I want to put a 700 tranny behind my 396? Will it work?

[CorvetteMike2004]

I have a 69 el camino with a 396 matched to an M-22 (yes a real M22) with a 12 bolt posi. My M-22 takes the large driveshaft yoke. I want to put a 700r4 in place of the M22. Im tired of shifting. Anyone know what I will have to change on the driveshaft to make this work? I want an overdrive tranny because I have 4:11 gears. Thanks for your input.

I have also thought about putting an LS1 in it. Opionons on that?


Corvette Mike

Heres a pic of my camino

[Chevy Guy]

It can work if you want to spend the $$. A stock 700r4 wont last long if you drive aggressively.

[superstreet]

Originally Posted by Chevy Guy

It can work if you want to spend the $$. A stock 700r4 wont last long if you drive aggressively.

On both counts.

I have a 700 R-4 in my '69 that is from my '91 Z-28 and rebuilt it to handle about 500 hp. I use it with a lock-up converter. I have a kit on it that will lock-up the converter above 40 mph,but if I don't want it to lock-up I have a switch under the dash that will over-ride it and I can make it lock-up any time I want.


If you do get one,I recommend to get an 1987 or later 700 R-4. 86' and older 700's have a reputation for problems. If you stick with 87' and newer the trans will have a 30 spline input shaft and a 27 spline output shaft. A turbo 350 uses the same yoke as a 700.

[leadfoot4]

I'm not positive about this, but aren't the 200-4Rs that were used on the Turbo Buicks able to be built up to actually be stronger that the 700R4? (not on the cheap, of course...)

[angel71rs]

200-4rs can be built to take a lot of hp. Have added advantage of 2.74 1st gear vs the 3.08 of the TH700.

If you have a 2.73 gear in the diff, the 3.08 is great for acceleration. But if you have deeper gears, 3.08 makes 1st gear a pain on street tires, especially around corners. You give it too much gas, rear end tries to come around. Not enough, 2nd kicks in too soon, blah acceleration due to monstrous gear spread between 1st and 2nd gear.

Lots of info on the 200-4r available on the net, like here:

http://www.drwtransmission.com/thm_200-4r.htm