Roto-5 Tranny ……… Your Out of There!!!!!

[911pilot]

I’ve had it with my Roto 5! Spent thousands $$ only to have it still not shift smoothly. After talking to the folks at D&D Fabricators, I’ve been just about convinced to purchase their bell housing adapter which mates well with a Chevy 5 speed tranny. This will be a winter project. My 62 F85 convert deserves a better tranny. D&D does require a slight modification to the floor and I will have a different PRNDL and I’ll also use a new “cable” system linkage. Does any one have any recommendations/suggestions or experience doing this. I know it sounds dramatic and I think you Jetfire guys don’t have this problem.

[62cutlassconvert]

I don’t believe slight mod does explains all the changes you will have to do. Certainly doable and desirable but a lot of work and fabrication, the bell housing adapter is only the beginning. We are doing a smaller conversion to a TH-200C, 3 spd with lock up converter, and it has been a lot of work and we are not done yet. I think there are a few people out there who have converted to a variety of trans. I’ll be sharing more of the TH 200 experience in the next couple of months, once it’s on the road.

[911pilot]

I’ll do the same….hope others will benefit from our successes and failures. I won’t start the project until the winter and D&D seems to have all the knowledge of who will provide the new tranny and linkages

[rick79400]

Hi everyone. I have bought the adapter for the conversion to the 200R4 Metric Oldsmobile trans. I talked with D&D about the conversion and he recommend that trans because you don’t have to do a lot of mod work. He also said to use a different carb because of the shift cable. I am going to use a floor shifter instead of the column shifter I think.

[rick79400]

I forgot to add I have a 63 cutlass two door sedan.

[62cutlassconvert]

Are you using the overdrive 200R4 or the 3 spd 200C Metric? The 200R4 is quite a bit larger than the 200C Metric. There is a lot more tunnel clearancing with the R4. I think someone here has done that conversion.

[911pilot]

Custom Classics (Island Lake Illinois) who’s undertaking the project has spoken to Mark and as you mentioned it is doable. Im however hoping to use my original 4-barrel Rochester; I know mark pushes the Eddlbrock for simplicity sake and maybe he’s right after doing the conversion. I realize there will be an ample amount of fabrication/frustration required, but the Roto-5, in my opinion, was the worst design ever conceived for a tranny.

[jensenracing77]

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble with the roto-5. Have you considered trying to find a manual transmission parts car? I know they are not easy to find but it would have almost everything you would need. Even if it is a column shift it would still have everything else needed.

[911pilot]

I did spend ample time searching for parts and concluded that even if I was fortunate to find “that required part” I would be in this same predicament for the next repair. Getting a 200 C tranny provides me with some “piece of mind”

[rick79400]

I am using the 200r4 overdrive. I would like to use my carb but I don’t think the throw is correct for the cable to work properly. D&D said he had done one and will let me know where to modify the tunnel.He said to use a BOP transmission because it doesn’t have the top on the bell housing like a Chevy does.

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