Hi Everyone, New guy here! I am adapting a 1953 331 Hemi to a Mopar/GM A833 4 speed. It's the one GM used in the light trucks from about 81/85ish? I'm wondering if anyone has a drawing for that odd transmission bolt pattern. Thanks Mark
I have the same motor sitting in a 33 Plymouth sedan. With the extended bellhousing, with the Hot Head's adapter, I ended up going with a automatic because with a standard, the stick shift would be to far down the tunnel. I know this did not answer your question, but just an issue that I ran into to.
I have a '52 331 Hemi in my '33 Plymouth with a 40's LaSalle trans and a floor shift. It all cleared. Not by much grant you but it works fine. I think the 833 would work with shift bracket modified/moved forward. FWIW, I have a Mopar 833 O/D in my '68 Barracuda. I hate that ******! It is getting replaced with the regular 4 spd. Dave
I happen to like the 833 and have used them in more than one project. I currently have the Mopar one behind my 331 in my F-100. I have to ask why your going with the GM one over the Mopar unit. It's a direct bolt up to the 340/360 bellhousing. How are you compensating for the shorter input shaft of the GM unit? Or better yet, why?
His '53 is a long bell, while yours (pictured) is a short bell. I have had both, and there is a big difference. As a matter of fact, until this thread came up, the only adapter I had been aware of for a long bell was to a '32-'48 Ford.
Had to do some homework on that one but I can see why you are interested in it. I found the info on the trans here The New Process A-833 an Alternative to a Muncie Borg Warner (cl***icjunkyard.com) It would all depend on if you can redrill this hot heads adapter to bolt the trans to as it doesn't have a GM/Muncie bolt pattern Early Hemi Transmission Adapters, '51 '53 Chrysler Hemi to Chevy Manual (hothemiheads.com) The rest of the hook info is here.
long tail block: There's stick adaptors from HH and Wilcap, probably others. QEC (73RR) is supposed to be working on a long tail to C-4 adaptor.
He didn't have to. He said his engine was a '53. While a very few early '54's had a long bell, I have never heard of a pre-'54 short bell.
I've used the Hot Heads adapter behind a '53 331 mated to a T5 in a roadster pickup. Great setup and the OD 5th is very nice. Rebuilt the motor and will be using the same adapter mated to a Tremec TKO in another project ('40 Ford coupe). FWIW Without looking at the trans, I would think if you could get the register on the adapter to match the trans, it would be a fairly simple matter to transfer the mounting hole locations to the adapter and make things fit. Good luck!
It's obvious that I had my last long bell a long time ago. It's good to see that there are adapters to decent transmission available these days. I sold a couple perfectly good long bells simply because of the lack of transmission choice back then.
Hey Dave, I have plans for the same trans in a OT B body. What do you hate about it? Scott Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Gear ratio spacing is terrible for "gettin' after it"! OK for just driving. Aluminum case models tend to wear out the shaft hole in the case. One also needs the O/D bell housing because of the huge front bearing retainer. I have not owned a GM version but I think they are different somehow, maybe bolt pattern? Dave
The adapter to the LaSalle trans behind my '52 331 Hemi is an old one. They have been around for ever. I also have one that adapts to a flathead Ford ******, so as the '39. I ended up not using it and went with the LaSalle. Dave
Could you clarify something for me? Did you have two extended bell hemi adapters (one for a Cad/LaSalle and one for a '32-'48 flathead), or were you able to repurpose the flathead adapter to accommodate the Cad/LaSalle? I had a long bell to early Ford adapter once, and it looked like it could be adapted to a number of other transmissions by re-drilling and adding spacers. I never tried anything with it thought.
Yes, I have 2 adapters. 1 is on the '52 hemi with the LaSalle trans and is in my '33 Plymouth. The other one is for '51-'53 Chrysler 331 Hemi and adapts to '32-'48 Flathead Ford. The 1 for Ford insets the trans into the Chrysler extended bell and the LaSalle adapter is nearly flat but does extend back an inch or so. Dave
The GM ones use the same Mopar bolt pattern, but have GM input spline. I had one, an iron case, and the bellhousing from GM had both the Mopar, and the "Muncie" pattern on it. Just some more info. Yes the gear spacing is a compromise, as far as traditional 4 speeds, but the ratios mimic the 700R4 ones.
Thank you for your input Dave. As for the GM version I put one in my 57 Chevy for a time and I had to turn the front bearing retainer down on a lathe to fit in the stock 57 bellhousing. In a post 57 Chevy car you can just run the truck bellhousing as long as the starter works out but for us tri5 owners the stock bellhousing is needed unless the car has been converted to later mounts. Hope that helps someone out there somewhere. Scott Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Thank you all for the info, I hate to report life got in the way just a couple days after that post. I had to abruptly change jobs and my project went straight to the back burner. I'm back in the saddle now though and I appreciate everyones input and advice. I have since bought a hot heads adapter and a saginaw 4 speed. I do have a nice A833 for sale
I had an old Speed Jems long bell 331 to Cad, LaSalle adapter that was a stand alone piece. I dont realy know if anyone else made anything like it back in the day.
That adapter may be what you were after from the start. The GM use 833 transmission had a different bolt patern from the Mopar version.
General Motors actually used two different bolt patterns for these transmissions. One is the standard 1955-up common Saginaw/Muncie/Borg Warner pattern, and the other is a one off Mopar on the driver side/GM on the p***enger side pattern.
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