Don't know if you are still having problems. But I had a 65 HD that had a 9 inch rear in it. We took out the 200 and put in a 78 Granda 250 CID with auto and our drive shaft was about 18 inches or less. Everything line up. The original rear end had 4:11 gears so it was great for light to light racing. Changed that out with 3:25 gears out of another 9 inch with no problem. Wish I still had that van.
Brian