Ultimate A-500

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I decided to send my transmission off to a reputable trans shop. He was recommended to me by a couple Mopar buddies that had him build race trannies for them as well as cruiser trannies. I decided to go with a stock type rebuild with a Transgo shift kit and use the stock converter at least for now. The shop owner seemed to know his stuff told me that the TC that would have come in this truck trans was a bit higher stall so I will see how it works once I get my gears and everything else set up. I do my own work, so if I need to yank the trans down to change the TC at some point then so be it, but I think it should be fine for how I intend to use the car. Now I need to deal with building myself a crossmember and getting the driveshaft shortened. I already have all the parts needed for 3/8 cooler lines and an external cooler as well as a couple pressure switches and a vacuum switch for the OD shifting.

The way I see it, if the centerline of the output shaft on the A-500 is the same height (floor to center of shaft) as it is currently on the A-998 that should keep the u-joints at compatible angles even though those angles will be slightly greater because of the shorter driveshaft. Any thoughts on this?

Cley
 
I have a long-tail A833 in my combo with a lowered ride height.I also have a GVOD hanging off the back of that long-tail.I reset the pinion angle, when I narrowed the rear, and moved the springs in. But I didn't get it quite right. I installed shims from the kit that Mopar had for this purpose.
All good now.
mostly
lol.
My driveshaft is very very short. IIRC,a little under 3 ft

I think you will eventually have to do the shim thing too; time will tell.
 
89on35s said:
Did yours vibrate or what was the problem with it?

Cley
Click to expand...
Well I wouldn't call it a vibration....exactly; so much as an annoying whoop-whoop.
With the overdrive 65 is 2230rpm. And it had that; gentle, undulating, annoying, little chassis exciter, that I couldn't trace to anything. I have pretty soft street springs, and no traction-aid,so I had a lot of nose-down on my pinion, so that the HO-360 would yank it up to near zero when standing on it. But one day, I figured, you know what? this beast has no traction anyway, so I'm gonna give up some of that nose-down and see what happens. Presto!
 
89on35s said:
I decided to send my transmission off to a reputable trans shop. He was recommended to me by a couple Mopar buddies that had him build race trannies for them as well as cruiser trannies. I decided to go with a stock type rebuild with a Transgo shift kit and use the stock converter at least for now. The shop owner seemed to know his stuff told me that the TC that would have come in this truck trans was a bit higher stall so I will see how it works once I get my gears and everything else set up. I do my own work, so if I need to yank the trans down to change the TC at some point then so be it, but I think it should be fine for how I intend to use the car. Now I need to deal with building myself a crossmember and getting the driveshaft shortened. I already have all the parts needed for 3/8 cooler lines and an external cooler as well as a couple pressure switches and a vacuum switch for the OD shifting.

The way I see it, if the centerline of the output shaft on the A-500 is the same height (floor to center of shaft) as it is currently on the A-998 that should keep the u-joints at compatible angles even though those angles will be slightly greater because of the shorter driveshaft. Any thoughts on this?

Cley
Click to expand...

That should work out just fine, and is exactly what I went through with mine and it's just fine.

When I shortened my driveshaft for putting the A500 behind my Magnum motor I used pressure switches off the trans governor port for the OD and lockup shifts.
This 90 degree fitting coming off the port was keeping the trans tail from going up far enough, so I ended up dinging the floor board on the passengers side of the hump about a half inch right where the fitting needed to be.
It's between the seats anyway, so you can't tell any difference inside the car through the carpet.
Once I did that I modded my trans mount a bit to bring the tail up higher.
I could have used spacers between the trans and mount, but shortening the drop of the spool mount helped a bit on ground clearance. (my spool mount scraped speed bumps sometimes)

If you are going to use adjustable pressure switches, you might consider doing what I did.
I ran a section of cooler line up the back of the trans from the governor port to a bracket on the back of the intake where the two switches mount, so I don't have to get under the car for the shift speed adjustments.
When I was first looking into this I saw lots of people putting the switches on a bracket under some of the pan rail bolts.
Not only was I concerned about the switches getting damaged, but a guy would have to get under the car to make any adjustments. (No thanks):D
This way I can reach in there, pop the rubber caps off, and make my adjustments.

switches.jpg
 
89on35s said:
@TrailBeast your OD and LU control system is like what I intend to do. Do you have photos of your transmission cross member?

