[darrellyates]

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!!