Shopping for a 2004r
 

Anyone know of a good place to buy a 2004r? I'm looking to replace my TH350. I have looked at Monster Transmissions, Bowtie, etc. Anyone have any experience with any of them, or others?

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

Guess I should have mention before, but I'm looking to spend around $1,400. I have a stock crate 350 and really don't need too much performance. Seems like some of these are $1,700 and up.

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

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I put one in the '69 Suburban I built and it worked out great. It first one I had was given to me and it ended up being bad. I purchased a second one at a local salvage yard and it was a good trans. I put quite a few miles on the Burb before I sold it. I used the BowTie Overdrives TV Made EZ kit and Lockup kit on it. I would use another one in a heartbeat.....

Just be careful what rear end ratio you use. If it is geared too high the trans will overheat. I originally had a 3.08 in it and that was a no-go. Installed a 3.73 and all was well.

Here is a thread with some info. Be sure and check out the link in post #14.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=542624

As far as purchasing ask around at some of the trans shops in your area so you can pick it up and talk to someone face to face if you have problems.

LockDoc

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

I'm leaning towards using Bowtie, but have had some issues getting in contact with them. I have 3.07 gears. Where did you have over heat issues? I was hoping to keep my gearing. I do have a trans cooler though.

Also, can you post that thread again? I don't see a link.

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

In my infinite wisdom I forgot the link. I edited my post above and added the link.

The 3.07 will probably not work even with the cooler. It is just too high geared for use with the OD transmissions. Mine overheated and blew all of the trans fluid out the front seal. What a mess, completely coated the underside of the Burb. Took me a while to figure out what was going on. If I drove it in third gear it worked OK but that defeats the purpose of the OD trans.

LockDoc

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

I ran a 200R4 in a 1935 Ford Pickup for years. It was a great transmission! It's vastly overlooked, in my opinion. It has a lower first gear, and taller 4th than the 700R4. If you're not running tons of power, they are extremely dependable.

I had it behind a 350 that made about 325 horsepower. The truck was very light, and it was just a great vehicle to drive.

Now... How I got mine... I went to the local transmission shop in town. In my case, Mr. Transmission ran by Jimmy Mitchell. Most every town has a guy that can build a transmission for anything, here it's Jimmy. I paid about $1200 for the transmission and the complete rebuild. He asked about horsepower, and how I would drive it, and built it accordingly.

You will still need either a controller that hooks into the brake line, or some method to control the lockup torque converter. I've seen them that simply plug into the side, and have a 1 wire hookup. I've also seen a simple push button inside, which I like less.

For me, this was better than ordering from far away because I had a local contact who could adjust and fix it. There is a control cable (not to be confused with a kick down cable) that has to hook to the carb or pedal.

If you're good at building a trans, you can always find one at salvage yard and build it yourself. Me, I'm not that good with transmissions...

However, I did really like the 200R4. It's an evolution of the turbo 350. Uses the same output shaft, and the overall length is the same, although the mounting point is a little further aft. I upgraded from a turbo 350, and didn't have to change anything except the trans mount.

Lastly, with 18 inch wheels, and a 3.25 rear gear, my truck ran 70 mph down the highway at about 1900 RPM. Also got very decent mileage.

Good Luck!!

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

I ran one with drag radials (and no spin) at the track with a converter in a 4200 lb car with a ZZ502 running 12s, and it lived and worked great!

Mine was built by FB Transmissions in New York, even though I'm in Seattle, because I'd heard good things, and those things were likely true because it's a great trans. Unfortunately that was 15 years ago so may not tell you much about them now, but I think they're still around:

http://www.fbperformance.com/

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

I'm getting one from ExtremeAutomatics (link above) I have decided. And I am going to get the 500hp one. Something like $2200? Buy once, cry once...

Re: Shopping for a 2004r
 

Went to the local U Pick and Pull and got one out of a full size late 80's Pontiac. There were 3 or 4 to choose from but the one I got had a GM tag on it and the fluid looked great. I put a Grand National converter in front of it, a Purple Super Servo and a Trans Go shift kit in it.

Behind my ZO6 cammed LQ4 it held up to 330RWHP and 330FTLBS. Keeping my fingers crossed to see if it stays in one piece after a LS3 top end and custom cam should make another 100 to 125 RWHP.