Hey, my name is John, this is my first message Im a new user. I have a 79 vette and am dropping a GM 383 stroker in there. Im dropping in a TH700R4 built by rossler. I just want to know if anyone has used a TH700R4 and how well it worked. Any input appreciated, thanks.

 

John, I am not known as a booster of the 700r4 on this or any other forum, frankly the easier more reliable swap is the 200 4r, from say a Monte/or even universal bellhousing out of a GN or something....the main issue with the 700r4 is the list of mods to supposedly keep it alive is about 200 items long....
even the later model ones....with ONE glaring fault no one has ever proven to be reliabile FIXED....that is the 3/4 clutch pack...
poor overheating design with inadequate oil circulation so I'm told....all sorts of trick have been tried, I"m on my 3rd clutch pack now....do the work myself anymore....

I understand from other posts, you are FAR better off with the smaller lighter easier to install 200 4r.....

GENE

 

i got a 383 in my 73 with the 700r-4 and 373 gears and i think its the best combination for street/highway... i can get 17 miles gallon on the highway(was 7 mpgwith the th-400) and she 's great off the line on the street,with a spinn wheel when 2nd comes in!!-also i got 250,000 out of my 1st 700 r-4 that was in my 1989 gmc safari van now granted it has hardly any horses,,,but we built up the 700 in the vette so far i am a happy camper----------

 

Hey, I'm dropping a 383 in mine too. What kind of times do you get if you had it down the strip, and what sort of speed do you top out at?

 

had my 700r4 in my 79 for 5 years now, go to bowtieod.com and do a search on this forum. this is an often cussed and discussed topic for our C3s.

 

Man, you got THAT right between the 700r4 and the stock brakes, there is NO OTHER HOT TOPIC as much tossed about on this forum...

sorry, my opinion will not change, my silly 355 SB at ~375-400 hp is too much for 700r4......someone want to demonstrate differant, fine...welcome to it, .....

LOok my vette has about 425 ft lbs at most, and weighs about 3100 lbs or so what with all the crap removed, mostly from front end...
and with that what I...I...consider anemic weight/power, the 700 has maybe ten percent of the reliability of a 400 and maybe a 350 also from what I hear....
I used to run 400's in cars with over 150 some odd ft lbs MORE torque and and extra 1/2 ton in weight, MINIMUM, for miles, friends bought them and ran the evver loving CRAP out of them, and still the tranny hit 3rd gear with a chirp.....

all I want is a nice chirp out of second, for christsakes, and a clutch pack that don't chunk it guts....

case closed....

all you all brag over a 700 in a truck.....sorry guys I have to believe your memory is fond....

GENE

 

Exactly, do a search and read carefully. Some people love them, some hate them. Lots of the confusion seems to be on the adjustment of the mysterious TV cable, and misadjustment will fry your transmission in about 10 seconds. You can get a 350 or 400 transmission but the one important quality missing is...OVERDRIVE. Overdrive makes a heck of alot of difference to the pleasure of daily driving. With overdrive you can go high gears for stop light fun. With overdrive you can drive on the highway without running at 4,000 RPM and watching Honda's pass you. With overdrive you can get reasonable gas milage on the highway.

As for myself. My silly 355 SB at 375-400HP is just fine with a 700R4. I can drive on the highway to the drag strip, run low 13's all evening, and drive home with a smile.

There are some build ups to the 700R4 to increase strength as well as simple modifications like larger servos and valve's to increase pressure and shifting speed. Do a search, read the opinions, and decide for yourself.

 

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but the BTO Stage 2 700r4 installed in my 81 is the best mod I've made. I love it.

 

Been there done that, studied the damn thing to death...
but in the final ****-ysis NO one had beat the 3/4 clutch pack repeated failure...it will not live with repeated near WOT upshifts....ain't happening....

GENE

 

The BTO Stage didn't do so well in my car. I'm trying a custom unit with...

"high temp raybestos 13 clutch z- pack (replaces factory 5 clutches),all new steels, bands bushings and rings. A 500 boost valve, a 29 element sprag, Over sized heat treated Sonnax sun shell which is three times thickier than factory, hardened input shaft N drum,5 pinion planetary gear,high temp pro series raybestos kevlar band. "

This will be my last attempt at a 700r4.

 

Do you mean 3-4 WOT upshifts? I can't see that happening often. At a drag strip unless you have radical gearing you reach the end of the 1/4 mile in 3rd gear. On the highway, if anything, you will downshift and if you upshift from 3 to 4 at WOT you are probably going beyond sane speeds (120 MPH plus). I think the problem is people lug the 4th gear in the city and burn it out. I keep it manually in 3rd unless on the highway over 55, then I put it in 4th and manually shift it back down when I get back into town.

In any event my cars has survived at least 40 runs down the 1/4 mile track and plenty of street abuse. Who knows, lots of people have had bad luck with them I admit. The previous owner had this tranny built with some upgrades - kevlar bands and so forth. Maybe that's the key. I also have a tranny cooler which every 700R4 with a high performance engine should have.

 

I love my 700R4. Mine is behind a stock 90 TPI engine though. I also have 1 in my 83 4x4 truck. I have had good luck with them. THe first one in the truck went almost 80k miles pulling trailers in OD with no extra cooler before it ate the front pump. 1983 is not known as a highlight in 700R4 production. My advice is just use the OD when you need it in a car with lots of power like you are building, don't lug around in 4th.

 

I have to assume tose with a 'reliable 700 just dont have much miles on it....certainly not upshifting onto a freeway from 2nd to 3rd at decent/full throttle...that tranny HATES that kind of use...
folks across the street ha d a '99? 1500 truck, and it ate up 3 trannies, first after 60k?? GM warrenty ate that one for them, but after that two more....on their dime, they dumped the truck on account of it...they never towed anythig more than a garden tractor, IF that...

GENE

 

Although I've burned up a couple of them (from major abuse), I'm still a firm believer in a 700.

These days there are enough aftermarket parts to build them for what ever you want to put them behind and they have a higher torque handling rating than a 200. The 200's were built for high HP v6 turbos not for V8 torque. That's why they didn't put them in trucks.

Blue plate clutches and kelvar bands stop the burnt 3-4 problem. Hardened input shafts and sun shells along with 5 gear planeterays stop the breakage problems. .500 boost valves, oversized line bias valves, oversized 1-2 and 3-4 servos, valve body modifications, and high pressure pumps stop the shift flare problems in high horsepower applications.

Granted this is all overkill if your only pushing 400 hp or so, but they can be built to take a lot of punishment from a high horsepower, high torque engine.

I can't stress enough how important it is to set up the tv cable correctly and this can only be done correctly with a pressure gage and road testing. Otherwise your new 700 will be a boat anchor even if it's just behind a 190 HP engine.

The last one I replaced held together inside. In fact the insides were so strong the case itself cracked. My new one built slightly stronger than the last one has held together so far with a 3600 stall and spraying nitrous off the line with sticky tires so maybe it was just a bad casting in the case.