Dropping a '95 360 Magnum in a '72 Charger with a 904. It appears to buy a built A500 to replace the 904 is going to be well over $2000. The question is, for the money and the headache, if you were going to spend $2500 on an A500 why not just buy a Gear Vendors and make it simple?

I would pull a A500 from a junkyard truck for 100 bucks and pocket the rest. Or spend some of the money and rebuild/upgrade the A500. The 500 has a better overdrive ratio than the gear vendors and can be done substantially cheaper if you build the trans yourself.

Rebuilt, fully warrantied A500s around here are less than 1000.
Both will require shortened drive shafts and tunnel massaging. The only advantage for GV is that usually the cross member needs less work, I am not sure about on your car but on Ebody that is true.
Add to that, the better OD ratio for the 500 and it kind of tips me to the 500 over the GV.

A500 all the way....

1) A500/42RH has the low first/2nd vs. an older 904 (2.74/1.54 vs. 2.45/1.45)

2) A500/42RH has a lockup torque converter to help drop cruise RPM

3) A500/42RH has a .69 OD ratio vs. .78

4) newer 42RH's have an improved converter hub design that is much less likely to crack (and that I'd recommend looking for)

IIRC on later B's, with some trimming of the ribs on the OD tail section, there is no floor pan/tbar crossmember cutting required, but you'll have to make your own lower bolt on mount/crossmember

why wouldnt you use a 518?

Too big at the rear.

That's why I'm gonna put a 500 in the wagon

IIRC '71 up....search the forums, I know way back there was a post with pictures...

I have an a500 in my Fury and I'm very happy with it. Required 0 modification to the car, just had to have a new cross member and had to adapt a B&M cable for use with the OEM console shifter. We've had GV in a truck and it just plain didn't make enough difference to be worth it at .78 IMO. FWIW I think I paid around $3200 for mine, and that was drive in drive out with a 383 sitting in front of it. I have a 727 bell welded on and the trans sits exactly where it should in the car so that all kick down and shifter linkage work perfectly and there are no shims to deal with.

Has anyone posted a comprehensive how-to on the swap from 727 to A500?

The OD really has me interested. The 3.73 gears are nice for around town, but I'd like to eventually do some road trips, maybe even the power tour someday.

There's a lot of info on the forum here on how to do it.

Basically the hardest part is mounting the trans. Space wise there's not much difference between a 500 and 518. Both can be built to take a decent amount of HP, so it boils down to which one you want. IIRC the JW ultrabell will bolt a big block to a 518 but not a 500. E body and 71+ B body don't require torsion bar crossmember or floor pan mods. 1_wild_rt posted pics and instructions on this several years ago. Older b-bodies to require the crossmember to be trimmed. The mount to hold up the trans will have to be custom fabbed by you. Torq converter selection is a little tougher with the lockup 500/518, however the lockup is nice for cruising and keeping the rpm down. A non-lockup 500/518 will use a regular 904/727 converter.

OK, it looks like the A500 is the ticket. I have two builders with very similar prices. So I have to decide which one makes the most sense for me.
I can install it and make my own cross member. Getting closer to that cross country road trip all the time.

This is some info that I recently got from a reputable company that sells both options when I was inquiring about the GV vs a 518.

"Having reviewed your tech submission and your request for information on our overdrive transmissions for your '70 Superbee with the 6.1 hemi, I offer the following information for your consideration.
As I had previously indicated, installation of the A500 or A518 will require extensive modification of your crossmember and floor pan modifications. In addition, the A500 or A518 will drastically increase the elapsed time on the strip by at least 1/2 second in the 1/4 mile, which in a street application will certainly be noticed in performance potential.

The option that I highly recommend for your application is our StreetPro 727A with the "Shortie Overdrive" option. This unit is only 7 1/4" longer than your 727 and is a direct bolt-in (other than driveshaft shortening). There are no floor modifications or crossmember fabrications required to install it the '70 B body. When installed, it will have fully automatic overdrive shifting functions like a new car. We have seen mileage increases as high as 50% with this unit. Dropping your cruising rpm drastically reduces engine wear and maintenance. This unit does not substantially increase power drag (slower e..t.) like the A518 Chrysler overdrive.
The "Shortie" version of our Street Pro series transmission has 4 direcct clutches and the 4 pinion planetary to take the extra load of the overdrive, which will also accomodate any future plans to increase your torque and horsepower up to the 500 h.p. level. For greater details see our website."

Just wanted to share and have no interest in this company.

yes it is a GV setup. I think that the "shortie" thing is just a different adapter. On a side note the GV is used in dump trucks, garbage trucks and major pulling rigs, so I think it would handle your set-up. Everyone that I talked to and have read about who actually own one says that it is one of the best things that they have installed. i am still thinking as it is a big investment.

-c