I am building a 383 SBC Astro.I know the 5 speed's that are becoming more and more rare to find for Astro vans and are not the strongest tranny to use.In fact they are barely strong enough for use behind the stock V6 4.3.

I know of one Astro owner who did a upgrade to use his behind a 383.This link is from a archive that did go threw a number of crashes,but I think you can get the jest of what he did.I have a paper copy of the thread before the crashes.

http://archives.astrosafari.com/ikon...ST;f=6;t=14773
The thread is kind of long,but please to spend time reading it.

The version for Astro's has a rare shifter,bell housing,peddle and master/slave cylinder,stick shift steering column,neutral safety wiring.Now I am working a deal on a parts van that has a tranny in need of a rebuild.The rest of the van isn't worth rebuilding.


In the past,I owned two Arerostar vans the for the most part have the same tranny.I liked them and they did with the V6's get outstanding gas mileage.Might be just me,but I think stick shifted engine last longer because of their one to one drive over a slipping torque converter in a automatic.

So going in,I know these trannies "could" be the weak link and would require some serious investment to work for my mod which is basically a over the road towing van.


Guess I am looking for some input from you guys who's opinion I hold in high regard.Be brutally honest and don't hold anything back.If need be,talk me out of buying the parts van if you feel it's a mistake.I hate making mistakes.


One other thing to consider here is I intend to use a Howards crank/Scat rods/Mahle pistons for the 383 mod.Don't think the 4.3 flywheel would mate up to the crank very well for the balance of the engine.Comments about that are welcome as well.External balance.