hemi 4 speed in early A body

[Neal Zimmerman]

Probably a dumb question.
I bought a 66 dart 2 door post. Want to build some kind of gasser thing with a 440. I also have a B-body hemi 4 speed box. What would happen if I installed that 4 speed behind the 440. I am mainly concerned about tranny length and shifter location. Some guy told me with the right shifter handle i could make it work. But I don't know. I know tranny mount would also probably need work.
Neal

 

[ValiantOne]

I think I have seen a conversion bracket to reposition the shifter for a body position, but wasn't able to find it online. Maybe someone can confirm or dispell my memory on this.

 

[AJ/FormS]

The front mount of the longshaft tranny will rub on the front cross-member and will need to be clearanced or cut off. The rear mount can be used with the aforementioned bracket, but more than likely will not work in the early A's. I kinda doubt it will put the stick in the right spot. Which IMO is not a big deal. I moved the floor-hole back (about 7 inches),near to where the rear mount is and put the stick between the buckets, and up high enough to install the top mounting bolt from the cabin. With the short-stick in neutral, and my hand on the ball,my arm hangs down just forward of straight down. Missed shifts are a thing of the past. You will of course have to make your own shift rods,so eyeball your chosen location with an eye to where the rods are gonna have to run.Making the rods is the easiest part of this deal.

 

[Brad4406]

I think I have seen a conversion bracket to reposition the shifter for a body position, but wasn't able to find it online. Maybe someone can confirm or dispell my memory on this.

Yep; it's on bigblockdart.com in the tech section. Link below.

B/E body four-speed in an A-body

 

[funnykarman]

If you are going to build a gasser , the door is open to do what ever you need to fab it to make things work . Hurst makes a bracket that moves the shifter up and back . This puts the entire shifter inside the car . I have one in my 65 AFX coronet . I have an old Push down shifter in it . To get the trans in reverse you put it in neutral and push down on the stick and pull it over into reverse , sort of like VW bug . The shifter has a very short throw 3 1/2 inches versus over 8 plus for the curved super shifter