Hi, I have an '80 'vette, which I am getting ready to swap a 700r4 into. I've got a 700r4 out of an '88 IROC. I have the metric bolts that are needed to bolt my existing flexplate to the 700r4 torque converter. I have the Holley brackets for the carb linkage (20-95 and 20-121) to work with the Holley 1850 carb presently on the engine. I have a TV cable from an '83 Z28 305 H.O. carbureted engine, so it will be the right length for my carbureted engine. I have the proper speedo gears for my diff gear and tire diameter. I'll be using the TCI lockup kit, running through the brake pedal switch, and a dashboard switch. I have the Shiftworks shifter kit. I just pulled the trigger on the Bowtie Overdrives transmission crossmember, should be here in a week or so. I still need to get the driveshaft shortened. I plan to re-use the existing transmission cooling lines (TH350 trans currently in car). Are there going to be any surprises with the cooling lines? Will they screw right into the transmission, or is an adapter needed? Would it be easier if I got new cooling lines for an '82 'vette? Also, my 700r4 has no inspection cover, (I think that's what it's called, I'm talking about the sheetmetal cover that covers the exposed portion of the flywheel at the bottom front of the tranny) will the one from my TH350 fit, or do I need to scrounge one up at the pick-a part? And last but not least, is there anything I have missed? I'd like to try to have everything lined up before I start, to make the project go as smooth as possible. Thanks,

Scott

 

The cooling line adapters are the same. 29.5 inches drive shaft. I never had the front dust cover on for 100K miles. It helps cool off the tc. Stock TC's and 700's are very weak. An 88 IROC was a very low powered machine

 

the inspection cover will fit , at least it did my 2004R, you may need to slot a few of the holes
the cooling lines will screw in 'gently bend to line up' and gently screw in till they are snug then give an extra tightness
the bowtie crossmember is a good thing, gives access to things the stock one covers up
a member on here has a drive shaft already shortened 'sharkracer'
take your time, its a pretty straight forward swap
the cable lock from your steering column bracket at the trans is the only thing you will have issue with and you can leave it unhooked if needed till you make one , hope this helps

 

I hope this doesn't sound too dumb, but how do you measure a driveshaft? I'm thinking maybe center-to-center of the u-joint holes? I've heard people say you should install the trans and then measure for your driveshaft length, but since the Corvette has a stationary diff, I'm wondering if that's really necessary. If I just remove it before hand, bring it to the driveshaft place, and say "shorten this driveshaft to 29.5", please!" will I be in good shape? It's an '80 'vette, with the Dana 44 diff, if that makes any difference. This is my first time swapping a transmission, so please be patient with me, folks!

My roadrunner never had a dust cover, either, and it was fine, too. But, it always kinda bugged me. Not enough to do anything about it, though!

In '88, the IROC was available with the L98 engine, which put out 230 HP (net), and 330 ft.-lbs. of torque (net). Even once I'm done modding my engine, (LOL! Are any of us ever really "done" modding our engines?) I shouldn't be putting out too much more than that. I'm going to do a quality rebuild on the tranny, as it has 113,000 miles on it, so I'll be starting with a nice, fresh tranny. If it breaks, I'll build a stronger one. No disrespect intended, but I know your perspective comes from dealing with some pretty serious machinery, used in some pretty demanding circumstances, and my engine will remain pretty mild for the foreseeable future, and I don't really beat on it......much......., so, hopefully, it'll hold up. thanks,

Scott

 

Hmmmm, the steering wheel lock. That's something I hadn't thought about. I guess I could live without it, and get it hooked up later. I'll see if I can find a diagram of it in my AIM and see what is involved. I'll do a search on the forum, and see what that turns up. Thanks for the heads up, this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say "surprises". Is sharkracer looking to sell his driveshaft? If so, maybe I'll send him a PM.

Scott

 

he would like to sell it ,

 

I am going to be using the yoke from my TH350 on the 700r4, so, I think I may just have mine shortened. That way, I don't need to worry about u-joint sizes, etc. That reminds me, I need to buy new u-joints, might as well, as long as it's all going to be apart anyway, right? I'll stop by the driveshaft place tomorrow on my way home from school, and find out how much it's gonna cost to have it cut. Then I'll do some research on corvette u-joints, see what kind of variations there are, then make a decision on whether or not to get in touch with sharkracer. He lives out Californy way, it would probably cost a few bucks to ship it, gotta take that into consideration, too.

