MLK-442

So,

My son and I have finished the body and interior and now it's time for the hardware. A bit backward I know but he wanted it done for his wedding pictures...

So we have a 390 gear, posi, 14" rims, TH400 and 455. Revs are way.... to.... high at 65 or even 45 for that matter. Been looking at solutions. Gear Vendors OD for $2595 is to much change for my taste and looks like to much of a mod for the floor board.

The TH200-R4 supposedly can handle the 455 with some mods and has that nice 0.67 ratio OD to help keep the revs down at higher speeds. Need a different drive shaft but that's not big $$$. Bolts up to the 455.

But! What do we do about the hurst dual gate. P R N D L S.
Need P R OD D L S or something to that effect. Maybe some nifty solenoid shift extender to get it down in "S" or 1st.

Anyone have any neat tricks to be able to still use the dual gate with this TH200-R4 OD tranny?

MLK-442

Vega

Don't know about the specifics myself, but I was hoping to accomplish this in my own 72'. I was going to try to set it up where overdrive (4th gear) was in the "drive" position, then S, L, and D (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) were matched with the dual gate's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Then whatever was actually below the drive position would be irrelevant and id either not connect those or set them up as a secondary 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd.

Don't know if that helps but thatd be a pretty awesome set up and is what i'll be going for once I get around to it

firefrost gold

shift works has a kit to set it up or go with some lightning rods that would look trick

http://www.shiftworks.com/cutlas70-72.htm

alek72us

I have a 72 with a 455 and 200r4, shiftworks is where i got my conversion for my shifter. they also have the conversion for the dual gate. i think opgi sells it also but for more$.

ScottMHoffman

I installed a 200r4 with dual gate shifter and the shiftworks kit and after I blew up the trans once, the shop that rebuilt the trans told me that part of the problem was that the dual gate shift was not allow the trans to full engage each gear. Was not in 1st but in 1.25. He said not to use the dual gate and to only use P/R/N/D. Do not select a gear.

I would not recommend installing a 200R4 because of the torque of the 455. I would sell mine if I could get near what I have in it. Would have done a 5 spd to start with if I know I would have these problems. I would suggest going to a rear under 3.00 if money is the issue.

A 200r4 conversions needs the trans rebuilt to try to handle the torque + torque converter + shiftworks kit, + drive shaft + controller for lock up torque converter + trans cooler = more than the cost of the gear vendors unit.

joe_padavano

I've seen the Shiftworks kit installed, and to me it's a band-aid only. The kit uses the original top plate and changes the toothed gate in the shifter and the length of the arm that moves the cable such that OD is in the former Neutral position and Neutral is now just between there and Reverse. I did not care for the feel or implementation. There WERE true four speed Dual Gate shifters sold by Hurst in the early 1980s. These were aftermarket only and are long out of production. They occasionally come up on ebay and always sell for stupid money - the last one I saw went for something like $400 or $500 if memory serves.

bccan

I like the 200 but it should be built stout, combine that with a quality converter, shaft mods, etc you will be right in GV territory. I do believe floor needs massaging & a little weight penalty w/ GV but they have a good rep for operation & durability.

For street driving you just can't beat a nice stout gear ratio combined w/ OD. You pretty much get the best of both worlds.

From a thread on ROP-
Shiftworks dual gate conversion works as it should (in red car) but they do not supply a correct indicator lens for it. They send you the one like pictured above for the regular floor shifter. It will take some trimming @ finesse to install it in DG bezel. We haven't bothered w/ it as yet. OD ends up against the neutral stop, N & R occupy space of former R.

It works but it is not perfect as noted previously. The kit(s) I have were just a cable, housing stop (on trans) & hdwe. The backdrive needs adjustment so I don't know just how good it gets. There were no top plate or detent mods.
These shifters are not perfectly precise & I think the conversion adds just a touch of
additional "vagueness" - could also be an old shifter w/ some wear but it isn't bad.

oldspackrat

I've got the shiftworks kit in my regular console(not dualgate) & am happy with the lens & the stop rail for the shifter. Everything lines up like it should & looks like it was born that way.

507OLDS

You could just swap the rear gears to as 3:42.All of the ideas above are good too.A friend of mine has a 72 442 with a 455,and the 2004R,and he usually racks up about 1800-2200 miles on the Power Tour when he attends them.His car has the regular automatic shifter,with the shiftworks conversion.