valve body

[Shagoneer]

Today I ordered a full manual reverse valve body for the 727 and was wondering, how do I put it in? Haha

[haminawag]

You realize that full manual means "full manual" right? No more automatic transmission at all. Okay follow the instructions carefully, remove the automatic valve body, springs, etc., clean, new gasket, new valve body, it's not hard to install. The hard part is shifting, a ractheting floor shifter is almost mandatory, and a ratcheting floor shifter for a reverse valve body will mean your options are very limited. Trying to select gears on a column or 'normal' floor shifter is difficult at best, but with yours it will be impossible without extensive modification. Also, it'll hit the gears hard, your U-joints will need to be in primo condition, and if you have steep driveline angles you'll more than likely have problems, I hope I'm wrong about that, but when I tried out a full manual VB on a 727 the first time I wasn't ready for such hard shifts. It was in a '66 Plymouth Valiant with a rowdy ROWDY 340 ci, I wound up with a cracked windshield and a driveshaft that decided to make a break for it out the back of the car, I ended up having to install a Hurst Pro-Matic shifter (it's in my Fury now).
Unless they've tamed the beast in the past few years, it'll be a brutal ride. Inspect your trans mount, & bellhousing bolts often, and the tailshaft for cracks. Try to go easy in 2nd or you'll frag the sun gear. Have fun.

[Shagoneer]

Ive been trying to decide between a Hurst or a B&M rachet

[haminawag]

Sorry about that Shag, maybe I shouldn't have responded to this thread, we're talking about two different worlds here, competition eliminator vs. off-road or rock crawling. All I can do is tell you what my experiences were. I eventually ran a modified TCI shifter in the Valiant because it had a smoother pull-off from third back to neutral, the Hursts gated shifter was clumsy. I never met a B&M shifter I liked, my brother was a B&M guy, he liked their solid feel, I always thought they felt stiff and lacked the smoothness that was necessary in drag racing, but then again I never had hands on experience with every model of either brand. TCIs were expressly made for racing, so it was worth the extra $$$.

I should mention this though, before you buy a shifter be prepared to mount it a lot farther back than you would if you were just converting to a normal floor shifter, the reverse valve body will make this necessary. Depending on where your seating position is- in relation to the shifter- it may necessitate having to buy an extended length shift cable, but without knowing anything about your rig, or the brand of valve body, it's impossible for me to say for sure. Anyway, good luck with it. fun fun fun

[Shagoneer]

Sorry about that Shag, maybe I shouldn't have responded to this thread, we're talking about two different worlds here

Wisdom is Wisdom and you have a lot more than I do and your sharing your wisdom is greatly appreciated.

The only reverse valve body I've been able to find is the TCI so it'll be a race wagon.

Also just looking at where my arm would be able to reach the rachet its pretty far back so hopefully that will be far enough back.

Also your probably gonna laugh at my ignorance but, is this something I have to completely drop the trans for or can I get to it with it still in place?

[haminawag]

Unless TCI has revamped the kit you should be able to do the whole job laying on your back, except for the shifter install of course. There used to be a company called "Cheetah" that made race packs for 727 TorqueFlights ONLY, they had a good reputation among the MoPar guys I ran with, but I never tried their stuff. I liked the TCI stuff myself, partly because they'd pay me a little contingency money when I'd do well. Every little bit helps, eh?