Jamie
Yes, that is what I would recommend. The stock 727 ratio's are
2.45, 1.45, 1.0 and the wide ratio set is 2.75, 1.55, 1.0 I think. With
a reduced rear axle ratio this would reduce highway engine RPM and the
wide ratio transmission set would recover the 1st gear torque. The 360
shouldn't have too much trouble with the gear change RPM drop,
especially if you make some engine mods directed at widening the power
band. If a Bricklin (I'm new to bricklins) has a 3.15 rear a change to
a 2.87 (commonly available ratio for the AMC 20 axle) the result would
be an aproxiamate 10% highway RPM drop with slightly better 1st gear
torque.
I don't know much about the chrysler 4 speeds but I believe that
the 518 is a 4 speed update of the 904 series. While the 904 series
(there are several versions of varying strengths) was not used on the
360, it was used on the 304 AMC (which means it fits all AMC's) and
I've seen them used sucessfully on 401's for race use. I believe a 4
speed of sufficient strength could be built using a 6 cylinder case
(the 4.0 is an update of the 258 AMC 6 which has the same block pattern
as the AMC V8) and assorted V8 dodge bits, and could be adapted fairly
easily into a bricklin. However many further things would need to be
researched. In addition to a trip to a dealer I would suggest talking
to a transmision expert, especially one with both dodge and racing
experience.
Ken - near Toronto, Ontario in Canada
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