I have a 1965 Dodge A100 pickup, with a slant 6 and 727 transmission. The engine that came with the truck was dated April 21, 1976. I got a replacement engine dated Sept 25, 1964 and it had a flex plate and crank extension. The 727 is original to the truck dated circa 1965. Does a 1965 727 transmission mate to either set up correctly without complication???

I saw the crank extension on the one and not the other and was going straight to freak mode! Tell me what you know please!!

Thanks......Gary

I don't know very much about the 727 transmission, but I seem to recall that all 727s in the early/mid 60s used a V8 bell housing, so a factory adapter was supplied to mate the 727 to a slant. I assume an extension is also required on the rotating assembly to make up the added distance between the crank and torque converter. Does the original transmission in your truck have a slant 6 bell housing pattern? If not, does it include the slant bell housing adapter?

If I understand correctly, your 1976 engine doesn't have a crank extension. Is it already installed in the truck? If so I'm confused about something, and maybe one of my assumptions is incorrect.

If your 1965 truck came with a V8-pattern 727 but no bell housing adapter, and the 1976 slant 6 wasn't already installed, then you'll need to locate one of those adapters. They are pretty rare these days, but they occasionally pop up for sale on the forums.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable on this stuff will come along soon to educate us both!

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Thanks Frank. Will my motor mounts be off because I don't have the spacer? Will it affect the length of the bolts that join the 727 to the engine?

Frank is correct. You need the 1.125" thick adapter plate to mount the 65 (V8 pattern) 727 behind any Slant 6. The 65 and 76 Slants have exactly the same motor mount bolt pattern and trans mating surfact bolt pattern. The only difference is the crank snout on the back has a smaller pilot hub on the 65 compared to the 76. The crank extension cannot do anything by itself. The motor mounts should all line up, A$$UMING you have the motor mount brackets that fit the Slant engine into the A100 frame. If you have 1976 mount brackets, I am pretty sure they will not work. To mount your 64/65 engine to the 727 that came with the van would be to find the adapter plate that goes with the crank extension.

One way to get around this would be to find a 67-up 727 (or 68-up?) that bolt directly to the Slant engine. Do not use the crank extension. You will need new, shorter flexplate-to-crank bolts. This should put the 727 rear mount and shifter parts 1.125" further forward, so you may have to do some fab there? I have not done this swap, but this is my understanding of the situation. It could be that the 67-up Slant 6 727 (also called A-727-G, where G is for Slant 6 engine) has the rear mount further back on the case than the V8 727 (also called A-727-A).

Wildcat wrecking in OR used to have some of these adapter plates...

Hope this helps,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks Lou. I will post updates as I go along.

Gary