88'Cubka

Well, I am back with my vette now, and I was looking around my grampa's old garage and I see an engine and tranny sitting in the corner. Went to look at it and its a 86 camaro V6 with a 700r4 strapped to it. Grampa got it from his nephew who rear end totaled his camaro. Now I'm drooling at the option of putting an overdrive tranny in my car!

Now for some questions.

There is no differnce between the 700r4 on a v6 than the v8, correct?

I know I need a new cross member.
Need a TV cable.
New dipstick?
New speedo gears?


How much am I missing?


:cheers:
David

88'Cubka

ttt

page62

That tranny may need some beefing up. Get a tranny rebuild video from Summit and learn how to do it yourself! Parts are cheaper than you might think.

In terms of what you need, don't forget the Painless Wiring torque converter lockup kit, and the shifter plate kit. Bowtie Overdrives sells all the accessory stuff...you don't have to buy a tranny from them in order to buy their goodies :yesnod:

stpman

The only thing I know is from the street rod guys that the early 700r4's are weak and not recomended. There were changes made in the late 80's (89 I think, not sure) and these are more desireable for performance. Having said that I think they can be upgraded to make the early 700r4 stronger

Steve :steering:

EDDIEJ82

Don't believe everything you hear about 700 r4's being a weak transmission. When setup properly, meaning TV CABLE ADJUSTED CORRECTLY, they are just as strong as a turbo 350-400. If you have a radical engine in front of it, you might want to beef up the insides a bit, but hey you would do that with a 350 or a 400 too. The 700 r4's can be built to take an extreme amount of HP. Mine is garunteed in writing to hold 675 HP or they will replace it.

Get a easy tv bracket system from Bow Tie Overdrives (important keeps the angle and lenght of pull on the cable correct), a lock up kit for the tourque converter, a dipstick for an 82 vette, a cross member from an 82 vette, a driveshaft from an 82 vette and a good pressure gauge to check your pressure when you get it all together (Bow Tie Overdrives has some very good articles on their web site for this) and a aftermarket transmission cooler (most bad autos are caused by too much heat) and you should be good to go.

With that extra gear you might want to think about installing 3.73's in the rear for some seat of the pants acceleration (best power feeling mod I did to mine). The OD will still keep you at about 2200-2400 RPM at 70 or so.

stpman

you might want to beef up the insides a bit, but hey you would do that with a 350 or a 400 too. The 700 r4's can be built to take an extreme amount of HP.


You might want to re read my post because that is what i said.
http://www.technicalvideos.com/what_year_700R4.phtml


[Modified by stpman, 10:55 PM 4/8/2004]

EDDIEJ82

No need to take offence, I wasn't refering to your post.

I was refering to the idea that a lot of people, in general, have a preconceived notion that the 700 r4's are weak or lacking in their ability to handle horsepower. This is not true. The main reason being is that people with no experience with a 700 r4 just hook up the TV cable any ol way and have no clue what a lockup actually does, thus burn up their trans. It has to be setup properly or else the transmission will soon fail. Other than taking the blame for incorrectly installing it they claim the trans has got to be weak because it's not my fault it started slipping 2 weeks after I put it in. Thats where the rumors start.

Budman68

:banghead: I wasted $1200 on a 700R4 which lasted 3 months. It's all in how much you are going to abuse it. Nitrous is out. :cheers:

BSeery

Yeah, that is probably a weaker 27 spline version (versus the 30 spline). But if your not going to be putting more than 300 HP through on a daily basis, it should be fine.

I would rebuild it, like the guys above mentioned, using Trans-Go parts and a video or a book. Get some of the trick parts from B&M or Bow Tie. You will want a better servo, modified 3/4 shift valve, a governor kit to change the shift points, new seals and gaskets, maybe a pump, and a higher stall torque converter.

For the TV cable you can't go wrong with the TV made EZ from Bow Tie and they also will have a crossmember as well.

