Instead of telling you how it went, let's just do it . . .
Finish up by reinstalling the exhaust, and then take it for a spin. At 65 mph, the tach on the Valiant was holding steady at 3,500 rpm. Literally at the touch of a button, the tach dropped to a reasonable 2,400 rpm. The Gear Vendor unit may seem a little pricey to some, but the reduction in noise, engine wear from the higher rpm, and the increase in fuel mileage makes this a good move for the Valiant. Think about it-you can keep your close gear-ratio four-speed, fairly steep gears in the rear, and still drive your car. How does it hold up to abuse? We're about to find out! I was told there are several race cars with over 1,000 hp using this thing at the track with nary a problem. Try that with your factory aluminum-cased, wide-ratio four-speed.
Now, remove the third and...
Now, remove the third and final snap ring.
Here, you can see the difference...
Here, you can see the difference in the long and short shafts.
The Third- and Fourth-speed...
The Third- and Fourth-speed synchronizer clutch gear and Third-speed gear can now be removed.
The bearing on the left is...
The bearing on the left is the 308, and the one on the right is the 307. As stated before, you need to replace the 307 with the 308.
After putting all the gears,...
After putting all the gears, clutch sleeves, stop rings, and bearings back in place, install the newly assembled longer tailshaft into the intermediate housing. If you already have a long-tailshaft tranny, you need not disassemble the output shaft. While installing the output shaft into the housing, with the new 308 bearing, expand the snap ring instead of contracting it as with the 307.
Remember the needle bearings...
Remember the needle bearings mentioned earlier? Once you've collected them all, reinstall them into the center of the input shaft, and give them a light coating of grease to hold them in place.
When you get the tail assembly...
When you get the tail assembly re-installed into the tranny case, replace the shift forks in their respective locations and re-install the cover plate. GV supplies the gaskets for the job. Although this image doesn't show it, replacing the output housing assembly into the case is a trying task. You must place the reverser gear at its mid-travel point and lower the Third- and Fourth-clutch sleeve half the distance of its travel in order to get the assembly started into the housing. After that, you must get the gears to align, and, when everything slides together, hope the needle bearings haven't fallen out of place.
(A) Before you go any farther,...
(A) Before you go any farther, GV recommends that there be a .005-.045-inch space when measuring between the gasket face of the housing adaptor and the splined coupler that connects to the GV unit. (B) GV supplies these spacers that fit on the tranny side in the coupler. Simply pull the coupler out of the housing, insert the required amount of supplied spacers, and reinstall the coupler.
Don't forget to install a...
Don't forget to install a tranny breather in the new housing adaptor.
The second issue with this...
The second issue with this setup is the shifter mounting location. The GV housing has locations for E- and B-Body shifters, but the A-Body shifter is between those locations.
We fabricated this bracket...
We fabricated this bracket that mounts to the rear-shifter mounting location and goes forward to where the shifter needs to mount. The bracket is made of two pieces of steel: One is 931/44x4x31/48 inches, and the other is 4x311/42x31/44 inches. The 31/44-inch piece is welded to the back of the 31/48-inch piece to space the 31/48-inch piece from the housing. Three mounting holes are then drilled through the two pieces, and the bracket is bolted to the housing. Three holes also need to be drilled and tapped in front of the rear mounting location for the shifter bracket.