A518 in my 1968

[vsj100]

Hello again. Mine is a 1968 b body with a 440 and 727. Will the A518 fit behind my 440? The 518 is an overdrive right?
Or please help me with other auto trans ideas. I would like to put the 391 gears back in.

 

[turbine68rt]

518's have a small block bolt pattern.

 

[ckessel]

There is no direct fit 518 for a big block. Small block, 3.9 v6, diesel/v10 only. If you want to use one of those, you'll need to lop off the bell housing portion and use a TransBell from JW Performance or a plate style adaptor. There will be fit complications to deal with as the od unit is quite portly requiring floor surgery. Then controlling the trans, lock up converter, shifter issues etc. You could put a GearVendors unit in which goes onto the back of your existing trans. Must remove the extension housing which gets replaced by the adaptor. You'll need enough room at the end of your trans to put something in thats about the size of a 5lb coffee can. You could go with the GM 4L60E conversion swap which is available from Silver State or American Powertrain. Package deal with trans, adaptor bell, converter etc. It mostly keeps the mass ahead of the trans crossmember. May still have to do some floor work plus shifter.

 

[Darter6]

There is no direct fit 518 for a big block. Small block, 3.9 v6, diesel/v10 only. If you want to use one of those, you'll need to lop off the bell housing portion and use a TransBell from JW Performance or a plate style adaptor. There will be fit complications to deal with as the od unit is quite portly requiring floor surgery. Then controlling the trans, lock up converter, shifter issues etc. You could put a GearVendors unit in which goes onto the back of your existing trans. Must remove the extension housing which gets replaced by the adaptor. You'll need enough room at the end of your trans to put something in thats about the size of a 5lb coffee can. You could go with the GM 4L60E conversion swap which is available from Silver State or American Powertrain. Package deal with trans, adaptor bell, converter etc. It mostly keeps the mass ahead of the trans crossmember. May still have to do some floor work plus shifter.

Did it back in 2002. 72 B Body. Lots of surgery to both the trans housing cutting off the bell and installing the JW bell.
Also had to use a 10'' converter to fit the new bell. Then floorpan/trans crossmember work.
As said above now there are easier swaps.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Non electronic 518's are getting harder to find and unless 3G Hemi swap or small block does not make good sense. Silver sport/American power train 4L60 swap make most sense as mentioned above.
Better yet convert to 5 speed TKX manual trans.

 

[vsj100]

Non electronic 518's are getting harder to find and unless 3G Hemi swap or small block does not make good sense. Silver sport/American power train 4L60 swap make most sense as mentioned above.
Better yet convert to 5 speed TKX manual trans.

I just priced out the 5 speed kit. I have done 2 before in GMs. Silversport was over 6k and American Powertrain was over 7. Yikes, I'll stick with the 727 for now.

 

[furious70]

I have a500 in my fury behind the turbo 383.
If you don't have insane power levels it's an option that fits without cutting in b bodies as well. Requires the bell housing work as above. Vacuum and pressure switch controlled.
518 in my brother's charger. Would not go that route again.
Unless doing a nag1 or hp90 I will probably go gear vendor on any other cars

 

[Darter6]

I'll stick with the 727 for now.

I see the prices went up since I last looked. Was thinking about pullin' the 727 in my old truck for a OD.
At the time it was about $4 to $5k. Just use the truck to haul stuff so canned that idea.

 

[ckessel]

727 w/GV will probably be the least costly and hassle to do.

 

[Kern Dog]

The Gear Vendors.78 overdrive ratio isn’t that impressive.
Talk about a lazy company. They have had nearly ZERO product development in 25+ years. The other guys have juggled wide ratio, close ratio, carbon fiber synchros, different gear ratios all while Gear Vendors is stuck in the 90s.
If they made a .65 or close to it, their product might be worth considering.

 

[vsj100]

I pulled out the 727 yesterday. Fun! I'm going to keep the normal kick down linkage and use a 3000 stall. The old atf was stinky.

 

[furious70]

The .78 isn't what I would choose and at the same time the .63- .68 creates a huge drop in some others.
I hate that in my TKO. I know they make the close ratio one as well.

 

[Kevin McCabe]

There is no direct fit 518 for a big block. Small block, 3.9 v6, diesel/v10 only. If you want to use one of those, you'll need to lop off the bell housing portion and use a TransBell from JW Performance or a plate style adaptor. There will be fit complications to deal with as the od unit is quite portly requiring floor surgery. Then controlling the trans, lock up converter, shifter issues etc. You could put a GearVendors unit in which goes onto the back of your existing trans. Must remove the extension housing which gets replaced by the adaptor. You'll need enough room at the end of your trans to put something in thats about the size of a 5lb coffee can. You could go with the GM 4L60E conversion swap which is available from Silver State or American Powertrain. Package deal with trans, adaptor bell, converter etc. It mostly keeps the mass ahead of the trans crossmember. May still have to do some floor work plus shifter.

Not totally related. Years ago I had a friend put a Gear Vendors OD unit on the back of a 727 in a '77 New Yorker. There were clearance issues, that were all solved with a little judicious use of a ballpein hammer. Most likely a Bbody car will require more tweaking than that.

 

[ckessel]

Not totally related. Years ago I had a friend put a Gear Vendors OD unit on the back of a 727 in a '77 New Yorker. There were clearance issues, that were all solved with a little judicious use of a ballpein hammer. Most likely a Bbody car will require more tweaking than that.

I had to do some thumping on my 65. Some of that was due to the GV unit, the other was because the engine/trans got moved back 1.5" because I'm using a 70 k-frame. If I go the GV type on my 67 wagon, I'm going to check with them about using a shorter extension housing/adaptor to pull the unit closer to the crossmember. I did that for the 65 also.