transission help, racecar to street car

i am transforming a racecar back to street duties. i have a 727 that was built with a turbo action manual VB with a brake... built together, installed and worked fine. i removed the TA-VB and installed a stock VB with a mancini kickdown cable,(checked and rechecked) now the only gears i have are PARK REVERSE AND FIRST,, it will not shift out of 1.. i tried a second stock VB, same issue.. could the trans. be modified in such a way the stock ones wont work? both stock VB long shelf life unused

What are you using for a shifter?

had scs cheetah, now has stock slapstick.. checked and rechecked

had scs cheetah, now has stock slapstick.. checked and rechecked

Has the govnor been removed?

Yep, the governor guts are usually removed when installing a manual VB. And, if the trans has a roller rear support you won't be able to use a stock VB.

The manual VB's are cool on the street. Why would you remove it? Put it back and shift it! You'll be much happier...

Agreed. Our Challenger has it and it's 100% a street car.

x3 nothing like barking tires in 2 and 3 if you can.

Yep, and you eliminate that Rube Goldberg kickdown linkage.

Im usually to drunk to concentrate on shifting, plus the wheel in one hand and my beer in the other makes it a bit hard

Even cooler if you push buttons to do it!

I drove a street car with a converted full manual VB (Chrysler instructions, separator plate, transfer plate) in 1970.
Hated it - got pulled over many times for smoking the tires on the 1-2 shift with light throttle. Couldn't drive it on wet pavement unless the steering wheel was centered or it would loop on the shift.
Same problem with my DD now (dangerous when wet), except it retains full auto upshift and kick-down.

I have a Dart with a manual shift and an 8" converter. I absolutely LOVE it! It isn't the quickest thing with a 3.23 gear but it is fun! It's all about how much throttle to give it. High gear asap and drive it like you would any other car.

I drove a Slant car on the street for years with a 10" converter and 3.91 gears. I rarely used first gear and most of the time just drove in high gear. RMVB's are not that difficult on the street.

If yours has LBA you'll quickly learn not to downshift into low while moving.

It can be done. I never down shift unless I'm on the throttle. So if I'm slow going up a hill or want to start in low instead of 2nd I'll throttle in second then click to first. Same coming out of a 25mph 90 only from high to second for a minute. If you are not hotrodding around just mimic how the thing would shift if it were full auto. It never down shifts without throttle pressure while moving. You definitely know it shifts! If you are on the throttle everyone else knows it by the chirp or fry.

I don't get the fascination with manual valve bodies.
Why not get a proper manual gearbox instead? 3 pedals are too confusing?

Had a reverse MVB in a mainly strip-only '71 Dart years ago. While it was 'secure' shifting on the actual strip, it felt cumbersome in every other situation.

Besides that, I can manually shift just fine in any automatic transmission I have, even the pushbutton ones.
Heck, I pretty much keep the A518 in my daily Dart in 2nd gear most of the time during city-driving, unless the situation lents to use 3rd or OD.
Whenever I don't like manual 'labor', I just put it in Drive and enjoy the ride evenso.

If you want sharper shifting, you need to install a TransGo Reprogramming kit that takes any slip out of the trans.

I have an A1 brake valve body for another transmission I might use. It has an LBA and after 20 some odd years of driving a non LBA manual valve body I am not sure how well that is going to go at first lol.

Around 1986 we got a bit more serious with my '71 340 Cuda street/strip car and installed 4.30's, 4200 stall and a manual v-body (no brake) in the 727, standard shift pattern with factory slapstick, we also drilled some holes in the clutch drum I think it was, can't remember exactly......wow, that shifted real hard 1st>2nd, not quite so to 3rd, it would chirp the tyres on the road, almost hurt your neck, but I loved it, got used to it and where to have the revs to calm it a bit, best of both worlds a manual auto.

if all your wanting is a mild daily driver just sell the race tranny and buy a used stock unit throw a refresh at it and call it a day

More proof that you were raised in a trailer.

IM TELLIN MOM!!!

I know this is not your question, but are you doing it yourself? In our area Jeff Russel is the go to guy (in case you don't know him) - he is a fellow Mopar racer. He is in Liberty Indiana so not a bad drive from Cincy.

I believe he still charges $150 to go through a 727 plus parts. He does all my trannies and 8 3/4 setups. He has never let me down and he is a straight shooter.

Or simply replace the governor parts, can be done in the car.

Most likely you will want to upgrade the governor to higher upshift (lighter) aftermarket pieces anyway. A&A has them.

Same. Always viewed street mvb users as manual tranny wannabees.

I've ran quite a few shift kitted Trans-Go TF-2 modified 727's and was never happy with the 2-3 shift and the jankety Mopar kickdown linkage required for doing it this way. I still build quite a few for friends this way with higher upshift governors. They absolutely love them.

Personally, I can tell you that the 2-3 shift in my Cheetah mvb feels much better. In addition, I eliminated the kickdown linkage and I can start out in 2nd gear. This really helps in street race style events or where you have to use a true street radial for a class.

It's all about what you do with the car and personal taste. My car still has a clutch pedal and I considered an 833 but, for me, the 727 was much cheaper and more consistent.

can you start off in 4th gear ( 1:1) like i can in third ( 1:1)?
besides, i like pushing buttons, a big funky stick would look stupid in my car.

Yep! Racing automatics are for sissys!

LMAO!

There are drivers and there are steering wheel holders...

I also run a manual valve body in my street car. Course I knew I would take it to the track sometimes. And myself I love driving on the street with it. I have had my 63 on the road since 2006 like that and my sons Dart since 1997 with a full reverse manual valve body. Heck I even drive slicks on the street and have been caught in the rain 3 times. Just drove nice and easy and I had no problems driving home. But you have to be smart and realize what you are driving and drive it right.

And I am not a manual trans wanna-be driver at all ( LoL) as I loved driving and racing my 4-speed 340 Dart I had years ago. But I broke a lot of driveline parts since I run my cars hard and would launch with the gas pedal going to the floor when the clutch came out. So for that reason I am very glad my 63 was an auto and I kept it that way since its much faster then my 340 four speed car was and has not broken any driveline parts so far. The auto is much easier on the drivetrain with sticky tires for sure and since my budget is very tight I am glad I have an auto I can manually shift in my 63. I would love driving it as a stick car if I could afford to put a strong driveline in it. And also with my bad knees and back the auto makes it much easier on me. But I have been a gearhead/hotrodder all my life so I love having the reverse manual valve body in my street car. Myself I would never want a normal shifting auto trans in my hotrod. Ron

Well said Ron. That last sentence is exactly how I feel.