Vannin' Home Forums Dodge How To (Dodge) "Real time" Swap of A727 to A518 transmission

My windows came installed with an aluminum frame which formed a cap over the perimeter of the windoe. screws through this aluminum cap pulled the window tight against the van body.

I removed one window and cleaned off all the old compressed foam weather stripping while doing an interior projext. I treated the rust, painted it, and then just used quality Caulk to reseat window and retighten screws.

A day later I did a hose test from every angle and all was well and I moved onto other projects.

A few days later I drove the van, and that night a rain storm. The next morning, a giant puddle under the window.

The flexing of the frame and body when driving killed the seal.

I removed window again, found the beginnings of rust after just a few days since being treated.

I retreated and repainted it, and this time got some closed cell foam weather stripping and installed that on the window and then installed it. That was 7 years ago, and no issues.

The foam I used was a bit too wide and squeezed out the sides. I razored it off, caulked the border with a paintable caulk, then painted over that.

On the window frame factor, method for pulling it tight to the body, I found the aluminum frame to be ugly, and I have a 'no wasted space' mentality so I was not going to build a large covering frame around it, as I do not need thick insulation either. I wanted maximum space side to side for the bed for head and foot room. I am 5'10" tall.

I decided to give up on the aluminum frames mostly all together.

On each window I made a White Oak "L" with mostly glue. The verticals were shaped to match the curve of the body, the horizontals are flat.

Stainless screws go through the L every 4 inches or so around the whole perimeter and pull the window tight to the body.

The white oak was stained, and then sealed on both sides with many coats of polyurethane, even in the screw holes and after I mitred the edges. I'd use a quality Marine spar Varnish if i were to do it over.

Anyway, these are also 7 years old now. I keep one sliding window open most of the year and It does get wet in one corner and the Oak is showing a little water damage, but I am not really concerned.

Here you can see where I reused the ugly aluminum to pull the window tight to the body behind my cabinet. I pulled the window out originally to install the louvers over the slider window. This is where my 12vDC compressor fridge resides, and properly ventilating compressor and condenser is directly related to efficiency and performance, and battery life as well as compressor life.


Here you can see my functional, structural oak window frame in place:




I think as long as you have those short lengths of wood putting pressure on only 4 short sections of the window and body, you are going to have issues with leaks no matter the quality of the sealant you use.

Get the closed cell foam weather stripping, figure out a way to pull entire window frame tight to body, and use something in conjunction with the closed cell foam to seal the outside. A proper seal job is going to require removing the window. They are surprisingly lightweight!

Dont forget to use masking tape when caulking anything where appearance matters. Nothing uglier than dirty caulk smeared everywhere, even if it is functional.

hi 3pinplug having already worked on your vans insides I say ditch the timber care fully remove window then reseal with asphalt based sealant that swimming pool grade sealant I got you would be ideal then remove old sealant then reseal using new and fix window with aluminium brackets and tek screws to pin window tight to skin of van does anyone think insulation is a good idea to skin of van or not

DB, I would hesitate to put screws through the sheet metal of the body itself, myself. Ha! If'n that's what you were gettin' at. Now '68, wood, (no pun intended,) Ha! again, never steer us wrong. Here you are both right in that the window will have to come out. My van has the sandwich foam on the top and rear, and Factory sheet metal on the sides. The only problem that you may have there in Jolly Old England with insulation on the interior walls, is what my FILaw had when he converted an aluminum skinned Seattle transit Bus. Moisture from humidity. I only have one small Fabric covered section of stock body sheet metal behind my fold down Davenport. Ha! I don't have any problems with sweat inside this Van, or my 88 B250 either, which again, has Fabric on the interior from the stock Safari conversion. Dad's Bus, however, sweated like a TileSetter. Good luck, and Gday Mates!

Hi all
The windows are coming along nicely and all sealed they were held-in by shaped wood (and i use the term held-in lightly) see below:-


but have really pulled the windows into the side of the van and resealed them, god where they badly fitted, and am in the process of fitting the glittering cladding! looks great at night!


Due to the increased shipping costs from the US to the UK since they stopped the boat service parts are now out of reach of shipping, so have been searching for some time for a front spoiler then I picked up this off ebay for £10 (approx $15) its from a race car evidentaly and am currently widening it by 3 inches to make it fit but we are getting there and its a very nice fit!

Heres the join so far needs filling and a lot of sanding!


And finally I need to fill the new A518 transmission and fire the van up, the first firing will be to "check for leaks in the transmission lines" which I have fabricated from scratch, so I don't want to fill the transmission / cooler etc with expensive fluid first off, as i may have a leak, so what is the cheapest fluid i can do leakage testing with, i am not planning on driving the van just seeing if i have any leaks. If all okay i would drain it down and put the expensive stuff in.
Regards
Mark

It looks nice

The biggest problem with you idea of using cheap stuff for the leak test is, something like 2/3 of your fluid is in the convertor and can not be drained out. You have to pull it and drain it that way, then reinstall it and finish filling.
If you did your lines and fittings right, as I imagine you did, you will have very little in the way of leaking, so go over every connection before firing it up, let it idle while you check for leaks.
I do not recall, did you put a pressure gauge on one of the lines ? If so, steady pressure after fire up is always a good sign.

Have you installed a drain plug in the tranny pan?

If you discover leaks, then catch the ATF+4 in a clean pan via the drain plug.

These transmissions are known to resist operating properly without the correct fluid. ATF+4 is what you need, unless you like shuddering and premature issues

ATF+4 is like 6$ a quart over here. My A500 capacity is listed at 10.6 quarts total.

I get about 4 out from a pan drop.

Actually, ATF+4 used to be the cat's pajamas for Mopar transmissions. However, I have it on good authority that the new Dexron VI is actually superior to and cheaper than ATF+4 in Mopar transmissions. I haven't run it yet, but I plan to.

I hadn't heard that Reed. I think I'd not risk it, having had the shuddering issues when a dexron 2 or 3 was installed by AAmco and started shuddering after 10K miles.

You'd think a rebuilder would know better, but they still do what is best for their bottom line so their universal Bulk fluid with a friction modifier additive, is what they will repeat over and over while thumping their chests, is just as good as Synthetic ATF+4.

3Pinplug is in the UK, so acquiring the correct fluid might be even more of a hassle and expensive.

A quick search shows Dex6 being no cheaper than ATF+4