Scott

 

OK, apparently, the Dana 44 diff on '80-'82 'vettes make a difference in driveshaft length. I have an '80, and a forum member provided a measured, center-to-center driveshaft length of 28 3/16". '82 'vette driveshaft length, center-to-center, is 25". This makes sense to me, as the 700r4 is 3 1/8" longer than the th350 (not sure where that extra 1/16" came from, I hope it doesn't screw things up!) I am thinking about taking my driveshaft in and just saying "cut 3 1/8" off, please!".

Gkull, I'm not sure where you are getting 29.5" from, that seems awful long. The '80-'81s have a shorter driveshaft because of the Dana 44 diff, but I don't think it's 4 1/2" shorter, is it?

Scott

 

Oldalaskaman, I think I have found an easy solution to the steering lock problem. Supposedly, the bracket from the th350 transmission will work if you cut 1/2" out of it, and weld it back together, to align with the spacing of the boltholes on the 700r4. See posts 7-8 on this thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...need-help.html

Not sure how this will apply towards your 2004r, but it may help give you an idea. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention, oldalaskaman, it would have really pissed me off when I stumbled onto it right in the middle of the swap!

Scott

 

many thanks for that thread, I never could find it

 

I wasn't thinking about your different rear end. Mine is a 79 iron diff.

I used the GM speedo cable out of a non cruise control 700R4 C-3 Vette.

When I did mine no A.M. console shifter was available, so I cut another detent for 1 gear on my stock 3 speed.

 

Just did the 700R4 in my 1980 . I cut the drive shaft to the measurements I took. Slide the yoke into the tans all the way and then move out 1 inch . Measure the distance centre to centre of u-joints trans yoke to rear end yoke. This will give your drive shaft length. I also modified the crossmember the same as article in corvette fever ,worked great. I used a speedo cable for a none cruise control 1980 . For the overdrive wiring I used a Painless kit from Speedway. I used the same lines from the turbo 350. I am putting in a cooler, as heat kills these transmissions. I modified the shifter pattern to move far enough to do the 700 pattern . Did a short drive works great. Good luck

 

I have what is essentially a stock 700R4 in my '79. It was rebuilt by a local shop who did a couple of minor internal upgrades. Nothing special - stuff they do on all their rebuilds. Its bolted to a pretty healthy 383 and no one would accuse me of babying it. Its been in the car for five or six years now and so far its still in one piece. There are certainly stronger transmissions but the 700 is hardly weak.

 

Gkull deals with monster engines on racetracks, I think his idea of a weak transmission is one that can't stand up to a 600 horsepower car being driven like the cops were chasing it!

Scott

 

Ya know, I read that same corvette fever article many times, but, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out where they were taking their measurements from. So I decided, instead of being a "do-it-yourself-er", I'd be a "pay-someone-else-er". How did you handle the TV cable?

Scott

 

holley sells a TV cable bracket the works on a holley .you will need the correct linkage stud to connect the TV cable.to set the TV cable open the carb wide open ,and the TV cable should be tight with no slack.are you using a lock up converter ?B&M makes a lock up wiring kit,I spliced it into the stock wiring harness.I only lock up the converter on the hiway .

 

I Just had failures with the mail order high hp big block handling TCI units which I originally bought. The first time I power braked it with a hot 355 it died. they hopped it up under warranty and it died after a few passes down the strip with slicks. The stockish monster Tc's weigh a lot and fail as do the internals. I got sick of pulling the 700 trannies.

It is just a bad thing to think that every time you floor the car it is in the back of your mind that this is going fail again. So I ended up buying the best with 9.5 inch TC.




Then you could do good things with sticky goodyear slicks. I never did find a lockup TC for higher HP. I even tried the 3 -5 clutch versions that cost over $1100.


With my 427 small block I could leave some long black marks with my 3800 stall and 7000 rpm shifts

 

Don't forget your 'lock up wiring converter kit' from Bowtie OD. A buddy of mine made his own just using a switch on the dash to lock up the converter on the highway, but thats kind of leaning towards Bubba. Do it so your wife or kid can drive the car without flickin' secret switches. JMHO

 

I used the painless lock up kit so that when you hit fourth it locks up. You can do it cheaper but you'd need to pm me so that I could give you an email address, the guy used a Hobbs pressure switch and a wire from the brake light so that it locks up in fourth.

 

I stopped by the driveshaft place today, they wanted 175 bucks to shorten the driveshaft. I got them down to 125 by providing the new u-joints myself. IDK, that sounds like a lot of money to cut something and weld it back together, maybe there's more too it than that. They were gonna charge me 25 bucks apiece for u-joints, though, maybe they just charge high prices.

Scott