71RR A833 O/D conversion, I have few questions

I have a 71RR with a 383/727 and I want to convert it to a manual transmission. I want the manual transmission to have overdrive and I am considering an A833 O/D transmission. I have researched it online and it appears that all of the standard 4 speed parts work with the later A833 O/D transmissions. I found an A833 O/D locally for a very good price and I am considering going and getting it but I wanted to check with you guys and make sure I am not missing something about this conversion that will cause me a problem. The pic is the unit that is for sale locally. My car is very far from original so a "correct" conversion is not needed just a functional set up. Thanks!

If you have researched the A833OD you already know about the gear splits and the weak points of the transmission. It sounds like it will work for you and the 383.

The most concerning areas are the input and the tailshaft housing.

The OD will have a 5.125" OD on the input bearing retainer, you may not find a bigblock bellhousing with that diameter hole, that works for your car. The fix, though, is simple, replace the retainer with a 4.80" OD retainer for the larger bearing and that is solved.

The tailshaft housing I will leave to those who are more knowledgeable about shifter location.

R.

Dog has the input covered , there is no big block OD bellhousing ... outside of a lakewood blowsheild ... maybe ?? , otherwise turn down the current retainer or get the right retainer from Passon or Brewer.

On to the tail housing , it has both the B body and E body shifter mount locations , the trans you have looks like the pickup/van trans which only has the forward shift mount drilled and tapped. If you are doing a bench seat conversion then you are all set as that is the mount position used. If this is a console or bucket seat conversion and you want to use the rear mount then you are going to have to drill and tap the rear mount holes because they are not .

Before you commit to the conversion make sure you can get a shifter for the car that will work a regualr shifter for a non O.D. 833 trans will not work properly on a OD 833, the 3rd and 4th gear selector levers are reversed and point down, which is the main difference from a non O.D. lever that points up so a proper shifter rod is needed to fit and clear properly Good luck, let us know what you do and the results

Thanks for the good information. I was planning to change out the front bearing retainer to work with a normal car bellhousing. The tranmssion comes with the stock shifter. Is it possible to use the rods and shift selctors from the stock shift attached a normal car type shifter?

It depends on your car, I'm not sure if the 1971 and later B bodys use the front mount like the 1970 B bodys do or if they use the rear mount like the E bodys did You do know you will need to cut the floor and add the 4 speed tranny hump , correct? You will have to do that also if your not aware of that The only reason I bring that up is the tranny hump shifter hole will determine which shifter you need and where it mounts to
Good Luck
I'm going through the same drill on a 1966 B body 6 cyl three speed car with no hump, I found and bought a OD 833 tranny(that looks like yours ) from a scrap yard with the OEM shifter that was supposidly out of a van or pickup, the yard owner wasn't sure exactly which one it was out of I haven't change the K member yet so I have no idea if that tranny with that shifter will fit into the stock shifter hole or not If not I will cut and fab until it does
Hopeully some one on here with a 1971 or later OEM 4 speed car will chime in and say exactly where the shifter mount is mounted at

All depends on what setup he goes with , Bench seat used the front 66-70 B body mount location , console and I'm pretty sure buckets used the rear E body location.

the shifter on the OD trans is for a pickup truck , it moves the shifter up and back , I'm not sure how much different that location is from the Bench seat B body , it's dwfinitely not the same as a 66-70 B body so Cab you'll be cobbling the floor up if you want to use it .

I haven't tried it but I imagine one of the truck rods might be able to be bent in such a way that one could use it with factory passenger car location for the 3-4(od) rod, in the E body location a shifter rod will need to be bent to use one there if you want to use the standard OD 3rd and OD shift locations.

the truck shifters were made by Hurst and Inland , the box is very close to the B-E muscle car era shift box , Reverse rod is slighly different I think , I used an NOS one I bought off ebay a long time ago and the reverse rod adjustment was maxed out from the stock location when I swapped the box into my 69 Dart.

First Question for the OP; do you have buckets or bench seat? In this instance, it matter a lot.

I have buckets. I am willing to alter the floor as long as I can get the shifter in a reasonable location that is comfortable. Thanks for the great info guys!

