I installed an RH42 (A500) OD 4 speed automatic in my 1970 Dart. It took some work and fabrication, but nothing terrible. Problem is that these transmissions have a lot of stuff hanging out of the bottom of the trans where a regular valve body would be and then cover it up with a really deep pan, which in my case hangs down between the stock dual exhaust pipes so that the pan is the lowest part under the car. Since I used a Dorman pan (a great deal at $33 delivered), which uses a drain plug that sticks down 1/2 an inch. That plug is really the lowest point and it is not shielded by the pan shape like the oil pan plug. Even though my car sits a bit higher than stock, I managed to tag that plug on some thing hard enough to bend it up into the pan and jar the plug loose enough that it left a half quart of trans fluid on the floor overnight.
Considering the idea is to drive this car mostly on 2 lane blacktop on a couple of 5000 mile road trips, the last thing I needed was a vulnerable trans pan that could leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Below are pictures of my solution. First I had a friend take a new pan, remove the bung from the bottom of the pan and weld up the hole. Then we drilled a new hole on the side of the pan and reinstalled the bung and plug. Yes this means that the pan won't drain completely, but it does drain enough to take the pan off without getting trans fluid everywhere. Next, a member here put me on to a company that makes skid plates for these transmissions since a lot were installed in Dakota trucks. The company is Taboo Customs and it cost $85 with new pan bolts needed. Here are pics of the plug relocation and the skid plate installed. You can't use the skid plate without changing the plug (I think the original pans had no plug).
original Dorman pan:
New pan with relocated plug and skid plate:
Considering the idea is to drive this car mostly on 2 lane blacktop on a couple of 5000 mile road trips, the last thing I needed was a vulnerable trans pan that could leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Below are pictures of my solution. First I had a friend take a new pan, remove the bung from the bottom of the pan and weld up the hole. Then we drilled a new hole on the side of the pan and reinstalled the bung and plug. Yes this means that the pan won't drain completely, but it does drain enough to take the pan off without getting trans fluid everywhere. Next, a member here put me on to a company that makes skid plates for these transmissions since a lot were installed in Dakota trucks. The company is Taboo Customs and it cost $85 with new pan bolts needed. Here are pics of the plug relocation and the skid plate installed. You can't use the skid plate without changing the plug (I think the original pans had no plug).
original Dorman pan:
New pan with relocated plug and skid plate:
