Don't ever fab up your own linkages for an automatic transmission without including a locking feature (cotter pin or equivalent) at each pivot. The folks who swapped this 440 into the truck never did that.

I need to make room for the Cummins.  The first step in the process is to pull the 440.

It didn’t actually take me that long to get it ready – about 2 hours from complete truck to engine completely un-hooked.   Basically from about 9 or 10 to midnight one Saturday evening.  Then, with help, less than 30 min to get the 440 out.

The biggest revalation I had while pulling the motor (and getting it ready to pull) was the amazing amount of work they had done to create some homemade automatic transmission shifter linkages.   The only way to describe it is “take scrap, a flux core mig welder, and weld something together!”  When finished the linkages didn’t even have a mechanical locking  feature between tranny linkage and tranny!  So it theoretically could have popped out while driving and never gotten back out of gear - major safety issue indeed.

Rather than describe every portion of the swap in this post, I’m going to let the photos do the talking….

Special thanks to my good friend “Mr. Horsepower” for helping with this effort, on only a moment’s notice.

Copyright Kris Wickstead ©2009.  Always use good sense, the proper safety procedures, PPE and safe equipment.  Follow all manufacturers instructions.  For informational purposes only.  Not a guarantee of any kind.  Use information at your own risk.