The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Has anyone put an A500 overdrive into a 73 with a 360?

The swap is pretty complicated. It isn't a bolt in deal. The tailshaft area on the 518 and 500 is a lot bigger than the 727 and 904. The torsion bar X-member has to be cut and modified along with the trans tunnel for the OD trans to fit. There was an article in Hot Rod Mag a while ago that showed this being done to a Duster.

I can't remember the name of the company right now but they sell an OD kit that uses a GM trans. The factory GM unit was designed without an integrated bellhousing. This allowed the aftermarked to make a bell that could adapt the GM trans to the big/small block Mopar.

That seems to be gaining popularity if you can bring yourself to put a GM part on your Dodge.

i do know that OD trans was very popular down here when they were available - the X member had to be cut and refabricated, but i don't think it was a huge task. Hadn't heard about the floorpan/trans tunnel having to be cut, but maybe so. Its certainly within reach of most resourceful people good with tools, but i wouldn't want to be paying someone by the hour to do it for me, unless they had done at least 20 before.

As previous posters have said this is a big undertaking.
I looked at doing this myself a while back, thinking it should just be a bolt in with the only major surgery being the cutting of the drive shaft.
A quick measurement with a tape measure cured me of that idea. As others have pointed out, lots and lots of metal cutting.

The GM conversion is by Kiesler (hope spelling is right), and theirs is litterly a bolt in job. No metal work at all, other than on the passenger side where the firewall and floor meet at the pinchweld. A hammer cures this problem very quickly.
What they use is the late GM Model GM4L60E (4speed), and I understand now that there is a kit for the 4L65E (5 speed), that has a removeable bellhousing. The company makes bellhousings so no matter what engine you've got, they have the proper bell housing for your application. The kit comes complete with: transmission, converter, flex plate, mounts, crossmember, drive shaft, electronic controller (trans is computer controlled type), and everything else you'll need. It's not an inexpensive kit, but it sure beats the altenative using the A500, which by the way is the 904 transmission, with the overdrive unit on back. If you insist on using the Mopar overdrive transmission, then I would look at the A518, which is the 727 with the overdrive unit. The overdrive units by the way are the same unit on both transmission types.
Your other option of course is the Gear Venders overdrive unit.

transman

Thanks Guys for the info. But I'm a don't tell me I can't do it type of guy. So I found that it's not that bad of a conversion. Shorten the drive shaft, redo the trany mount, fabricate a mount for the trany cable. Use a 1990 to 95 A518 3 wire transmission. Three wire has a lockup converter. The how to can be found at www.partsHP.com. This is great. I lost reverse the other day and have put another 727 in just to get thru the summer. This winter I,m going to do the conversion.

transman wrote:... the A500, which by the way is the 904 transmission, with the overdrive unit on back. If you insist on using the Mopar overdrive transmission, then I would look at the A518, which is the 727 with the overdrive unit. The overdrive units by the way are the same unit on both transmission types.
Your other option of course is the Gear Venders overdrive unit.

transman

Thanks Transman, didn't know that. That's good simple info about the model numbers