I am in the proscess of putting an a518 overdrive trans in my 440 powered 2wd truck. Thought you all might like to know and see how I do it. First let me start off by saying I am no expert on this by no means. This is the first time I have tried this, so I'm sure there will be some problems along the way, but here goes. Thanks to Ric aka 77440se and a few web sites http://www.transmissionsone.com/
http://www.racewithjw.com/
I got all my info and parts.
I have assembled all my parts: Transmission a518 93 2wd with lockup, JW Ultra Bell, vacum switch, etc...
This weekend I have done the first major step which is cut the old bell housing off to make room for the new Ultra Bell.

You see the trans and the bell housing. I made a few reference marks the black dash marks on the trans. for refence. I used a level and square to measure into the pump rail, which is how far you have to cut the bell housing back.

Made my first cut. A lot hard to do than I thought it would be. Used a sawzall with a metal blade. Burnt up two blades before I figured out slow the blade speed down and it cut great and doesn't burn up the blades.


After the first cut I took my 4 1/2" grinded with a grinding wheel and roughed it on back. Then switched to a 60 grit sanding disc on the same grinded to finish. You have to make sure you have clearnce all the way around the outside of the bell or when you are bolting the bell to the pump it doesn't bolt down tight against the pump. Thanks Ric for the tip on that. Down at the trans pan rail is the area you need to watch close for clearence.




And here it is all test fitted. Only snags this day. 2 burnt up saw blades and the bolts that were sent with the Ultra Bell were to long. A few bolts and blades problems solved. A lot of time involved in this step. From what I see of doing this probably the most time consuming and hardest part, but we'll see. I'll keep you posted as the project goes along. Hope you found this useful.