Note that all Gear Vendors...
Note that all Gear Vendors sales outlets must meet the requirement of being an installation center-hence no mail-order deals. What that means is that your driveshaft will be shortened for you as part of your total installation ($650 for most cars, $750 for GM A-bodies). If you do it yourself, you'll need to make some basic measurements of your driveshaft, then send it out for shortening before you begin your installation. Our Inland Empire aluminum shaft needed to be shortened by 14 5/16 inches.
Rick invited us down to the Gear Vendors company headquarters in El Cajon, California (near San Diego), where his crew installed one in our Street Sweeper '68 Chevelle project car. What's interesting to note is that a Gear Vendors installation is remarkably simple. Even with photos, we were out in about five hours. (Try that with a five-speed manual swap.) But you don't have to go to Cali to get one installed-there are certified Gear Vendors installation facilities all over the country. (You can check the Web site or call to find one in your neck of the woods.) In fact, in order to sell a Gear Vendors overdrive, a retailer must be a qualified installation center for the entire Gear Vendors product line.
The short of it: For just under $2,600, you can get a kit for your Turbo 400-equipped GM A-body. Another $750 or so gets it installed for you (it's about $100 less for Camaros and Firebirds), which also includes the cost of shortening your driveshaft. Many Gear Vendors kits are available for Ford and Mopar musclecars, too, and that includes kits for four-speed manuals. While we were there, we got the chance to sample a late-model C5 Corvette, a '32 Ford street rod, and a '56 Chevy truck with a Gear Vendors overdrive, and they were all just as fun to drive.
The '64-72 GM A-body (Chevelle,...
The '64-72 GM A-body (Chevelle, Skylark, Cutlass, and LeMans) was designed specifically for bench seats, which means unlike the Camaro and Firebird, there's a big pinch in the tunnel right where the Gear Vendors needs to be tall and wide. No problemo-just get out the mallet and hammer the area in front of the crossbrace. This is why there's an extra $100 cost associated with installation in an A-body versus an F-body.
This shot shows both the tunnel...
This shot shows both the tunnel mod (foreground, near brace) and how easy it is to bolt up the Gear Vendors extension housing, which mates the Turbo 400 to the overdrive unit.
Next, bolt the Gear Vendors...
Next, bolt the Gear Vendors overdrive/tailhousing assembly to the extension housing. If you haven't clearanced the tunnel enough, you'll find out now. This is the time to add fluid to the overdrive-about 28 ounces of Dextron II for this flat-sump model. Oil change intervals are about 5,000 miles.