K.O. SWINGER
Meeting in the alley since 1976
I have a 350 1 tone 1992 van, la roller 360 with a 3 speed overdrive automatic transmission. my question is this a good trans for high performance or not
van trans.help please
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AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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It's a great tranny! And it has great ratios, when the rear gear is stepped up to make use of the O/D.
But it's not a bolt-in to any A-body,sorry,
It also works best with a lower-rpm engine.As in not a long-period street cam. But for something with plenty of low rpm grunt, and say a power peak around 5000, it can be a real asset. It will motor down the hiway at about 65mph=2200 with 3.91s. WINNER!
A 727 based unit with a 2.45 low gear will thius have a starter gear of 2.45 x 3.91 =9.58. With a TC kicking in another 5 to 10 %, that is a dynomite starter gear. 5800 =50 mph,about perfect.
But it's not a bolt-in for an A-body.
But it's not a bolt-in to any A-body,sorry,
It also works best with a lower-rpm engine.As in not a long-period street cam. But for something with plenty of low rpm grunt, and say a power peak around 5000, it can be a real asset. It will motor down the hiway at about 65mph=2200 with 3.91s. WINNER!
A 727 based unit with a 2.45 low gear will thius have a starter gear of 2.45 x 3.91 =9.58. With a TC kicking in another 5 to 10 %, that is a dynomite starter gear. 5800 =50 mph,about perfect.
But it's not a bolt-in for an A-body.
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K.O. SWINGER
Meeting in the alley since 1976
thanks for the info AJ it works great in the van but i wounder about its possible hot rod application.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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There are several fellows here on FABO that have managed to stuff the A518 into A-bodies. The A500 truck tranny is basically a 727 from the tail section forward but the back is pretty fat and does not fit into the tunnel without a lot of mods to the floorpan and crossmember. Other than that the older non electronic shift models are a gem.
I once read an article where a fella had installed an a A500 with the wide ratios, and had used the overdrive unit as a splitter. The ratios aren't the best. They are (splitter in red), 2.74-1.89-1.54-1.06-1.00-.69od with splits of .69-.81-.69-.94-.69 but he was stoked! The overdrive section of the A500 is identical to the A518.
With a 350 horse engine or so, I can see this working pretty nicely with 4.30s say. This would get you 102 mph@5800 in 2nd over, and still cruise with a final drive of 2.97 , which could be 65=2400rpm
The starter gear of 11.78 plus TC hit would blast you off pretty good, and the fairly tight splits would put down a lot of average hp. I had thought of doing just that a few years ago. In the end I bought a GV, instead and kept my A833.
I once read an article where a fella had installed an a A500 with the wide ratios, and had used the overdrive unit as a splitter. The ratios aren't the best. They are (splitter in red), 2.74-1.89-1.54-1.06-1.00-.69od with splits of .69-.81-.69-.94-.69 but he was stoked! The overdrive section of the A500 is identical to the A518.
With a 350 horse engine or so, I can see this working pretty nicely with 4.30s say. This would get you 102 mph@5800 in 2nd over, and still cruise with a final drive of 2.97 , which could be 65=2400rpm
The starter gear of 11.78 plus TC hit would blast you off pretty good, and the fairly tight splits would put down a lot of average hp. I had thought of doing just that a few years ago. In the end I bought a GV, instead and kept my A833.
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fishy68
Tyr Fryr's Inc.
Do you know if it's a lockup version or non-lockup? Could be either. The non-lockups are preferred because of a much greater converter selection, but even a lockup isn't bad. As mentioned above their only real con is their bulk. I'm not even sure if they'll fit in another body style (E-B-C) without cross member modification.
To be clear K.O.SWINGER, the A518 is a 727 from the tailshaft forward, the A500 is a 904/998/999 from the tailshaft forward. While it may be tempting to run the 4.30's &
even use the splitting technique, an A body can go pretty fast on the top end w/a final drive of 2.97:1 and 350 REAL horses, a dangerous situation w/a driveshaft speed that
high will develop. Even if your engine ran out of pull on the top end at 5500, the prop shaft will be pushing 8000 rpm's, You'd better count on one up to the task.
even use the splitting technique, an A body can go pretty fast on the top end w/a final drive of 2.97:1 and 350 REAL horses, a dangerous situation w/a driveshaft speed that
high will develop. Even if your engine ran out of pull on the top end at 5500, the prop shaft will be pushing 8000 rpm's, You'd better count on one up to the task.
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