I just got a 4 speed transmission, bell housing, clutch, flywheel, and shifter out of a 1975 featherduster at a flea market. I am planning on putting it into my 1964 valiant which has a 170 and a 904. I was wondering if anyone else has done this swap and has any insight into something I might be missing. I know that i need to get a pedal assembly, shorten the drive shaft, and get the clutch linkage. Is there anything else i should be thinking about. Will the trans crossmember be the same? and is the crank drilled for the input shaft? I know that i need to get a new clutch and throwout bearing at least and I'm missing the shifter rods from the shifter to the trans but that is everything i can think of that i would need. I'm hoping to get everything together so the car wont be out of commission very long because i drive it almost everyday. I'm looking forward to having the overdrive and boosting my gas mileage. I'm hoping to hit 28-30 mpg.

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1964 Plymouth Valiant 4 door V200
170 slant six

1996 Dodge Dakota 318

1953 Willys Pickup-= V8 Conversion project

This is a good definition of fun:

To complete this conversion:

You already have the bellhousing, tranny and shifter (with shift stick?).

Sounds like you need the shift rods, stick boot, linkage/Z-bar, pedals, and floor hump (unless you pull a THOR and just ride with a cut open tranny tunnel)

Things that will be problematic:

Your crank is an early 60's so the late flywheel will fit but not center well, you will need a ring to put between the crank hub and inner race of the flywheel opening to keep it centered...alternately you can swap to a 1968-1969 170 crank (not worth it). You'll need to get the flywheel cleaned resurfaced for the new clutch. Check to make sure all the ring teeth are intact as there are no replacements for these save another flywheel.

The configuration of the early Z-bar vs. the late bellhousing will mean you need the brackets and Z-bar from a 63-66 3 or 4 speed car and pedal linkage for that, if you use the late linkage you will need to make some adjustments as the late motor mounts sit the engine/tranny combination differently than the sandwich mount cars and the Z-bar index hole in the late A-bodies is in a slightly different location.

New clips and bushings for the linkage can be had at Brewer's. Shift boot and bezels should be available if needed as well.

You'll need to find a floor hump to screw and caulk in, or have a buddy weld it in place (can be done after installing the tranny so located the hump compared to the shifter location).

I'd also think that your drive shaft is a Ball and Trunnion version? If so you will need a 1967-1976 drive shaft equivalent to your car (Dart vs. Valiant...late 4 door wheelbase vs. scamp/duster/etc...), if the OD tranny didn't come with the slip yoke, you'll need to count the splines and see if you need the A-904/A-230/Late A-833OD yoke or the larger A-727/Early A-833OD/Truck A-833OD/etc yoke.

You might also have the box gone through and checked as most of these were hammered in daily driving and the input shaft bearing can be toast among other little things that if you installed it and it made some nasty noises (can full of rocks/squelling/etc), you'll be pulling it back out and redoing it before it leaves you stranded...Checking the fluid in the case will tell you a few things as well.

One thing to note on this is the wide ratio the tranny has lends itself to be more compatible with the torque of the 225, so to make it stay in the power band without it lugging or stalling out you may need to over shoot your rpms before shifting. You probably also have a 2.94's in the rear and with that ratio the OD only comes in at about 55mph at the lowest so all the gas savings for the tranny are on the highway, things will get better if a kinder ratio can be had (3.55 is a good all around for the OD box-final ratio and ease of letting off the clutch on the street, 3.23 is OK as well and easier to find..).

Another item to address is the carb calibration, with the change in tranny gearing ratio your current carb may not be 100% correct for the application...the Carter BBS may not react well if you drop into gear and lug the engine in the carb's transition circuit instead of it's main metering system (and if the vacc reading is down enough you'll lose the gas savings by having the power valve open more times than not).

Just make sure that you have some of these technical considerations under your belt before doing the swap and then wondering why the driveability and gas savings are not at your expectations.

Good Luck on the swap. Hopefully you got the 1976 aluminum case unit instead of the 1975 Iron cased unit...






-D.Idiot

"Lunchtime's over..."

Thanks for the great information. Yes I have the shifter with the stick. Just no shift rods. I'm not worried about any little welding or fabrication since that will be not problem.

Are these rings available anywhere? or does anyone have dimensions. I have a lathe so i can make it no problem if i have to. The driveshaft on my car is the ball and trunion style but my dad has a bunch of driveshafts from his 66 dart so i was going to steal one of them and cut it to fit.

As for the transmission i was going to open it up and check over it anyway. Ive rebuilt a mp435 before so im assuming its not much different than that? I think i will be ok as far as the gear ratio goes because if i remember correctly my car has 3.23 in it(its been a while since i've had the cover off) and i do a lot of hoghway driving and at 65-70 which is keeping with traffic im between 3200-3300 rpm. I figure with the overdrive i should drop to around 2500 which i think will still be ok.

I dont have an issue with playing with the carb, but i didnt think that carters had powervalves? I thought only the holleys have those...

And yea the trans is an aluminum case, so its not out of a 1975 feather duster i guess then haha.

Just curious i got this setup for a little less than 300 bucks. Is that a pretty good deal? I thought it was so i jumped on it.

Thanks for the help

_________________
1964 Plymouth Valiant 4 door V200
170 slant six

1996 Dodge Dakota 318

1953 Willys Pickup-= V8 Conversion project

That'd do the job and the dart driveshaft is longer so no worries on being too short there. If you have a lathe it just needs to fit over the ID of your crank register and inside the ID of the flywheel hole.
There are some nuances of the A-833 that are different than the rockcrusher tranny, make sure to get a late field manual and check the articles section at the beginning of the board. You'll need a gasket set for the tranny, although the "goop" method is a sure thing on the side cover on the aluminum housings due to warpage.
It's a little different than that, if you are using 205/70R14's with a 3.23 rear it'll be at 2193 rpm at 70 mph....at 2500 you're at 80 mph...remember there's slippage in the auto trany rpm calc vs. the manual tranny. Smaller tires will work great for this, though.

