I got me a 4 speed! (and I need some help!)

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SGGDuster

SGGDuster

Dreaming of Burnt Rubber
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Alrighty, so I picked up a 1976 A-833OD unit today and plan on swapping it into my 1974 318/A-230 combo. As I understand it, the 230 has a 4.8" IBR while my new unit has a 5.125" (giggity) IBR. My first question is, can I simply take the 230 IBR off and slap it on my 833? If not, I assume I can have a machine shop turn the 5.125" down to 4.8" right?

On to the next one

Any 70 and up A-body 4spd shifter will bolt right up won't it? IIRC the OD units just used a flipped lever on the tranny and the rods/shifter were identical.

On the the last one

Will I need a new clutch and pressure plate? The engine is only slightly warmed over, so I'm not making a whole lot of HP. The clutch that's on there probably has 15k on it.

Bonus question:

I'd like to have a tach, but I don't race or anything so I'd like to get a cheap one that's easy to install, any recommendations?

Thanks everyone, you are always a tremendous help!


****, I forgot one of the most important questions!
The inspection cover is off and it is [mostly] drained. What's the best way to clean it, what kind of fluid should I buy, and what kind of gasket?
 
Autozone has some nice tachs for about $40.00 that are easy to install. Basically 3 wires -- coil and lights -- maybe a 4thg for ground -- don't remember.
Any shifter should work.
I wouldn't clean anything. Drain and fill with 90 weight fossil gear oil.
Mancini racing or Brewers performance have gaskets.
Run your stock clutch until it slips or fails. 15K is no miles.
Before I messed with machining the IBR, I think I'd look for a proper bell housing.
 
The 833 is physically larger that the 3 speed so you will have to cut the floor pan for clearance. I know because I done the same swap in my '71 Duster. You'll need 833 shifter rods as well. I was able to use the same torque shaft & clutch fork. I don't know for sure but I'd be very surprised if the 230 bearing retainer will work on the 833. Any 4 speed shifter/ shift mechanism will work. I even used an assembly from a Dodge Ram. Hit the junkyards for an OD bellhousing. Some OD bellhousing have dual bolt patterns for the 230 & 833.
 
the 230 I had in my valiant had only 3 bolts on the bearing retainer.So I had a local machinist turn the bigger O.D. retainer to 4.80 . Then my bellhousing didn't have the bolt pattern for the four speed,so I bought a bellhousing that had a 4.30 opening and had it machined to accept the modified O.D. retainer.The clutches are the same,since you have a 23 spline { all except 18 spline hemi box } I had to modify the 3rd-O.D linkage rod to clear the floor.And some of the earlier O.D. transmisions have the larger yoke like the 727 and standard four speed. again. . . .this is from my experience :read2:
 

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The smaller bearing retainer will not bolt up if I remember right, because the bearing itself is larger in the OD transmissions. This was partly to make up for the extra load it had to carry because of the OD configuration.

Excerpt from this article.... http://www.slantsix.org/articles/4-speeds/ODA833fourspeed1.htm

