mopar newbie

[stayonmyleft]

i recently aquired a 74 dodge challenger with a 70 nose. other than that its a matching number 318 with 70,000 mi. the down side is the previous owner made so many mods that i thinks its pointless to make it stock again. wich leads to my question. its and auto tranny but i dont know wich one. was the 727 tourqeflite the only auto available this year or could it be something else and how do i tell? any help would be great! thanks. i am toying with the idea of a 440 and i am unsure if my tranny can hanle it.

 

[stayonmyleft]

also. what kind of work would i be looking at with a manual trans conversion, anybody done one? thanks.

 

[AlleyoopMgv]

Welcome, I'm not a mechanic, I'm a body/paint guy, but here is a picture of different Mopar tranny's that might help you ID it.
My guess is it would be a 904, but again, I'm not a mechanic.

 

[ramenth]

Good photos, Alley. One of the ways you can tell the 727 from the 904 from under the car is a visual inspection of the shape of the pan. If it's kind of squared off it's a 904. It's it has a "bump" to the shape it's a 727. Either way, if you're looking at a 440 for this build and you have a 318 in there now you're also going to have to get big block tranny, since the bellhousing is different from the LAs to the B/RB engines.
As for manual set ups, a bunch of different companies out there offer up the pieces for the swap over. Brewers, Passon, Keisler, just to name a few.

 

[6packcuda]

Here's a pic. that shows the difference between 727 and 904 pans...and I agree with what ramenth said, if you swap to a big block, you will have to switch to a big block tranny regardless of what you have now.

 

[SublimeChallenger]

I did an auto to 4speed conversion on my 70 Challenger. There's a few extra steps than with a GM, but not a terribly hard job. The one thing you'll probably run into if you do it is Chrysler made auto and manual cranks, so the hole in back of an auto engine crank isn't drilled out deep enough to allow for the input shaft of the tranny. You need to either have the crank drilled, or cut the tip off the tranny's input shaft (my choice). You'll also need to change the floor hump and weld in a z-bar bracket on the frame. Everything else is bolt-in work. I did a ton of research before I did my swap so if you decide to go that route, let me know and I can give you all the specifics.

 

[stayonmyleft]

thanks guys. i really appriecate the help. these are my first restoration cars and im basically doing them in a new england driveway lol, but hey when you love something. thats interesting about the input shaft. sort of makes me want to buy a 440 and tranny combo that have already been set up. leaving me with only the z bracket and the lever and pedal kits.

 

[SublimeChallenger]

Yup, I've had my share of working in the driveway before we bought our current house a few years ago. Nothing wrong with that. If you get the motor/tranny combo, you won't have to worry about the input shaft. Otherwise its not a big deal. I think it was about 5/8" that had to be cut off. I did mine with a cut off wheel and then re-tapered the tip witha grinder. came out good. Just always test fit first to make sure it hasn't already been cut since its a common thing. The auto motors still have a recess for the pilot bearing, so its just a matter of trimming the tranny.

 

[ramenth]

Good grief, driveway work! That makes it even more important to do a mock up before putting things together.

 

[stayonmyleft]

yeah, it gets frustrating. id put up one of those portable garages but the last 2 i had only lasted a year or 2 at best here in new england. also i found some rot in the rear quarters, is there any other typical problemn areas i should be checking? like body mount's, or near windows? thanks for your help guys.

 

[ramenth]

Check the trunk extenders and wheel houses since you've found the rot in the quarters. How's the upper cowl? Good place to start looking for rot is to go to AMD and start looking at all the new parts they offer. They're new for a reason...

So far in the '74: quarters, extenders, trunk floor, front rails, floor pans and torsion bar mounts. Still need the upper cowl and inner fenders.

 

[Aussie Challenger]

You should have a 904 behind the 318 which has the small tail shaft yoke. If you have the 727 and you upgrade to a big block auto then the tail shaft will be the same.
If you change to the A833 or A833OD then the tail shaft yoke from the 727 is the same size.