A833 question

[bldeagle1]

My 72 Rallye I'm just starting to restore has the original A833 still in it,  but has a 77 vintage 360 block.  I'm planning on stroking it to 408 and building it very similar to the one they did in Hot Rod a while back.  Should be around 500 HP and Torque. It will be mainly a cruiser,  take to local shows and Carlisle,  and I plan on driving it a lot,  will the original gearing ratios in the 72' A833 be sufficient?  I know Passon has a drop in overdrive conversion,  but think it starts at $3800! Thanks for any input!

[Bullitt-]

 I'm surprised no one with experience  in these matters has responded..
I think an overdrive would make the car more enjoyable on longer drives for sure yet we drove these cars with your current setup all over the place back in the day so unless your planning some long interstate travel you would be fine.
  All I ever hear about the Passion OD is an interminable back log of orders... more folks seem to opt for the Tremic conversions from what I see...

[Joegrapes]

Well, I have mildly built 440 with a '72 833 4 speed and it runs just fine. I don't hardly drive long distances at thruway speed so the lack of OD doesn't bother me. I copied a 440 build from an old Car Craft magazine article and they got 535 hp from it so mine is probable in that ball park. I'm also running 3.91 gears with 28" tall tires.

[gzig5]

Depends on your rear gears and how much highway driving you will do.  A standard A833OD would work and be a lot cheaper than the Passon option if you want an OD.  The other option is a Gearvendors Overdrive unit, which would work with the A833 you have, and is probably the best of both worlds short of a Tremec conversion which is $$$$. 

[RUNCHARGER]

With a 408 stroker I think it could run well and do everything with a 3.23 as long as you designed it that way from the get go. Same as a 500 inch stroker big block.

[Fastmark]

The firstgear ratio of your 72 is a 2.47. I like the 2.66 low for use with a higher geared rear ratio. Passom's drop in unit cost a lot more than $3800, if you are talking about the five speed. He was never able to meet the demand, so someone else contributed a large amount of capital to the actual builder of the trans and is now selling them. Passom does make a nice OD gear set that can convert your transmission to a .80 OD 4 speed. I have installed two of them. They are based on the 66-70 18 spline with a 2.66 low. One customer has a 440 with a 3.54. The other has a 3.73 with a 440. Both are happy. The customer with the 3.54 drives his all the time on the highway. It dropped his final drive to a decent 2.83. The od gears cost $2000. I charged  about $1000 to install the gears and restore the case with all new parts.

[Chryco Psycho]

Passon A855 is a long wait but the Passon 4 spd OD  for the normal 833 is on the shelf .
I would drive it as is for a while , if you want the OD upgrade

[Fastmark]

When last talked to Passom a month or so ago, he was out and waiting on the OD gears.