Cley
Click to expand...

I don't have a pic of it I don't think but it was simple as could be with the spool mount.
If I can explain this.:D

The two ends of the crossmember where the bolts go through I left on the car, and cut the crossmember center out.
Then I used 1/8 x 3 plate and fabbed two pieces that I welded to the bolted parts angled in towards the center and then straight down.
I drilled the holes for the big cross through bolt for the spool and reinforced the holes with 3/4 washers.
I have a drawing of it I can post in a min here. (that I can't find right now)

The Wife is bugging me to take her to the store, so even if I have to draw it again I will and get back to you on it.
 
89on35s said:
Make the wife happy first! I appreciate any help you can provide.

Cley
Click to expand...

You got that right.

Anyway, I drew up a quick image of it that should give a good idea.
Note that there ended up being only one bolt hole left on the drivers side because I had to trim that side back to make the opening wide enough for the OD section.

crossmember.jpg
 
Well, I got my transmission back from the shop on Friday. I worked about 4 hours Friday and almost all day Sunday on it. I got the 998 out and all the stuff transferred over to the A-500. Then I got the A-500 bolted to the engine and shoved up into the tunnel where it should go before life got in the way and I had to quit for the night. So far I am very happy with how things are working out. I eyeballed the trans cross member mods required and am confident that it should be no problem. Still lots to do, but so far so good!

Cley
 
I also am doing this swap, but opted for the US Car Tool cross member it was a bit pricey at $250, but I didn't feel like my fab skills were up to the task. I am body and paint stage right now, so looking forward to seeing another install. Take lots of pics! :D
 
I am thinking about that for that exact reason. I like to use what I have but I may use a Chevy mount to keep it from hanging so low just as you suggested.

Cley
 
I am having Dynamic Converters rebuild my A500 and modifying the stock converter for increased stall. This is going behind my 66 273/235 motor in my 65 Dart wagon. I'm sure I will have to open my trans tunnel and enlarge the upper crossmember more than you guys who have a 67-up. We shall see!
 
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I had the guy that rebuilt mine loosen up my convertor too. I'm curious where it will flash to.
Cley
 
Sean at Dynamic said a stock lockup converter can be reworked to flash around 2400 or so. We shall see!
 
That's about what my guy said too, but it can vary due to many different factors, so I will see how it works when the roads dry up.

Cley
 
Let us know how yours does as it will be awhile before I get the engine and transmission in
 
Got lots done with my cross member today. I cut my original in 3 pieces and dropped the center 2.5" so I could reuse my factory spool type trans mount.
20180323_101958.jpg

I modified the factory trans mount by shortening it and welding a piece of the original truck mount to the top of it. It is flipped backwards too.
20180323_110821.jpg


20180323_104853.jpg


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Here's my modified cross member. Welds don't look the best but they are strong. I may add some more bracing. Not sure.
20180323_145226.jpg

Cley
 
Well, after I realized how chicken **** my modified cross member was, I decided to use what I learned from it as a template for a new one fabbed from scratch. It resulted in 1.5” more clearance from the bottom of the cross member to the ground and a way stronger cross member.
I don’t have proper tools for cutting the metal, but with some patience I was able to get it done with a chop saw, jigsaw and metal blades, cut off wheels for the angle grinder and die grinder and time. This is really cheap and easy to do. I used my Hobart Handler 140 flux core welder which is good for max 3/16”, but I was able to get at all of it from both sides so it is definitely strong enough. The final shape differs slightly from what is shown below as this is taken from the original modded mount where the new fabbed mount is 1 1/2" shallower.
20180407_155743.jpg

I used a Trans mount from a T-350 Chevy Trans common in lots of 70s cars and I don’t know what else. I needed to egg out the mounting holes a little to get it to bolt on, but it was no big deal.
20180408_123729.jpg

I have a bit more grinding and clean up to do, as well as finish boxing in the bottom but I test fitted it several times during the fab process so I know I will be happy with it when done.
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20180408_174552.jpg

I could have left a bit more metal in the U portion that surrounds the transmission, so I'll trace my plates once done and add the additional beef to the templates. Anyone interested in the templates is welcome to them when they are done.

Cley
 
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