Hey guys, I'm a little confused. I was under the impression that the trans am cars received the ball and detent type 4 speed with the smooth side cover. Then I find this numbers matching AAR that recently sold on eBay. It has the same side cover as mine which looks like the later style 833s had. My car has an SPD the same day (402) as this car and it has the same style 4 speed. However my pad is blank so it might be a replacement. So look close at the one in the auction...now I'm not sure which is correct.

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Pics

Close up

What I'm used to seeing on these cars.

Maybe I just need a little more education on these 4 speeds.
Are the side covers interchangeable? Maybe a rebuild happened long ago and the ball/detent cover was replaced with the interlock one commonly seen on 71 833s. Any thoughts? Does anyone have the same style cover on their T/A car and it's numbers matching? Maybe I'm reaching a little far here lol

Yes the covers interchange and people swap stuff around plenty. So what you see 47 years later is not absolutely what the factory did.

Ok thanks for clearing that up. I was hoping this was probably the case. Now I can look for a nice ball/detent cover to replace my interlock one so it looks more correct. I was told my 4 speed was replaced under warranty long long ago which would explain my 71 type cover and a blank vin pad. I did however open it up and check the gears and it has the close ratio gear set with the 2.47 first gear. :-)

the "TRANS AM" A53 cars were the first (& ONLY in '70) to receive the "interlock-style" side cover 4-speed manual transmissions, "789" code on the broadcast sheet

Oh boy....Dan are you saying that the style on the right in the above photo would actually be correct for trans am cars?

My AAR had the untouched numbers trans and it was the interlock style.

The photo above that i posted of the smooth ball/detent cover is from my friend's 60,000 orig mile AAR and that car was purchased from the original buyer. Engine and trans never out or monkeyed with. Its SBD is 7 days after the eBay car with the interlock cover in my first post. This is really strange.

I've overhauled an original 833 from a 70 T/A and it too had the interlock style side cover - no ball and detent.

According to the factory Parts Catalog, the AAR trans (P/N 3410790) used the same ball and detent side cover (P/N 2464001) as all other '70 833's.