What A Royal P.I.T.A

68R/T

68R/T

I got drunk and swallowed my teeth, now
Some of you may recall about a year & half ago whe Jr & I took a road trip in my SeeDan to the Yooper to see Doc & stretch. The purpose of the mission was three-fold, Doc had a fully syncroed 3-speed trans that he had been sitting on for me for about 4 years. Plus he had some 15x7 rims I wanted to get. Also on the trip I wanted to check out, (and eventually buy) a motorcycle nearby. As a bonus I got to try some of Stretch's apple juice. :Fresh Meds:

Little did I know that the pita trans swap was only beginning. After a little research I find that this 'new' trans has a 1st gear ratio that would not play well with a 2:97 rear gears behind my little teener. More research tells me that the ratios I want can be found behind any slanty or teener in any body or van. So most of last summer was spent looking for someone that would let me swap gears in cases. That finally came about earlier this summer. So I do all the work of dismantling & reassembling 2 transmissions. So far so good.

The 'new' trans uses a large spline yoke and my drive shaft is small u-joint. Go searching again. This time I'm lucky, another local Mopar fan has a drive shaft from a pick'em'up that he scrapped a few years back, FREEBIE. (He owed me a favor)

Next up, the input bearing retainer is M.I.A. More searching, I finally give up and buy a new one, for $72. :doh:

Now I need a bellhousing with a larger hole to fit the retainer. I find a guy that says he has a bell from another pick'em'up with a large hole. After 3 weeks HE doesn't get back to me. FUGGEM. I contact an old friend that runs a machine shop. He does a beautiful job of boring mine to fit the new retainer.

Finally, I can put stuff back together. First up, compare everything between the 2 transes, including the angle of the slots for the shift arms. All systems say "go for it"

Next dilemma, the slots on my shifter arms are to 'short'. OK, just get a rat-tail file and make them 'longer', right? No, these things are hardened steel. :wall: Let's try the Dremel tool with a small stone, it works, slowly. After about 45 minutes, they fit. :giggedy:

Now, the linkage rods have shrunk.:confused: OK, measure closely, remove rod, cut rod, find a piece of same diameter rod, cut piece 1-7/8ths inch long and weld back together. Works perfect. :cool:
Measure other rod, remove, cut, find piece of scrap rod, (different diameter & this one is 1-1/4th inch), weld & install, make minor adjustments to linkage. Time for a test drive.

It may seem hard to believe but, I actually think there is a slight improvement going from a 3:06 1st gear to a 3:08. :dance:

Was it all worth it? Right now, probably not. But as time goes by and I forget about all the crap I went thru just to get a first gear syncro, I will appreciate the option to downshift without double-clutching. Would I do it again? If you want to pay me for my time, sure. [smilie=i:
 
Well, look on the bright side... I'm not tripping over that bastard anymore. :dance: Oh, and it was a lot more like 8 years than 4. I bought that Road Runner as a gift for Lumpy in '03, and you showed interest in that trans the second it touched the floor the same year. :D

Yes, it was/is an A230. The slip yoke was no big deal, really, since it seems like everything built after 1969 has the larger splines and the small U-joint.
 
The slip yoke was the easiest, (and cheapest) part. A small improvement in the first gear ratio, (3:08 vs 3:02) probably makes up for the larger tires. But second gear ratio dropped from 1:76 down to 1:70. That just means that now I can spin it to 80 mph in 2nd instead of only 75. Maybe I should install a tach. :hmmm:

The original trans was an A745, which is a toploader style;

A745.jpeg

You'll notice behind the levers is a pivot. There was a rod running from the clutch linkage that pivotted on this and would catch a slot in the reverse/1st gear lever and would hold the clutch depressed. The first time it happened it threw me for a loop. I thought the pressure plate went south. What its' intention was I'll never know. :huh:
 
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Ahhh but look at all you learned along the way. It's the journey that is truly the prize.

Glad you got it all sorted out, and can now enjoy the car even more. Maybe the pivot and rod thing for the clutch was an early anti theft device? I know my buddies 70 RR...383/4spd car still has the anti theft shifter linkage/column lock set-up. And it works perfectly. He's been offered huge money for the complete system....but he loves it and wouldn't ever take it out of the car.
 
68R/T said:
Maybe I should install a tach. :hmmm:
Click to expand...

OK, so I installed a tach, took it for a test drive and did a first gear drop at about 20 mph, laid down about 10 ft of my new tire and noticed that the power started dropping about 5500 rpm. I can't swear to the accuracy of this eBay special tach, but 5500 seems pretty decent for a stock teener with a pair of AVS carbs. :cool:
 
The shift-linkage interlock system on the 4-speed cars was a one-year-only deal. Only the '70 models had it, which is why Cow's friend has been offered so much money for it. It's like the seatbelt interlock on '74s... everyone trashed it A.S.A.P. so it's hard to find a car with the system in place and functional.

I'm pretty sure the heads & cam are your rev limiter, 68, unless you still have points in the ignition.
 
After doing this trans swap it got me thinking of another trick to building a sleeper. If you have a three-on-the-tree, like I do, replace it with a 4-speed. For reverse gear install a separate lever that's tucked under the seat. Then, run some horrendous gears in the rear, like 4:10 or 4:30's. As you do your normal driving, shift as if it were still a 3-speed. Because you will be taking off in 2nd gear everyone will think that you have some high ratio rear gears. Then when you get serious, you use all 4 gears. :huh:

Because you don't need to have room for the shifter on the floor, modifications to the hump should be minimal.
:vroom:
 
That's exactly what a kid named Tom Waara did with his '65 Fury 4-door back in high school, except his reverse lever was just the linkage rod sticking out of the floor. Well, that and he didn't do it to make a sleeper. He just blew up the 3-speed and a 4-gear was all he had lying around.
 
68R/T said:
After doing this trans swap it got me thinking of another trick to building a sleeper. If you have a three-on-the-tree, like I do, replace it with a 4-speed. For reverse gear install a separate lever that's tucked under the seat. Then, run some horrendous gears in the rear, like 4:10 or 4:30's. As you do your normal driving, shift as if it were still a 3-speed. Because you will be taking off in 2nd gear everyone will think that you have some high ratio rear gears. Then when you get serious, you use all 4 gears. :huh:

Because you don't need to have room for the shifter on the floor, modifications to the hump should be minimal.
:vroom:
Click to expand...

I've thought about doing something similar in the Desoto. But for reverse I'd use an "overdrive" or "Rear air" lever under the dash....cable operated of course, to get into reverse.
 
yup a cable op would be my way of doing it as well...hell a shift cable from e a neon even if you thought you needed sometyhing strong

hell i bet the powere door lock from a 70's caddy could shift into reverse for you.....:hmmm:
 
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