive case, is my guess, and they subbed in (or kept) the superior detent setup. I'm betting the case is bushed for the counter shaft?

I've considered doing that for my car, honestly, and keep meaning to ask what's involved
Click to expand...

I doubt that one is bushed based on the use of the stock shift levers and other parts. It's not set up like a race transmission. They probably just swapped the guts straight out of an iron case 833, if it was a 308 bearing iron case it's a straight swap over.

As for the bushed shafts, there's an article on it here
A-833 Aluminum Case Buildup - Mopar Muscle Magazine

That said, I've heard of more than a few 833 OD's doing just fine behind big blocks without any improvements. And the OD's I've seen haven't had countershaft issues. Now, I'm not saying they don't happen or that the one they build up in the article didn't have issues. But for the most part the bad rap the 833 OD's get is undeserved in my opinion. The gear spread is really wide though, which is probably more the reason they aren't used more often. They're good for a cruiser, but not really great for any kind of performance application because of the gearing.
 
In my Navy days I broke the 3-4 shift fork in my 18 spline V code '70RR on a Friday afternoon at the start of a long 3 day weekend in San Diego. (Stationed at NAS Miramar). So I crawled under, pulled the cover, extracted the broken pieces, and had to drive around all long weekend......locally......in 1st and 2nd gear
 
The OD transmissions will take more torque than you might think. Their "weakness" is a widely and incorrectly accepted myth. While they are not as strong as their non ID counterparts, they'll hold up pretty well.
 
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