BubbaJJ

My rentors abandoned an 85 chevy van on my property. It has an OD tranny in it. Which tranny would it be and would it be worth yanking for the vette? The kid that owned it ran it out of oil and the motor seized. tranny ran fine as far as I'm aware. I figure it's a 700 but I'm not sure. I also understand that pre-88 (?) 700R4s aren't as strong. My vette doesn't make a butt load of power. Would one of the older 700s be ok? I figure I'll get the tranny for free so I won't have a lot invested at the outset. Would this tranny be good with 3:55/1 gears? Is there anything much better than a free 700R4? :hurray:

arrio76

If it were me, I would likely go for it. If you were planning on doing the swap to a 700 anyway, this would be a great oportunity to set the car up with the pre-88 700. Since you understanf that it is not the best of the bunch you would drive it accordingly. Later, you could still be on the lookout for a good used post-87 700R4 to replace the early unit.
Before you install it or pull out your current trans pull the pan on the 700 and be sure it isn't loaded with a lot of debris or really black/dark fluid. If it looks ok then invest the time to pull it out of the van and clean it up for the vette install.
Not sure how the 3:55 gears would work out. But it wouldn't really matter right now. The test drive will tell you if you need to a gear change.
The price is right. Its just some time/labor investment.

Eddie 70

I say give it a whirl. The 3:55 should work well with the 700r4. Probably around 2000 rpm at 70mph.(Just a guess). Like he said above, just an investment of your labor to get it installed.