a 833 conversion

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my68barracuda

my68barracuda

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what would it take parts and cost wise to convert a
1) truck style a-833 to an a body a-833
2) my assumption is that the a-833 would then be an OD a-833, so after that, what would it take to convert to a close ratio a-833?
thanks
 
You can make an adapter to get the shifter in the A-body location on the truck transmission, then use A-body linkage. That would not be too costly, although you would still be left with a fairly wimpy transmission and you would have to get a shorter driveshaft. Changing the O/D to close-ratio would be pretty costly. Just sell the truck O/D 833 and find an A/F-body trans. They are not too hard to come by and prices can range anywhere from $200-$400 for the the bare trans.
 
wish4hemi said:
You can make an adapter to get the shifter in the A-body location on the truck transmission, then use A-body linkage. That would not be too costly, although you would still be left with a fairly wimpy transmission and you would have to get a shorter driveshaft. Changing the O/D to close-ratio would be pretty costly. Just sell the truck O/D 833 and find an A/F-body trans. They are not too hard to come by and prices can range anywhere from $200-$400 for the the bare trans.
Click to expand...

yep, I did that and run it till this day.
I started with a b-e body dual boss trans from a 383 challenger and had to grind the 2 rear ward [b body] bosses off to clear the cross member.
I believe you'll end up with a lil better cross weight ratio, mine is 49% in a 108 according to the 4 corner scales I used.

make a plate that brings it forward to the a body position and bingo!
though you'll need thin headed bolts so you don't touch the trans tunnel where it narrows.

otherwise, new output shaft, and core trans for parts since the OD has diff guts.
good luck!
 
I too have the long tailshaft A833OD from an 81 D100 in my 68 Barracuda. The boss on the front mount did not touch the torsion bar cross member in a static position but it was real close, approx 1/16" of an inch and it did touch when the engine was running and moving in the mounts. I cut the boss off but you could dent the cross member for clerance.

The adapter plate to reposition the shifter was quite easy to fabricate. BigBlockDart.com has a dimensioned drawing. The local drive shaft shop charged me $75 to cut and balance the drive shaft and that included new u-joints too.

If you already have the long tail shaft tranny I wouldn't go through the bother or expense of converting, it won't buy you anything. To convert to a non OD would require a complete new gear set, might as well just find a complete tranny.

As far as the OD not being as strong as the non OD, its not, but I have been driving my car hard since 2005 with a 370 HP 360 (~35k miles) and the tranny is holding up fine. There are folks with them behind 440's and they hold up as long as you are abusing them.
 
I wouldn't dent the cross member ever, besides how hard the steel is, it's a structural part of the car.

Look at mopar muscles o3-04 issue where they do the gear vendor overdrive in a '69 dart, they also grind off 2 of the rearward front bosses.

It's the smart thing to do for clearance
I'm not sure why the poster above would say you don't have to grind it when inevitably he did.. contradiction?
I had to on mine '67 valiant' and I have not mod'd my cross member like they did to clear an overdrive unit.
no big..
here you go.

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/..._0310_installing_gear_vender_units/index.html

mopp_0310_24_z+gear_vender_unit+front_shifter_mount.jpg
 
What I said was it didn't touch with the engine just sitting but did when it was running and moving in the mounts.

Putting a small dent to clear the boss is not going to have any structural impact on the cross member and may make it stronger. Ever notice how the floor panels are formed with ridges? It's to make the panel stiffer.

Folks cut the center section out of the cross member to make clearance for A500 or A518 trannies and weld in some flat stock to tie it back together all the time.

When i put my A833OD in I didn't realize that it would touch until the first time I drove the car. At that point it was easier to go inthere with the tip of a sawsall blade and nip it off or I would have dented the cross member for clearance.
 
ok ..I'm gonna step in here before some poor guy mangles his car...

IF you cut the anchor..you better have prior to that welded a new support/cross section in.
OR/AND taken the load out of the torsion bars so the cross member does not tweak/move.
floor pans that have dimples/grooves are there so they do not buckle, other wise there would be a lot more cross/sectional members to reinforce the floor of the car and along with that, more weight.

remember..that torsion bar anchor/trans cross member is apart/attatched to the suspension.

if you start beating on it with a hammer, no matter how small, it will shift something due to the force required to ding the thicker cross member.

Just so we are aware here.
 
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