Adapting a Long Tail housing B/E Body Trans to the A-Body by Dave Clement
When I swapped from the 3 speed column shift in my 68 Barracuda to the long tailshaft 833 OD 4-speed from a D100 truck, the only fabricating I had to do (besides the tunnel extension) was to make a mounting plate that positioned the shifter forward from the rear shifter mount and shorten the drive shaft. Here are the things I found out about this conversion:
1. The three speed bell housing in my 68 Barracuda did not have the correct bolt pattern for the 4-speed and the bearing support pilot hole was to small. I used the bell housing from the pickup.
2. The 3 speed's rear tranny mount transferred directly to the OD 4 speed and mounted up with no modifications to the cross member. The distance from the face of the tranny to the center line of the tranny mount was the same for both the 3 speed and 4 speed and the distance down from the centerline of the output shaft to the face of the tranny mount were the same. I read that early B-bodies did have tranny mounts in a different location. Later, all trannies used the tranny mounts in the same position.
3. The z-bar pivot on the 3 speed bell housing transferred directly to the 4 speed bell housing. The truck pivot was longer and in a different position but its mounting pad is in the same location.
4. I had to use the truck clutch fork because its pivot in the bell housing was a ball on the truck and a bracket in the 3 speed and they were not interchangeable (bracket bolts on with two screws; the ball pivot is a single thread-in post). The extra 1" length on the truck clutch fork does not interfere or cause any problems. I am running 6 into 2 headers with this setup.
5. The front boss on the front shifter pad on the OD 4 speed interferes with the A-body torsion bar cross member. You can either dent the cross member or do as I did and cut the boss off the trans. tail housing.
6. The output shaft on the 3 speed is smaller than the 4 speed. You will need a slip yoke from either a 4 speed or 727 car with a universal joint size that matches your drive shaft (or get a crossover "problem solver" universal joint).
7. I forget the actual dimension but I had to shorten the drive shaft about 3 3/8". (Measure everything once the setup is in the vehicle and resting on the ground at ride height.)
8. I used standard 4 speed A-Body shifter rods. The flipped over 3/4 lever puts the rod close to the cross member but since I was fabricating a mounting plate anyway I made sure that I had enough clearance before drilling the shifter mounting holes in the new plate. I used the standard A-Body shift mounting plate (adapter) along with about 1/2" of spacers on my fabricated mounting plate to locate the shifter towards the left so it came through the floor in the correct position, closer to the driver.
9. The shifter mechanism that was on the truck was made by Hurst and looked just like a Competition Plus shifter without the adjustable stops and had the bayonet attachment for the shifter handle. I used this shifter with a handle off an old 3 speed shifter. I did have to ream out one hole on the shifter and one of the tranny levers to get the A-Body linkage rods to fit.
10. The speedo drive mechanism and gear from the 3 speed swapped directly into the OD 4 speed so calibrating the speedo for the tire diameter was not an issue.
Dave Clement
 
A few questions.
Is the trans from a car or a truck?
Does it have all of the shifter rods and linkage?
Can you get the original bellhousing and is it for a V8 or a slant 6?
At any rate, it's much easier to machine your bellhousing ( it should have both bolt patterns) to fit the retainer on your o/d trans, and your clutch should be fine if it's in good shape, and for sure your yoke for your drive shaft is different than the 3 speed (same as a 727 auto) and the length is different too.
If it's out of a truck, it's a big bag of snakes to make it fit and work, but it's not out of the question.
If it's out of an a or f body, you're laughing.
I would like to see some measurements.
Short output extension, it's an a or f body, long it's a truck. (It should be roughly the same length as your 3 speed to be an a body one.)
Same transmissions other than that BTW.
Clutch linkage should be the same.
I hope this helps.
Tom.
 
Dartnut said:
A few questions.
Is the trans from a car or a truck?
Does it have all of the shifter rods and linkage?
Can you get the original bellhousing and is it for a V8 or a slant 6?
At any rate, it's much easier to machine your bellhousing ( it should have both bolt patterns) to fit the retainer on your o/d trans, and your clutch should be fine if it's in good shape, and for sure your yoke for your drive shaft is different than the 3 speed (same as a 727 auto) and the length is different too.
If it's out of a truck, it's a big bag of snakes to make it fit and work, but it's not out of the question.
If it's out of an a or f body, you're laughing.
I would like to see some measurements.
Short output extension, it's an a or f body, long it's a truck. (It should be roughly the same length as your 3 speed to be an a body one.)
Same transmissions other than that BTW.
Clutch linkage should be the same.
I hope this helps.
Tom.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tom,
The transmission came out of a Volare, so it is an A/F body model. I was hoping to avoid removing the bellhousing, because I have full length headers that I predict will make that I big ole PITA (getting them on sure as **** was); hence wanting to machine the retainer rather than the housing. The tranny doesn't have any rods, just the little levers pokin out of the inspection cover.
So if my head's screwed on right, I should be able to buy any A833 shifter, 70 and up A body rods, get the larger yoke, and I'll be banging 4 gears? Or did you mean that the driveshaft will have to be trimmed as well?

Harvenator: Why not clean out the transmission? Thanks for the info

Srduster340: This is the first I've heard of floor pan mods to go from A230 to A833. It seems surprising that mopar would modify each individual car that got a 4spd from the factory rather than just make the floor pan more universal.
 
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