I have a real 1969 Dart GTS 383 4 speed car that I bought another NP833 O.D tranny from some other shop out of a 1977 or later Volare or some other look a like A body tranny. No way will that stock OEM shifter linkage work in my car The other longer O.D 833 truck or van tranny looks like it will work fine in my 1966 B body with the stock shifter mounted on the front mount I did buy a new shifter mounting adapter (the thick alumimun piece the shifters bolts onto) from Hurst but it is not a perfect fit in the shop so some cobbling will probaly be needed

Two great companies to contact are Passon Performance and Brewer's Performance. Both are good vendors and have their ads in the "transmission and differential" section of the for sale stuff. They will answer any and all questions you have. Not saying previous members who answered are wrong or nothing just giving more options.

The easiest and probably best (but maybe not the cheapest) is to go the way the cars originally came. With buckets it is much easier and everything is readily available.

If you buy that transmission that you have pictured, you will need to drill and tap the rear shifter perch. The handle, box, pad, and levers are all available new and sometimes used. And some things could be modded from what you may already have. And if you're careful, you could use a shifter pad as a pattern to drill the perch on the tranny.

You will probably want to get a floor hump and cut it in. The opening for the tranny shifter and rods is fairly good size, so going with the original style floor hump is the easiest way. And don't forget that the auto carpet won't cover the larger floor hump if you do go with it.

There are more details, but that will get you going if you choose to pull the trigger on that tranny.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Get the shifter setup for E body and 71-4 B with buckets.
The longer tunnel hump and the short pistol grip handle.
They did make one BB bell housing that fits the 833OD and the NP 435 with the 5.125 hole but can be real hard to find. Casting number 4039670. Probably easier to modify the hub.

MUCH less grief...

I was able to get a great deal on the 4 speed so I went and picked it up today. I also got the shifter that goes with it. Does the pic of the shifter help to know for sure how this set up will fit in my car?

I called and talked to Brewer's today and they have a bearing retainer with the smaller diameter for the OD box or they said I could turn the stock one down to the correct size. I have a machinist buddy so I might have mine turned down because that will likely be free and free sounds good! I think I may go with their reproduction bellhousing. Thanks

Toss that truck shifter and rods. get a B/E shifter, rods and mount.

That's what I have now. The challenge of making something work and the satisfaction of a job well done is what keeps me in this hobby. A few years ago I had a 67 firebird that had a 327/4speed one year, a LS1/6 speed the next, a 10 second GN turbo motor the next and then a 572/T400 the next! I love a project!

Do I need to alter the 3-4 lever on a standard shifter since the OD operates differently there? Thanks

LMAO...

I see that...


Onward, then...


(Between Brewer's, and Passon's, you ought to be able to sort it out...)

I'm using an A883 O/D out of a mid '80s slant six truck in my Newport with a 1970 B body pistolgrip mechanism and mounting pad.

Rods I made from the chopped up truck and A body rods and I think I used B body levers. I probably could have just bought the rods that matched the shifter and only had to do a little massaging, but I was out of $$$.

I mounted the trans to an engine stand and made the linkage. I wasn't playing around doing it under the car. I made sure it shifted smoothly and went fully into gear without binding before I installed it.

Over all, it wasn't to hard at all to make work perfectly.
Most of the stuff I had to buy new I purchased from Brewers. I used one of their new aluminum bells for the 130 tooth flywheel with a 4.80 hole along with a new 4.80 bearing retainer for the 308 bearing.

Ive been running the O/D trans for over two years now and the wide ratio isn't too bad even in my C body with a mostly stock gutless 400 and 2.94 gears. For what these transmissions can usually be had for you can't beat it. Ive had em given to me.

Thanks for the info. Which mounting position did you use on the transmission? Since I have the truck shifter I thought about putting it in place to see if it could modified to use a pistol grip arm. I think the chances are slim that it work out correctly but it's free to try it to see if it's possible.

Using that truck shifter in that location with that mount will put the handle into the dash.
The bench seat shifter is mounted on the front bosses but has a long bone shape mount that moves the shifter up and back and then uses a long handle that goes back even more.

Cab the F body Linkage will work , you only need the 3-4 Rod , the other A body rods are the same.

If you use it like that you will have to get the 71-74 bench seat shifter hump and pistol grip handle and go from there. A hurst shifter box will work as a replacement for that shifter box.