Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I just picked up a '74 164E and have been reading about how poor/ weak the original BW35 transmission is. The car needs a lot of work and intend to make this my daily driver. I know with over 100,000 miles the original transmission will eventually fail. When it does I'd like to replace it with something updated and more robust. I've seen several articles on the internet of people using adapter plates for the later 240 automatic AW70/71 transmissions to get them into an upright position.
Are there any B20 or B30 owners here that have done the conversion and know of an adapter plate source? I'd rather buy the adapter than try to have one made up, I know there are a few mods that need to be performed but it doesn't look that difficult.
Does anyone know which would be a better choice for a transmission, the AW70 or the AW71? I think I'd like to stay with the AW70 because it still uses a speedo cable instead of an speed sensor in the rear end, I'd rather not have to change the rear end as well.
From what I understand the donor car for the transmission could be a 240 or a 740, any other sources?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Matt Savage

Hi All and thanks for your replies. I found an older article on the internet by a gentleman named Mike Illyes and thought I was on the right track to doing this conversion. He has done several successful transplants for 140's and 1800's with B20's to the newer AW 70 transmissions. He has a great article and he post's alot of useful information, pictures, and the actual conversion plate to get the AW 70 to sit upright in the article. He even listed his phone number so I called him up yesterday. Great guy, very helpful and informative, but he explained his kit wouldn't work on a 164 as the bellhousing on the B30's is much bigger than on the B18/B20's. His conversion kit works because an AW 70/71/72 transmission bellhousing will bolt up perfectly to the back of a B18/B20 block, then you would use his adapter plate between the bellhousing and the actual transmission to rotate it upright.
So it looks like I need to find another alternative, maybe an adapter between the back of my B30 to the front of the AW 70/71/72 transmission or maybe cut the front off the BW35 bellhousing and weld it to the back of an AW bellhousing to get it in an upright position and functional in my car.
I'll keep looking, once I figure out how to mount the transmission I think I'll go with the AW 72.
Thanks again for all your replies,
Matt Savage

be advised the 4s and 6s are geared different internally. they also use different rear end ratios. putting a 4cyl trans behind a 6 may not perform like it should. maybe hold out for a v6 aw trans? have to mod the bellhousing anyways. good luck, chuck.

Have you read this post?

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1324592/1800/aw70_autobox_1800.html

I think the 70 or 71 designation refers to the internal valving controlling shifts--the 71 being the Turbo's transmission with crisper shifts. A transmission from a pre-electric speedo car could be either. Toyota Supras used a version of the AW. I don't know this for sure but I suspect a tail housing and related parts from a cable drive transmission may be able to be shifted to a later tranny allowing use of a lock-up torque converter "L" type as well. If you should do that--be sure to take the matching torque converter. Also along those lines--the "72" meant for the 16 valve motors has different gearing than the 70/71- something to consider for matching to the B30 and your intentions. -- Dave