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This board seems to have a number of guys that know some oddball stuff about mopars so here is one for you. About 20 years ago, I bought an alum case 4 speed for my Cuda. I was told it was bought from a dealership as an over the counter tranny and was for the Trans Am program. It is a 23 spline 70 up with the two shifter mounts. It did not have the regular vent that is present in normal 4 speeds. It just had an allen plug with a small hole in it to vent. It had the speedo hole blocked with a freeze plug as well. It has a black coating on it that is thicker than paint. The bottom of it is rubbed off where it was moved around on the dealership floor while it sat in stock. I remember someone talking about a coating sprayed on some trannys that was magnetic and looked like cast iron to fool some tech people for racing. It is magnetic except where the coating is rubbed off. The front case has a part number in big letters right where the case bolts to the block by the side cover. It is E - 2801176. The tail housing has the part number of 3410391. The only number stamped on the tranny is at the rear of the case right below where the tail housing attaches. It reads. Y 001. There is no pad on the pass side at all. It has another small plug right below the fill hole on the pass side. Anyone seen one of these before? It does have the later model side cover with the steel forks and funky inside to keep from shifting into two gears at once.

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They did spray tranny's and rear end center sections. But I was told by a guy at AAR that they went to a aircraft company and did the rears. He didn't mention the trannys.

I talked to Bob Tarozzi last in April about the T/A program and he gave a lecture about it at Spring Fling Speed Festival. The Trans Am cars had tranny problems. At first the trans guys in Detroit said their NASCAR stuff could handle it. But it didn't. So there were some interations of trannies until they figured it out. That would all be one off stuff, never sold over the counter at that time.

I can't imagine Chrysler selling cheater stuff over the counter. Doesn't make since. But it could have been sent to a dealer for a racer to pick up. Problem it's one of those third party stories.

Now did the Super Stock cars ever have the need for a sprayed trans for any of thier classes? I would think so. Might have came out of that program.

My 76 DC catalog shows a cast iron "slick shift" assy p/n P2538391 Aluminum case is shown seperate with 308 retainer and steel bushed; p/n P3690980

How about taking a picture of the trans and the funky insides.

I'd try posing this in the race section too.

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... It uses a complicated system of levers to keep it from going into more than one gear at a time. The older 70 on down used the simple ball and detent side cover that is considered the better of the two. Most race trannies used the ball and detent side cover.

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My fault, I'm 4 speed lame.

I just pulled out my 1974 Petty Enterprises Catalog
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I see a lever system in the factory diagram. Those levers have all have regular production P/N's. But...
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The catalog lists a complete 4spd aluminum case 23 spine transmission! They offered aluminum cases in various gear ratios. One is an aluminum case, 23 spline, road race gearset, with flange or sliding spline output shafts.

The catalog also lists the bare aluminum case availible under part number: 2801176. They also show both side cover style serviced: dentent and lever.

I think this could be a NASCAR orginated piece. But like Bob Tarozzi said the T/A trans came from the NASCAR program. Maybe there is a T/A connection? What area do you think the dealer was that this trans came from???

I'll scan the PE catalog pages for your now...

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Thanks for the info. The tranny came from the Midland,Texas area. I am not sure where the dealership that he bought them was located. I did not think the tranny felt like it had a low gear of 2.65. Feels more like a 2.47 to me but that is just by the way it takes off in first. I'll have to check the next time I get it up on the lift.

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The ran one race in 1970 at Dallas International Raceway. It was a rain out.
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Ok did some searching on the old TransAmCuda message board. John Wasilewski (Gursavski) really was the historian of those cars, but passed away a few years ago.

Here's a connection to the Texas area:

"The AUTODYNAMICS Challengers were put up for sale in December of 1970. One of the cars returned to the Trans-Am briefly at Bryar, New Hampshire on May 31,1971. The car was qualified 13th in the field and finished 20th, retiring after 63 laps with lost oil pressure, The owners, Bob Essex and John Paul, collected $150 for their efforts. John McComb, in this car, set the A/Sedan lap record at Road Atlanta during the SCCA American Road Racing Championship of 1971. Jim Lockhart raced this Challenger in SCCA and IMSA events from April of 1972 until July of 1975 and then sold it to Troy Waldron of Houston, Texas. Troy raced the Challenger successfully in A/S and GT-1 ‘til 1983. He sold the car to George Boyd who sold the car to Ken Epsman, the current owner"

http://www.transamcuda.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1044168996

It's doesn't say where Jim Lockhart was from. You might be able to search the internet for that.

If this trans has a Trans Am connection maybe Troy Waldron would be a good place the start looking. But Midland is not too close to Houston.

Another lead would be to see if there were any Mopar road racers in SCCA A-Sedan or IMSA that ran at road courses in the Texas area. The way to seach that is getting the race programs or SCCA Texas club newsletter that have race results in them from the 1970-1975 era.