EDDIEJ82

[QUOTE]Yeah, that is probably a weaker 27 spline version (versus the 30 spline). But if your not going to be putting more than 300 HP through on a daily basis, it should be fine.QUOTE]

The 700r4 I was running all last season had 118,000 miles on it and my 350 was putting out a little over 365 HP. I drag raced it every weekend and it held up fine. It was a 27 spline. I agree if you are putting a lot of HP through it, go with a 30 spline with internal mods but for a mildly modded motor the 27 will do just fine. My 88 C 1500 had a 27 spline and I pulled my boat and a lot of heavy equiptment (Bobcats, Bucket Tractors) and it never gave me any problem. As a matter of fact I went through 2 motors and 300,000 miles and the trans was still good when I sold it. Therefore I know it will hold Tourque as well as HP.

Now if you are talking 400 true HP +, spend the money on internals and get a 30 spline to start with and a good lockup stall. Otherwise, in my opinion, it's just overkill

88'Cubka

:)

Well, I don't think my stock l-48 with an intake and header's is really going to put much of a hurting on any well setup tranny.. :)

Thanks for the info guys,

anyone else have any opinions??

:cheers:
David

gkull

IMO - After being a long time 700R4 man. I think I put mine in about 1988 or 89. I have always wished that I would have invested in a nice 5-6 speed. Even if it cost $3000 or so to install it's still cheaper in the long run.

I'm sorry i forgot! Most of you youngsters don't even know what a foot clutch is! :lol:

88'Cubka

LOL ohh shhh George! I learned to drive with a standard tranny dam it! And the 700 is sitting in my lap!

Plus I'm waiting for the 6 speed in the 74-75 vert i see in my future!

:cheers:
David

gkull

I can give you a dip stick tube.

When I did mine I had to remove my cruise control module and buy the 1982 Vette speedo cable that goes from the 700R4 to the back of my speedo.

The TV cable was also over the counter from an 82. I imagine Bow tie OD sells them along with a prefab cross member.

I had a local driveline shop cut, shorten and balance the drive line for me.

I just ran a 12 volt feed through a lighted toggle switch for the lockup convertor.

I wanted to take a picture of driving with the needle swung past straight down, but the road was to courvy and narrow to be fumbling with a camera. So this picture is in a turn

Aren't Over drives great for keep the revs down? 3600 rpm = 104 mph. That's less than half of my red line rpm of 7500.







[Modified by gkull, 4:30 PM 4/9/2004]

Corvette_fetish

:skep: I'll think I'll keep my TH400 right where it is.

biggjimm

If the engine & trans are truelly out of a camaro, then it is either a 2.80or a 3.1 litre engine which is a 60 degree engine and your smallblock is 90 degrees. So it will not work. 4.3 litre V-6 engines have the same 90 degree bell housing design as V-8's but did not come in camaro's but either S-10's astro vans or full size trucks. So you ned to find out what size engine you are looking at and make sure it will work. Good luck. biggjimm

biggjimm

I forgot to mention I have a 700R4 out of a 87 camaro if anybody in north central Indiana is interested in it. See Ya biggjimm

BSeery

then don't complain when you get 10 MPG and gas is $2.25 / gallon on the next cruise. :jester

Corvette_fetish

Since my transmission is not responsible for the high gas prices I'm free to complain.

You're either going to pay at the pump w/ a TH350 or TH400, or you're going to pay it later at the transmission shop fixing your 700r4 over and over again even after spending the $$ building the thing up. I've heard a few people claim they have built 700r4s that can take serious horsepower, and a lot of other people say differently. I known two unrelated very reputable sources that deal with and specialize in high performance transmissions say it's a waste of money. My worn out L98 may not break a 700r4, but I bet Doug Bromley's 600+hp 461ci big block would. Bet it would snap it like a twig. A Gear Vendors overdrive will be less expensive in the long run. You just have to modify the transmission tunnel to make it fit.

88'Cubka

It is a 2.8..... Damn that kinda sucks. Had my hopes up there for a little bit..

Thanks Biggjimm

David