A-518 / 46RE install in a '68 Charger "in progress"

[67Charger440]

Rather than keep sidetracking keepat's "Modern Bullitt" thread, I figured I would throw this out there for anyone like me looking to know what is involved in getting an A518 to fit where a 727 once was.  I am in the middle of clearancing to get it to fit, then I will get to reinforcing and replacing what is missing.  My goal is to get it to fit under the stock floorpan, but we shall see.

My drivers side footwell was fairly rusty to begin with, so no harm in making a little room to work and experiment.



The overdrive housing is quite bulky, and the bearing retainer hits square into the front top arch of the crossmember.  The parking rod area interferes with the drivers side inner crossmember bolt, but only on the front half.  The plan is to plate and thread the inside of the rear half of that hole so a short bolt can be used there.  There is a rib in the trans case on the drivers side that needs to be removed where it passes through the tunnel.  You can see it behind the crossmember as well as where it has been removed in the clearance cut above the parking rod area.  This area remains tight and is currently one of the last points of contact to be addressed.  The other is on the passenger side in the last bit if steel remaining in the front half of the arch.  There is no fore/aft clearance currently due to contact above the parking rod area.  That will be trimmed back.

The passenger side lower portion of the arch needs to be pushed out some, as seen below.



All of this trimming/boxing/plating is prompting me to really build a beefy lower crossmember either out of plate or replacing the center of the existing piece with a 30° v-bend in some 1 3/4" rollbar tubing.



More to come as I make progress

[keepat]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks as though you have two bolts holes into the bottom of the Trans in front of the factory crossmember and 1 aft of the factory crossmember for the transmission mount? It looks as though you could reinforce the factory hump that you cut into to make room for the transmission. And then make a new Bolton crossmember to hold the transmission mount. Be sure to check the angle of the transmission and keep it as close to stock is possible.
Good luck with the install!
Thanks
Pat

[warpspeed]

what year is that 1 518?  It doesn't look like my 94 unit at all

[67Charger440]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks as though you have two bolts holes into the bottom of the Trans in front of the factory crossmember and 1 aft of the factory crossmember for the transmission mount? It looks as though you could reinforce the factory hump that you cut into to make room for the transmission. And then make a new Bolton crossmember to hold the transmission mount. Be sure to check the angle of the transmission and keep it as close to stock is possible.
Good luck with the install!
Thanks
Pat

Actually that is a great point.  Reinforce the upper area of the crossmember, reinforce bolt on piece with just enough clearance to let the trans through and then add and additional welded or bolted on plate that reached out to the the mount at the rear of the trans.  Let me measure/mock that up...

Warpspeed:  It is a '98 46RE from a 4x4 Ram 1500 that I swapped a dual speed sensor 2WD OD housing onto.  I can use both a cable speedo and the computer output shaft speed sensor.

[67Charger440]

Added a pic of the passenger side clearance.  I am really considering adding a 1/8" thick full height vertical rib along the crossmember from right to left, centered fore-aft and then box it inside and out.

[Mike DC]

                    
I would be looking at how the ultimate front U-joint location of this swap compares to a stock 727B.  Specifically the height.  

The 5spd Tremec conversions sold by Keisler/etc will technically fit under the stock car but the driveline angles are wonky.  AFAIK all the A518 swaps that did not involve wrecking the upper arch of the torsion bar crossmember had the same trouble.  It fits, and it runs, but how well?  The main appeal of the OD gear is for highway cruising so it needs to be free of vibrations at high speeds.

[cdr]

this is a short version of my install

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,116725.msg1448658.html#msg1448658

[67Charger440]

                   
I would be looking at how the ultimate front U-joint location of this swap compares to a stock 727B.  Specifically the height.  

The 5spd Tremec conversions sold by Keisler/etc will technically fit under the stock car but the driveline angles are wonky.  AFAIK all the A518 swaps that did not involve wrecking the upper arch of the torsion bar crossmember had the same trouble.  It fits, and it runs, but how well?  The main appeal of the OD gear is for highway cruising so it needs to be free of vibrations at high speeds.

Right now, as seen, the front u-joint would be 1/4" HIGHER than my 67 Charger's in relation to the tunnel and floorboards.  Angle is more difficult to measure with out the chassis loaded, but I suppose I can take a "relative" measurement in relation to the rockers/sill.

 ...and yes, the upper arch is thoroughly wrecked on the forward half, but the rear half has made it rather in-tact...

[Kern Dog]

What happened?
Op did a Keyser Soze.........