Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

there's gonna be one mad mexican when he comes home and finds his chicken wire missing ;D

I stole it off that eurotrash Bimmer sitting next to it. He's in Kenya for another couple weeks.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Was the Bimmer using the chicken wire as an antenna ??? ;D

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

there's gonna be one mad mexican when he comes home and finds his chicken wire missing ;D

I stole it off that eurotrash Bimmer sitting next to it. He's in Kenya for another couple weeks.

so that's why I've been getting more emails promising me millions if I just cash the check of some deceased orphan. ;D

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

I trotted downtown LA to the old industrial area where music videos get shot afterdark, but during the day you spend most of your driving time dodging 18 wheelers to get parts for the transmission. AA Gear had the bearings, gasket kit and seals for the trans in stock. $85 cash. I don't think I will need syncros, needle bearings and such as the it still shifts really decent, but the bearings make death noises.

So, next up it is muscling the heavy ass gear box out of the chassis. ( Yes, I was watching Top Gear a minute ago.)

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

I went to the Long Beach Swap Meet this morning to try to sell a friend's '64 Caddy, but ended up finding another A833OD by accident. While wondering through the aisles looking for things to snap pics of, I came across a vendor debating the origin of a four speed transmission with a passerby. Was it a Mopar, or was it GM. Why does it have a Mopar case with a TH350 tail housing? I walked up, saw it, and made an offer. I made the purchase, then the vendor had to know what it was. So, I told him. These A833OD's were used in 80-87 GM pickups and had nearly the same gear ratio's as a 700R4, 3.06, 1.82, 1.0, and .74. Poor man's overdrive. In case you haven't read this entire thread ( and who could blame you.), I have one in this '65 Impala that is having issues from a day of autocrossing with it nearly dry of oil. Not good. The front bearing for sure is gone, sounding like it has a handful of gravel instead of ball bearings in it.

So far, Long Beach Swap has never failed to have a part I need when I am looking.

This is what I bought. Dirty and greasy from use and sitting. The linkage rods are no longer made. I have the original Hurst shifter that I am not using in the Impala right now. The yoke is a nice bonus too.


After about 15 minutes with a toothbrush, wire brush, and some Simple Green. Wow, what a difference.


When I pulled the side off, I was shocked to see how little wear the trans has on it's bits. It still has paint dabs from being rebuilt, the gears are perfect, as are the synchros as far as I can tell.


You can see the reverse idler gear at the bottom. It's the one with the straight cut teeth and no synchro. Makes for some challenging shifting if you are moving forward at all.


At this point, I plan to use the gasket kit, front and rear seals on this trans that I had originally bought for the one in the car. I may throw in the bearings to. We'll see.

[milner351]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Looks like the Impala's transmission worries are taken care of! Great score!

Seals and gaskets are a good prevenative measure - I'd take a real close look at the bearings - with the condition of the rest of the box - I'd be surprised if the bearings weren't replaced when it was last rebuilt - which doesn't seem to be that long ago in hours of use.

[Bamfster]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Nice score, plus you have spare parts to keeep that one working for years to come. I'm looking forward to the tear down and assembly pics.....

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

I just sold the spare rear bumper this morning. More bucks in the car fund.

[squirrel]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

The paint dabs are probably from when it was made, not from a rebuild. Could be all original inside, and just never been abused. Nice score!

[Huskinhano]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Good score, I'd just put a new gasket on the side cover and call it a day. Looks like a low milage original trans.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

I messed with the trans a bit more today. I planned to replace the gaskets and seals for sure, but inspect the bearings for possible replacement as well.

I pulled the bearing cover off and noticed that someone had it turned down so it will fit a standard Chevy bellhousing. The bolt pattern on these trans is the same, but the bearing cover is too big. Also, someone ground the side off the bolts so they wouldn't interfere. My other trans has allen head bolts instead which I am going to use them here as well.


Here you can see how it fits in this scattershield.


Moisture got in the bearing cover shaft and on the input shaft from sitting. I took a wire brush to both before replacing the front seal. The old was getting hard from age.



I'm not sure if you can see this, but on the race, there are three spots like this one that looks a little pitted from the trans sitting for a long time. This has me a bit concerned. I want to replace this bearing and the rear one since I already bought new ones for the other trans.


Here's a new bearing. They now come with the disc type race which isn't on the old one. The shop I bought them from said this was the replacement, but wasn't sure which side it is supposed to be one.


After reading the manual for disassembly, I discovered that the input shaft and it's bearing are the last things removed from the trans when disassembling. It was getting late and I felt I might be getting in over my head at this point. So, I used the new gaskets that I got and closed up the trans for now. I also put in the new rear seal.

[squirrel]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Yeah, you gotta take the guts out and pull the main drive gear out from inside the case. Fun.

The transmission was used in trucks, and trucks had a different bellhousing than cars, it has a bigger center hole, to clear the larger bearing used in the SM465 granny 4 speed.

I would not worry about the bearing if it's just light rust stains. If it has actual pits, then you'd want to replace it.

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Man that thing looks clean inside :o, If the oil that came out of it was clean and there were no tiny chunks in there I would just put this thing in the car and be done with it.
Pull the old one appart and rebuild it for a spare.
What's the HP/TQ limit on these things?
Are there any aftermarket heavy duty parts available?

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

Man that thing looks clean inside :o, If the oil that came out of it was clean and there were no tiny chunks in there I would just put this thing in the car and be done with it.
Pull the old one appart and rebuild it for a spare.
What's the HP/TQ limit on these things?
Are there any aftermarket heavy duty parts available?

Man that thing looks clean inside :o, If the oil that came out of it was clean and there were no tiny chunks in there I would just put this thing in the car and be done with it.
Pull the old one appart and rebuild it for a spare.
What's the HP/TQ limit on these things?
Are there any aftermarket heavy duty parts available?

Not sure. But I'm betting I'd have to look at the Mopar versions to find any. There is a magnetic in the bottom of the trans that has some filings on it.

I don't know the hp/torque limit, but Mopar stuck them behind 440's and GM behind 454's in trucks. The weak spot include the bearing cover. I've broken two and the front bearings. Both times I've had issues with the trans came from bearings going out. Although, the first time I had to rebuild the trans we discovered that the bearing cover was broken and rewelded, but the shaft was welded on crooked putting pressure on the input shaft and bearing. If I were to keep using these, I should have bearing covers milled from steel.

[Huskinhano]

Re: Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

When I was prepping my Toploader to install I flushed it several times with kerosene to flush any gunk out, worked pretty well. I got all the old oil out and some shaving from the blocking rings and other crap. With fresh 90-140W gear oil it shifts nice and smooth. I suspect that you should be using the mtf and not regular gear oil.

Good to see the Imp being worked on, I miss it because I can relate to it.