When I bought my 89 Dakota, it had been converted to automatic, but the original 5-speed trans came with it. This trans has a tag that reads A535, and does not have an integral bellhousing. I happened to have an OD bellhousing out of an 85 D150 slant truck, so, out of curiosity, I slid them together.

The input shaft and the front bearing retainer was the same as the 833, and the bottom bolt holes lined up.

I paid a friend to TIG the top ears of the bellhousing and drill them to match the trans.

My car is a 65 Valiant, 170, and when I compared the flywheel to the OD truck flywheel, they were identical except for the center hole to match the crank register. So I used the 65 flywheel (since it fit the engine) along with the 10" truck clutch which fit the bellhousing.

I shortened the truck clutch fork to clear the torsion bar and line up with the Z-bar.

I couldn't find the pivot that bolts to the bellhousing for the Z-bar (it's in the shed somewhere), but I had the frame bracket from the truck where the pivot ball bolts through a plate, so I cut and rewelded the plate to fit the bellhousing and locate the pivot in the proper line.

Next, I slotted the motor mount holes in the k-frame to slide the engine forward about an inch. I trimmed the front edge off of the tranny crossmember, and installed a 63-65 B-body trans mount, which sweeps back far enough to meet the mount holes in the trans. I had to drill new holes closer together in the mount, but it almost looks factory! (yeah, right)

Next came floorpan surgery. This is a toploader trans, very tall, so I had to open the whole top of the tunnel, and cut the top hoop off the crossmember. This area will be built back up and strengthened in the near future, but with the crossmember bolted in, I can't tell a difference so far.

The speedo drive ends up above the crossmember, requiring some fancy cable routing, but it's do-able. Of course, it won't accept the early speedo drive, so I'm going to install a late model cluster, drive and cable.

I had an assortment of driveshafts standing in the corner, various factory lengths, and one of them slid right in, no mods. I'll post it's length when I get a chance to measure it.

That's about it for installation. So far it's been a blast to drive, and should have no trouble handling my little G.

I was going to put 4.10 gears in it, but with the ratios in this trans, that would be way too much. It's actually doing pretty well with the 2.76 gears in there now, but I have a set of 2.93s and 3.23s that I might try.

First gear is low, like 3.8:1, so it launches pretty well (more wheelspin than I expected given the rear gears), and with the OD (.78?) and short tires (225/50/15, 23 1/2" dia), it's doing about 2200 rpm @ 70 mph.

Total cost? Well, the trans came with the truck ($200), the OD bellhousing and clutch came out of Gramma's truck when she couldn't push the clutch pedal anymore (free), tranny mount was free at the junkyard, driveshaft was a parts car leftover (?), etc. Not bad for a bunch of leftovers!

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"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

Good stuff, six. Let us know if you find the the gear ratios for that trans.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

About a million people have asked me how I put a 5 spd in my Valiant. The answer is right here! you have to measure and try and measure again. Good work 6/head! This makes 4 different 5 spd swaps I know of.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

This trans is also known as a NP2500, with these ratios;
3.79, 2.29, 1.48, 1.00, .079

_________________
O==\=/==O

"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

Thanks for the ratios. 3.23 is about the tallest gear I'd run with that trans, but that should work quite well.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988