Found a 63 Dodge van today with a 6, A727, and a 8 3/4.Is the 8 3/4 worth grabbing to have narrowed for my 68 Dart? Would I be better off continuing my search for an A-body 8 3/4 or 8 1/4?

drucker@sbcglobal.net

DART68,

It'll cost you about $200-250 to narrow that rear by the time you get done with shipping and such. On the other hand, A-body 8 3/4's are kinda hard to find and run around $300-up for the whole unit, plus you end up with small bolt pattern. If you want a rear quickly, this van unit might be the way to go, but probably won't save you much money or time.

One thing you should grab, which I or others would be happy to buy, would be the adapter plate between the engine and 727. This plate will allow you to put a smallblock trans behind a slant - like the A500 or A518 OD transmissions. These plates are pretty hard to come by.

Cheers,

Lou

madsenl@its.caltech.edu

The van rearend maybe worth the trouble it probally is a 3.91 gear ratio you can look on the driver side door jamb and it should show the ratio. I got a 1967 satalite b body 8 3/4 to put under my 69 dart it is a little tight but it will work. B body 67 8 3/4 are a lot easier to find than a body. Thanks Ron

rpracing@catt.com

One thing to watch for with the van rearend housings is that the spring "purch" pad is usually mounted on the top of the axle tubes, not on the lower side of the tube like the pass. car housings. The van unit will also have separate shock brackets welded right to the housing. If the unit has large nuts holding on the brake drums, I would "pass".

All this can be worked with but it does take some welding and location work to get these into an A-Body. If memory is correct, these rears have the same track as an E-Body and that is not far off from the A. It all boils down to what the center section is (3.91 posi ? ) and the price for the unit.
DD

Dart68,

If you can get the adapter plate, I am interested in buying it. If I can use it for a pattern, I can make more at work on the CNC. They would be a little more "available" to the 6 crowd then.Let me know if you end up with it. Also, if you need a 8-3/4 narrowed, I can narrow the housing and relocate the perches and anything else that needs done,but I dont have the equipment to respline axles yet, so they would have to go to Mosier engineering or somewhere similar. I am in Ohio, so shipping would be next to nothing( I could meet you somewhere if need be)

Happy hunting!

MadMax

madmax6995@hotmail.com

At least grab the bellhousing adapter plate !
motorhedfred


motorhedfred@yahoo.com

What all were the adapter plates used in? Was it just vans or did slant six trucks also use the 727? I'd really like to hear some more info on using the B-body rear end in an A-body too.

greasemonkey@elvis.com

Wish I could tell you more about the adaptor plates, but Ive only known about them for a month or so. If I can get one I could make more, and I think they're something that would come in handy to the slant six community.
As far as using the B-body rearend in a A-body;
The B-Body is 2" wider than the A-body. It will basically just bolt in(you have to flex the leaf springs out a small amount, unless you put new spring perch pads on)The only problem that arises is caused by the extra width. It will space your wheels out an inch on each side. However, this can be taken care of by ordering your aftermarket wheels with the proper back spacing to compensate for the extrea width. If you dont plan on using aftermarket wheels, you can still use stock because you hardly notice the 1" offset. I have a couple of B-Body rearends if your interested in one.
One more note; a B-body is the proper width to fit perfectly under a Dakota(thats my next project)

Hope this helped.

MadMax

madmax6995@hotmail.com

Is this a 64 A-100 van or a Panel truck (like the Town Wagon)?

Either way, there are much better donors to start with. Besides the shackles being on top instead of on bottom, the axles would be tapered-axle design if the rear was originally a 63 or 64...

Any year A-100 is poor place to start because the axle's reduced diameter directly after the spline at the end does not leave enough axle meat to shorten and respline to the standard A-body length.

In 1965, the A-10 0housing was the same length as the C-body housing. Due to the placement of the shackle mounts, the housings don't interchange. 1965 A-100 and C-body axles, however, do interchange...

The ratio might be nice, A-100s came with 3.55 741s, and optionally 3.91s... Town Wagons/Panel trucks came with even lower gearsets.

If you were going to pick a truck/C-body housing to narrow, look for a 71-73,74 D-100/C-body that would not only donate a housing, but would also provide axles with enough meat in the "sweet spot" to make good A-body axles...


doug@autohobbydigest.com

Madmax i did the swap last year on my drag car and it was a piece of cake. You can use b body rearends from 1965 to 1967 b body cars ie belvedere cornet ect. I used a 67 satalite and it went in nice. I run 26x8.5 rear slicks and it clears. You might have to grind a little of the lip off on the fenderwell like 1/4 inch other than that i have had no problems. If this is a street car it will give the car a prostreet look from the side. The wheels i am now using came off a 79 Dodge Ramcharger witch were 6 1/2 inches wide but since now you have large bolt pattern wheels that is not a problem if i can help let me know Thanks Ron

rpracing@catt.com

Sorry it took soooo long to respond guys. Getting ready for new job. I found a 8 1/4 in a 73-74 Dart Sport the following Monday that was totally complete. That is, rim to rim with decent tires to boot. Also grabed drive shaft to be safe. The sport was a /6 car. Unfortunately all front brake components were gone. Anyone interested in the Dodge van should go the the wrecking yard on Vermont and Artesia. Its right off the 110 where it crosses the 91.

drucker@sbcglobal.net