Despite being 9 degrees outside, I decided to start on rebuilding the transmission for the Belvedere. It was suppose to have a manual valve body, when I opened it up, it had a OEM valve body. I haven't opened the valve body yet to see if it had been modified. I thought I read somewhere that all OEM valve bodies were low band applied, so if that is true if it has been been modified would it still retain the low band applied? Or when they are modified typically does it remove LBA?

How do you know it is an OEM valve body? Factory Valve bodies have LBA in the manual 1st gear selection. In drive they do not. However if something broke in the drivetrain the governer would force a 1/2 shift. They also require throttle pressure linkage or a aftermarket cable for proper line pressure. If it didn't slip under load and had no throttle pressure control? My bet is it's modified. There are mny different types of valve bodies by year. Some have parts that others don't. Different people modify them different ways. If you are taking it apart make sure you take pictures. Disassemble it very carefully and slowly. Could have hidden check balls where they don't normally go. Why are you taking it apart in the first place? Unless it's cleaning or adding a shift kit you are asking for trouble.
Doug

At first glance, it might look like the OE valve body. It's what is done inside that matters. Separator plate will be different. Valves missing. Machine work done internally.

Probably not the one you want to be the first one you take apart. Pictures would help.

I got the transmission with an engine I bought. He said it was fresh and had a manual valve body. It had a 8” turbo action converter with it. I kinda considered it a free transmission as I would have paid what I did just for the engine. I knew I wanted an extra trans as my intent was to have an trans available when I finally bought a b body, which I have now. I just need to set it up for around 650-700 hp.

I was thinking it was OEM because it had the Mopar emblem on it and 2801295 seems to be a common plate for Chrysler.

I would like to have LBA as that is what I use in my Duster, so I was curious if I needed to start shopping for a new VB or there was a chance this one was already LBA.

Check the separator plate, i believe turbo action engraves them. Should have a part# too.

The “55” is the only non cast I see.

Looks like a manual shift in the second to last image.

The OEM steel separator plate (on the right below) will have five holes on the rear, the RMVB will have only four because one governor port is eliminated. It could still be a forward manual VB build from a kit.

Finally got around to taking it apart.
It looks like there are only two check balls. It has been drilled to open up a channel near the center. It looks like there were four walls removed.

I have seen a lot of manual valve bodies that were not marked with who made them. Transgo used to make a manual valve body kit and I have built several of those and they were LBA, no partitions were removed, been a while ago since I did one. From your pictures it is a manual valve body, I am not smart enough to just look at what partitions have been cut out to tell you if it applies the low band or not. LBA is safer of course but over the years they are a little slower. The low reverse servo was not designed to release fast, main reason a lot of valve bodies do not hold the low band. I would look at the low servo and see if it looks like it has been modified. All the LBA valve bodies I have seen also modify the servo.

From the pictures it looks like a manual VB and most likely a reverse pattern. Was there a solid rod in the pressure port? Way back in the day Chrysler sold both those pieces over the counter (I bought them in 1973 for my trans) like said each year trans was a little different. TransGo makes a shift improver kit that keeps the trans in stock mode. Most all used the stock VB with changes inside, a few today are made from scratch.

Compare the steel separator plate to the ones I posted...definitely a RMVB but the removed channel walls are out of the ordinary. That's necessary in the transfer plate but not in the valve body casting.

Only one of the balls in the VB is a "check" ball, the one with the spring under it is a pressure relief ball.

Thanks so much for all the help.

John, I pulled up the post as soon as I got it apart, to see which one it was, so there was a small celebration there. Are there any other pictures I can provide to help? I will take pictures of everything I have out right now, maybe the pictures of the servos will help.


Thanks again, you guys have been extremely helpful and I really appreciate it.