Don't forget also that your early 60's A904 tranny speedo gear is not compatible with the late tranny, so you'll have to hunt for a gear that is calc'd to your tire size and rear ratio. Another good point here is the speedo cable, make sure you have something that will work with the new tranny and older speedo.
That would be a holley term but all carbs have an economizer or power enrichment system to dump more fuel in when the engine vacuum lowers to meet load/demand...for carter this is regulated by the spring and piston setup for the metering rod...which I'm not sure if you can make this change in a BBS using the newer AFB metering rods like the later BBD's can to modify this enrichment in case the 170 feels underpowered or the rpms fall out of the main metering. Stock manual tranny cars also were equipped with a dashpot to keep the throttle open if the person let off the gas but left it in gear...this puts a high load on the engine which is expecting main metering gas vs. idle setting minimal gas...if too lean you get backfiring or "shooting ducks" which will hole a piston at some point or destroy something else, so make sure that if this occurs you bump up the transition and idle mix, or look for a manual tranny carb.

[/quote]And yea the trans is an aluminum case, so its not out of a 1975 feather duster[/quote]

Feather Dusters are only 1976 model year, and they went to aluminum cases that year, so it would be correct for that year or later...the thing to look for is the countershaft holes in the case if they are egged out from the tranny bearing hard loads in 1st/2nd/OD since they are not "locked" like 3rd is. There is a flat pad on the passenger side of the tranny case, it will have numbers on it, post them and it will determine what year and plant the vehicle came out of.

$300 isn't a bad haul as long as everything is intact and runnable.

Make sure to post pics of your upgrade as this is a 'hot' topic on occasion.



-D.Idiot

Thanks for all the feedback. It looks like I've got a lot of parts gathering ahead of me. I've got some pictures of the trans. I have to open an online picture album so I can put them in here I guess. I will do that when I get a chance.

But the numbers on the side look to be PP833 5201 and 6G132386. I am really looking forward into getting the rest of the parts I need and starting the swap.

_________________
1964 Plymouth Valiant 4 door V200
170 slant six

1996 Dodge Dakota 318

1953 Willys Pickup-= V8 Conversion project

This is the corresponding code to the vehicle it came out of 6=1976 G=St. Louis Plant and 132386 would be the last # or production # of the car per it's VIN.

-D.Idiot

does this also apply to my 65 225 dart 170 4 door? I just lost first today in my a203, looking at this or the t5 conversion...which seems a little involved, and my little 225 is pretty pissed off, seemingly pissed enough not to miss having that extra gear before OD

It applies to all mopar engines pretty much if stock, but it only regards the flywheel used, everything else bolts up , so use the 1965 flywheel, and whatever clutch, and use a bellhousing that matches the tranny you get with it.
Must be an A903 being an early car, not the A-230 from the 1970+ cars..?

-D.Idiot

your correct, ive been doing nothing but tranny research for the last 6 hours trying to figure this out... I was just gonna hunt a pick n pull for a late 70's early-mid 80's 225 pick up and snag one of those...so if I was to buy a flywheel for said truck it would bolt up, but still need the ring? planning on making this a 4 on the tree, with reverse lever set up..

Yes you will, but if you already have the flywheel and clutch in the car, they can stay...(save you the labor).

Truck OD is going to be a challenge as they are longer than the A/F body trannies, so your rear mount will have to change by a few inches (and may need to modify the rear tranny mount to accomodate.

You'll need something for shift rods for the column and you'll need to modify/destroy the 3 on the tree linkage and stops inside the column to get it to shift right...

one other item on the 80's truck trannies, they use a ballstud captured fork instead of the spring clip style your current fork is...another obstacle is the truck fork is also longer by an inch or two, which may put it tight against the torsion bar or make it impossible to insert correctly with the tranny in the car...this may also create a little issue of alignment because of your clutch fork length making the actuating rod move at an angle radical to the normally somewhat straight rod movement...(the result if not lined up too well, is the angle of the rod pops the shim retainer off the Z-bar and the rod falls out and you are stuck in 1 gear until you get a replacement or bring the car to a complete halt and turn the engine off...)

Good luck on the search.

-D.Idiot

you sir are an absolute savior of time. if your in the norcal area id like to to take u out for few beers and figure out exactly what I need without using google. as for brackets, modifications,etc. I think I can figure all that out. just need to make sure the hard parts and fitment can happen and is key. as the car sits, its notched/bagged lays "frame" (or the 3/16 frame sleeves rather) throws sparks and spits fire, and raises general hell in its gloss cream and flat brown jalopy glory.

I'm just the A833OD fool....er, idiot...been there and done a few conversions and own a few of the variants...

If you were closer and more cost practical I have an aluminum "core" that would need rebuilt, and the bell, fork, etc, so that'd cut down on hunting time.

in the meantime, if I'm in that neck of the woods I'll take you up on that offer.

-D.Idiot

so im going to guess the ram vans have the same clutch fork issue as the truck ones? whats the easiest to find car for the smoothest swap?

Yes.

The only 'plug and play' options (which really limit the field...) are:

1975-1976 A-body (Valiant, Dart, Duster, Dart Sport)
1976-1980 F-Body (Aspen,Volare)

If you were closer I have the bell and fork you need.

-D.Idiot

would it be feasible to cut the fork down and change angle of a trucks set up to meet my z bar.