A518 conversion questions

I just went on the Hot Rod Power Tour and now I really would like to have an overdrive tranny in my Challenger (SB360). I know there have been a few people to do the A518 conversion in their cars and I direct these these questions mainly to them, but feel free to answer if you have found some good information.

On the Tour, I talked to KEISLER about doing the swap and they said it can not be done with out modifying the body. They just started selling a new computerized auto tranny for Mopar vehicles for about $4500 which is suppose to fit without hitting.

Well I do not have that kind of money to put just in a tranny. I know that US CAR Tool put a A518 behind a 340 in a Challenger and said that there were no body mods, so is this possible?

I know that the crossmember has to be modified and the tranny housing has to be grinded a little, and that is not a problem. My main concern is the tranny angle. Is it possible to put the A518 in the car and still retain the stock tranny angle, so I do not have any vibration problems?

If you have attempted this type of conversion, please let me know the problems you have had.
Thanks

I put swapped a 904 for a 518 in my 87 Short box, reg cab Ram.
Using factory engine mounts, a 1993 transmission crossmember and new trans mount. I assume everything would be placed like a factory 1993 truck would have placed a factory 518.

All said and done my angles are odd. The tech archives talk about 3 scenarios.
1. Driveshaft down, Pinion down
2. Driveshaft down, pinion parallel to crankshaft
3. Driveshaft up, pinion angle up.

Pinion angles from Tech archives.

I have the 4rth and unspoken scenario. Driveshaft up and pinion angle down. Both are 2 degrees but my crank and pinion are not parallel.

Concerned with the odd layout, hell ya.
Is it smooth, yes to that too.

I blame the big transmission for the transmission to driveshaft angle.

Thanks Magnum
I figured that a wierd might occur due to the extra length.

Has anyone tried this setup in a Challenger other than US CAR Tool?
Thanks

Heres a cut & paste of an Email I sent John Passerman @ US CarTool before he did the 518 install.

> > Hello John
> >
> > I don't know if you've already seen this, but I saw the thread on
moparts
> > about doing a 518 conversion to an ebody. I've done it without cutting
the
> > crossmember
> > & still maintaining proper drivline angle, so if your interested I
> included
> > photos & some of what I did hope you can use it
> >
> > Not mentioned it the following desciption is the fact that the 518 I
used
> > had 618 O/D internals.
> >
> > The first thing I did was take a measurment of the distance from the
> center
> > of the original trans. output shaft to the floor pan for referance
later,
> > then I bolted the trans to the engine & attemptted to raise it , I
trimmed
> > the interferance areas on the trans., then when the output shaft to
floor
> > pan measurment was correct, I fabricated a new mount out of cardboard,
> then
> > used that as a template to make a steel one.
> >
> > The 500 is basicaly a 904 with O/D & the 518 is a 727 with O/D. the 500
> may
> > live depending on horsepower & how it is treated.
> > The shifting can be handled many ways, most guys install two switches on
> the
> > dash one to control O/D & the other for lockup, Kiesleris rumoured to be
> > working on a control box. The way I handled it is, a vehicle speed
sensor
> in
> > a custom made speedo cable sends it's signal to two RPM switches one is
> set
> > to allow convertor lockup at 43 mph the other to allow O/D at 52 mph
these
> > are hooked to bosch relays as the ground leg, a Hobbs switch (vacuum) is
> > connected to apply power to both relays so if vacuum is below 2hg (
> > moderatly heavy throttle) it kicks out of O/D & lockup as far as
bypassing
> > the lockup just don,t apply power & it won't lock,
> > but it's good for a 450 rpm drop at 70 mph on the vehicle I preformed
> this
> > swap to.
> >
> > BTW the vehicle is a 70 challenger convertible 340 with edelbrock heads,
> > etc., making 425 hp & running 4.30 gears that in O/D are like 2.94's the
> > vehicle when finished left central california & drove to Austin Tx. no
> > problems

----- Original Message -----
From: <John@UsCarTool.com>
To: "Randy Reddig" <js27@earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 6:10 AM
Subject: Re: 518


> Thanks for the great info Randy! I hadn't considered modifying the trans
> case, but that seems like a "less invasive" method than cutting into the
> floor.
>
> You've given me a whole new approach to the conversion - thanks!
>
> John P.


Hello John
It works great on the E bodies & the 71& later B bodies, it won't work on
earlier B bodies & I haven't tried A bodies. Some people get squimish about
cutting the trans case but my first thought was I'm more squimish about
cutting the car, second if you look at the way the trans is built theres
nothing stressed in the areas that are cut. When you try it you'll find the
only trouble area is the speedo cable but I've been able to shift the engine
mounts as far back is the holes between the mount & engine bracket allows &
obtained clearance on both cars I've done this too. In some applications it
may require a small notch to the trans/torsion crossmember I do notch the
bolt in crossmember & only use 3 through bolts & 1 7/16 self tapping bolt in
the front hole where I notch the crossmember, check it out yourself, if you
come up with something better let me know but it isn't a problem, I've seen
Much worse make the magazine guys very happy

Good Luck Randy

Picture 2

picture 3

Thanks Randy(1_WILD_RT)
That is exactly what I was looking for. My vehicle will be very close to your setup.

I do have one more question:
I know that if you switch from a 904 to a 727 that you lose about a tenth in the quarter-mile. So do you lose even more time switching from the 727 to the 518?

I forgot to ask:
I know my stock slap-stick linkage won't work with the conversion, but what type of shifting linkage did you use? size? length?

Thanks again.

Quote:

---

I forgot to ask:
I know my stock slap-stick linkage won't work with the conversion, but what type of shifting linkage did you use? size? length?

Thanks again.

---

I've done the conversion on two E bodies now, one was column shift, all stock pieces worked perfectly... the othe was a slap-stick which I converted to cable shift... I can't tell you if the 518 will slow down your 1/4 mile ET, both cars recieved new gears to take advantage of the OD so no direct comparisons were possible...