Have any of you guys done this transplant? I got the A-833 overdrive, bell housing and release bearing arm from a 76 Dart light, and I'm trying to get it into my 73 Duster. The problem is the clutch linkage doesn't seem long enough, maybe 2 inches short, to move the clutch release arm. I did notice the 76 arm is longer than the 73, and they have different pivots, 76 being a ball, but the z-bars and linkages all look identical. Who has made this work? Did you use the release arm from the 73? and if so which pivot. If the arm needs to be changed do I have to take the trany back out to change the arm?

1976 Dart Lite is a pretty rare car now...

The clutch parts from any 1973-1976 A-body and 1976-1978ish F-body should be the same. If someone 'Frankenstein'-ed together parts from a truck or B-body, etc you might have a handful.

Here's a top pic of my 1976 Feather Duster linkage, I can't find the 'underside' pics from when I rebuilt it and I just took these pics 5 minutes ago in the rain...




The bellhousings and bearing arms from the 60's to late 70's should be clip type:



Many of the trucks in the 80's I have seen get this 'ballstud' type of arm:




Here is a comparison of the two arms, the top is the ballstud type and the bottom is the clip type, they are similar in size, there is a difference in the adjusting rod attached to the arm. The 'truck' arm at top has a shorter eye-bolt and my Duster used the 7" not the 5" model shown.







My thought is someone in the past couldn't get another arm after they 'cracked' the OEM one in half (happens way too often...), so they got a bellhousing and setup from a later truck and swapped it in...so you need to call Year One or talk to your local auto parts guy and get a 7" Fork Rod for your A-body, and a Z-bar kit to replace any worn out bushings,etc...(good insurance...)

You can pull the arm right out the side if needed without pulling the tranny.

good luck,

-D.Idiot

I swapped the A833OD from a D100 pickup into my 68 Barracuda. I used the ball pivot clutch fork & bell housing from the truck but all the z-bar and linkage from the car. The truck clutch fork was about 1" longer than the one in the car but everything worked OK.

_________________

Dave Clement
68 Barracuda (Hot-Rod \6)
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4pgxf/