My dad and I have been working on
our ’82 Dodge D-150 pickup
for the past few years and we
just swapped in a 1955 331
Hemi. It’s currently got a 727
behind it, but we just bought
a junkyard A518 out of a ’94
pickup. We are on a very tight
budget and my dad thinks that
swapping in the CPU from the
’94 will be easiest to make the
A518 shift right, but I want to
buy the kit from PACT. Who’s
right? I plan on applying the
EFI conversion from the Bold
Beeper to our 331 Hemi sometime
in the future.
If you’re on a budget, simple
toggle switches for the OD
and lockup will get the job
done. The lower three gears in
every A518 are automatically
hydraulically shifted, just as in
your 727. If you inadvertently
leave the OD switch on, it will
still downshift to first when you
stop, it will simply upshift to
OD immediately after shifting
to third.
The earlier lockup converters weren’t
models of reliability. I’d keep it unlocked at
anything over half throttle, towing, etc.