what years should i look for? what should i stay away from?,, been reading a ton of posts on the a500 and i WANT OD haha,, fabing anything up is not a problem at all,,,, 360 e body cuda

A500=904 based A518=727 based "front half" but the OD units the same between them, (there are variations but all the OD units interchange between them) either way there's some "beef up" things you can do; A500/518 are same length will fit directly in place of each other;
they did make some 518's w/o lockup; I had one out of a 92 15 pass 1 ton van w/a 360; MP used to sell these non L/U ones in the crate;
stay <'95, 96+ has alot more computer control, the older ones are also easier to adapt to non computer cars.
Most of both trannies did have lockup converter.

Diesel OD units had straight cut gears in them non diesel are helical cut; straight cut more durable. you can use a diesel OD unit on a non diesel tranny w/o issue.

some good info here.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=84774.0

I am planing on doing the same swap...sometime...maybe...I hope!

Jason

I used a 42RH out of a 95 Dakota 3.9 in my 78 Fury, and the pressure switches from PATC. The 500 is good for the lower 2.74 first gear ratio, can still be beefed up plenty strong, and in my application, I used the stock 3.9 converter. For me, it'll stall to about 2300, and flash to 2500. Id never run anything but an OD in a mild street car after putting it in, and its fully automatic. Even with 3.92 gears and 27" tires, 80mph+ is a breeze in overdrive and converter locked up. I don't even have $300 into the whole swap, and that's including the cost of the trans. Well worth the effort to put it in!

I started with a 500 in my M body and swapped out to a 518. OD really does make 4.10s and 27" tall tires livable. The unit I got was out of a 3/4 ton passenger van and it had lockup. Turbo Action down in Florida set me up with a very nice converter that can be used with with lockup transmissions, but it doesn't have the lockup components in it. As said, you can make OD and lockup completely automatic using the PATC parts. I sourced my stuff locally and wound up using a 52lb pressure switch to engage OD. It shifts right at about 45MPH.

For the rebuild parts, SMRtrans has been great. I run one and love it. Mine was out of an early '90's van I paid $800 for the trans and then another $1500 in parts to make it live....It nice because even with 4.56 gears, I can motor on down the thruway with it...I only wish I built a bigger fuel tank.