But the reality is that you
will likely pay $250 or more in a junkyard for one of these transmissions. The few times I unsuccessfully searched salvage yards in 2 states looking for one of these, one junkyard *thought* he had one and wanted $400 for it.
Another time I drove to Alabama when a salvage yard manager said his computer showed that he had one in a 1984 Chevy truck with a 6.2L diesel v8. It fit the profile for a vehicle the trans came in so I drove down. Got to the salvage yard, went to the truck and it had a top-loaded shifter. I immediately knew that the tranny was an SM465. So two long trips, a lot of calls, and no luck.
I found one on Ebay, completely disassembled, and paid a total of $105 for it, shipping and all. Got a master rebuild pack from a tranny shop and got a professional trans rebuilder to put it all together for me. The whole deal put me out of less than $400 total - parts, labor, trans, shipping, shifter and all.
The transmissions are hard enough to find as is. So unless you're in the right place at the right time, and get a once in a lifetime deal for a good trans for $50-$75, I say it's worth it to buy one from Ebay and get your project finished. Not only will the gas savings help pay for the trans in the long run, you'll also be able to cruise at higher speeds on the interstates. I can drive 70 mph all day long, turning my 292 at only 2200 rpms. Before the trans swap 70 was a painful 3300+ rpms.
I have 3 of these. The highest I ever paid for one is $160. Cheaper than most any junkyard deal you can find.
Best thing is all 3 have the Chevy bolt pattern, which is the more versatile casting.
-magic mike-
P.S. This trans has 4 forward gears with 4th being overdrive. The shifter ball is set up with the forward gears designated as 1-2-3-OD. Reverse is up and to the left.
