Overdrive on 318 Poly

[Rangepony]

Wondering if I should upgrade my transmission on my 64 Fury Convertible with 318 Poly. I have the stock auto with push button...it works but seems a little "clunky" to me....was wondering if I should go something more efficient like an overdrive....my plan is to use this car as a highway cruiser to go to the coast or mountains...

Overdrive suggestions and amount of work involved.....?

 

[Dodge 330]

Wondering if I should upgrade my transmission on my 64 Fury Convertible with 318 Poly. I have the stock auto with push button...it works but seems a little "clunky" to me....was wondering if I should go something more efficient like an overdrive....my plan is to use this car as a highway cruiser to go to the coast or mountains...

Overdrive suggestions and amount of work involved.....?

Lots of work.

It will need either a later model 727 installed with a Gear Vendors overdrive or you can do a 518 with factory overdrive. The Gear Vendors will be a little smaller in the transmission tunnel whereas the 518 will require some surgery. It's pretty spendy either way.

 

[66 Sat]

Service/adjust the existing transmission. If it's working properly it will be far from clunky. It's probably already got a 2.76 rear, perfect for highway cruising.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

How fast are you running. I recall my 59 Fury would do 80 easy enough. But the bias tyres were not up to the job of making the car go where you wanted to.

 

[matthon]

Had the trans rebuilt in my 64 Fury, cruise it everywhere, long or short trips.

Unless you're going cross country I'd rebuild the push-button.

Without an OD, I would guess sometimes ya have to stay on the gas a bit, but no big deal.

2.76 Sure-Grip, poly 2 barrel, TTI exhaust, it's smooth and quiet.

I need to upgrade from 14" wheels, that should help a bit.

 

[Geoff 2]

That should have the ball & trunnion U joint up front. They can be clunky when they wear. If it is old, has mileage on it, it should be replaced. With a GV, you might need to hack into the trans tunnel/floor pan.

 

[Rangepony]

Had the trans rebuilt in my 64 Fury, cruise it everywhere, long or short trips.

Unless you're going cross country I'd rebuild the push-button.

Without an OD, I would guess sometimes ya have to stay on the gas a bit, but no big deal.

2.76 Sure-Grip, poly 2 barrel, TTI exhaust, it's smooth and quiet.

I need to upgrade from 14" wheels, that should help a bit.

The transmission seems fine...the push button is what's clunky to me....I guess I'm just not used to it.

 

[YY1]

1- Push buttons are "super cool".

2- A gear vendors OD will allow you to keep it and likely be less of an installation issue than a trans with built in OD.

3- I believe a FABO member installed a more modern OD trans (A999?) in a duster with few mods.

4- Lockup converter?

5- Pre 1968, a 2.94 rear was WAY more common in B body 8 3/4 axles than a 2.76.

Fender tag?

Where is the clunking coming from?

Loose U joint is a SUPER common issue.

 

[matthon]

My push-button is a push-button and does push-button stuff.

One thing of notes, I can use the park lever to put the trans in park, which flips the neutral button in and the drive or reverse out, but on the rare occasion it may not fully engage park.
Putting it manually into neutral first, the moving the park lever resolves that.

I have a few ball & trunion joint cars, I've never seen or heard of one failing, the boot may tear, but never a complete failure.
U-joints, more frequent.

Ask any max wedge.

There is a modern OD auto trans option, I'm sure someone out there in the forums has done it.

 

[YY1]

200r4?

 

[matthon]

I believe so, and a quick interweb search brings me back to the FxBO forums:

The 518rh and a500 transmissions will bolt directly to small blocks

 

[YY1]

Even poly?