SOLD 1969 super bee 383 a833 od swap?

[Barnmansbee]

Hello. I'm new to the forum and figured I'd start with a question. I have a 69 superbee with a stock spec 383 and recently bought this a833 aluminum overdrive trans. I'm wondering what I need to do to make this fit without machining my original bellhousing. Can I replace the 5.125 " bearing retainer with one that will fit the 1969 rb bellhousing size? Will a a 833 stock hurst shifter and linkage from the superbee work with this trans? It has the b body mounting pad for the shifter so I'm assuming so. Lastly would any of you not recommend this swap and why? Thanks

 

[Jeremiah]

You can replace the 5.125" bearing retainer with an earlier 4.80" unit IF your bellhousing has a hole that big. I think it might have come with a 4.35" ID for a 23 spline in those years however that setup has a smaller bolt circle that the 5.125/4.80" stuff. Measure your bell to be 100% sure. If you need a bell lots of us here have them for sale.

FYI when you take the retainer off be very careful not to let the input shaft/4th gear slide forwand and allow the main shaft to fall out. If it does you will have to take the trans apart to fix it most likely.

On the shifter the only thing you need to do is flip the 3-4 lever upside down to engage 4th (1:1) in the 3rd gear shifter position and 3rd in the 4th gear position. Make sure that the neutral gate on the shifter is adjusted when you are all done.

I had an OD 4-speed behind a pretty healthy 440 with 4.30 gears in my red '66 for a few years and the bushed case and lack of dead-hooking the car allowed it to live. I think I shifted into high gear (OD) ONCE under power and that was enough speed for me with drum brakes, no roll bar and some old McCreary dirt track tires. Have fun with yours, I know I did!

 

[Barnmansbee]

Thanks a lot Jeremiah. I really appreciate the input. My post turnd out upside down and in the for sale topic. The forum controls are new to me. Wasn't sure anyone would reply. Great news about the shifter. Was hoping I could get away without machining my oem bell but looks like buying another one and having it machined is the way to go. I was getting concerned reading through some threads about this 833 od unit and that it would be too week. but from what I gather running it behind a 383 with under 350 hp shouldn't put too much stress on it especially kus I'm never going to run slicks and just plan to drive it on the street dumping the clutch to do a burnout every now n then. They just raised the speed limit to 70mph here in wi so this 69 bee with 3:23 gears should be super nice to drive on the freeway. Except when I need to slow it down with manual drum brakes. Lol. Anything else I my be missing about this swap? Can I get buy with a replacement stock clutch for a 69 23 spline clutch pack or do i need to order a truck application clutch pack. I plan to use my original super bee flywheel.