My 65 Dart with Featherduster OD uses original early A body shift linkage successfully.

I haven't found that linkage yet for my daughter's 65 Dart with OD.

Brewer's has 68 & up A body 4 speed linkage available.

Has anyone tried Brewer's linkage in an early A body with OD?

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1965 Dart 125k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exhaust., sbp manual scare-bird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 15 x 4.5 wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throw-out bearing, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump.

I think the only difference is that the tab for the 3-4 selector on the trans is turned up side down. It will point the opposite direction from the way the 1-2 selector points. IIRC the front one (1-2) points down, and the rear one points up. This reverses the direction of rotation on the 3-4 lever. You should be able to take the 4 speed linkage and make it work by doing so.

Sam

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Comparing:
1)Brewer's picture of their 68 & up 4 speed linkage to
2)65 normal 4 speed linkage

I see a noticeable difference in the reverse linkage

The 65 linkage has a 90 degree bend just under the shifter while the Brewer's 68 & up linkage has a 45 deg.

I would think that the 45 deg is stronger however it must come close to the crossmember.

Only someone who has tried putting the 68 & up linkage in a 65 would know if it clears the crossmember in the reverse (not engaged) position

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1965 Dart 125k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exhaust., sbp manual scare-bird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 15 x 4.5 wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throw-out bearing, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump.

I'm sorry. I misunerstood your question. I thought ou were asking for a comparison of the standard 4 speed and the OD. I don't know the difference between the early and late regarding the reverse linkage. Anybody else know? Reverse never takes the hit that the others do, so the linkage would not have to be as strong.
Could you fab the reverse one yourself? Can you bend the later one to fit?
Sam

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Simply bending the Brewer's reverse link from 45 deg to 90 deg will result in a shorter link....by approximately 2.5 inch.

If someone tried this I'd be interested in knowing if there was enough extra on the link adjustment to accomodate this.

Cutting the link after bending it and adding threads & a coupling would gain extra length if one was deseperate.

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1965 Dart 125k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exhaust., sbp manual scare-bird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 15 x 4.5 wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throw-out bearing, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump.

Years ago I had a '66 Dart with a later model 4 speed and linkage. Everything bolted right in without any problems. The bigger problem was getting the later model bell housing to work with the '66s clutch linkage.

I have two different clutch fork lengths for spare parts & found on the first 65 Dart installation that the shorter length was required in order to avoid hitting the torsion bar.

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1965 Dart 125k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exhaust., sbp manual scare-bird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 15 x 4.5 wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throw-out bearing, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump.

Actually the problem was the length of the bell crank and the piviot points on the bell housing and the frame rail.

Neither the late model nor early model bell crank will work with the late model bell housing and early model frame. You need to cut and weld or create a new one.

The pivot points don't match up, the one for the early bell housing won't bolt onto the later bell housing and the later pivot sits too high.

I also found two different length bellhousing pivot brackets...one off a 85 truck and another off a volare.

I selected the shorter bracket, put a small bend in it, & the pivot ended up relatively parallel to the firewall which has worked fine.

The first conversion also used the truck z bar since I didn't have access to a stock 65 z bar. I had to reweld one arm of the z bar to correctly position it.

Now that I have located a 65 z bar & compared it to the truck z bar it's obvious the truck z bar has greater strength since the diameter & thickness is larger.

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1965 Dart 125k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exhaust., sbp manual scare-bird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 15 x 4.5 wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throw-out bearing, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump.

It sounds like you are making progress. I expect you will work out the kinds with a little time and attention to one thing at a time.

Sam

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