hello all, basic background is its a 79 vette, used to have a mild 383 stroker and a basic 700r4 tranny in it, old motor and tranny were pulled and now i have a brand new 383 stroker pushing 470hp at the flywheel on its way and i need a tranny to mate it up to. i dont go to the strip that often maybe a few times a month, and mostly if i do end up racing its on the highway from a low/high roll, but i do dig race every now and then. i have a tranny company i can go with and get a racing 700r4 built for 1200 to handle 650 horse ( in case i want to spray in the future) but my main concern is the gear ratios of the 700r4, the 1-2 shift from what i here robs alot of power and takes the engine time to recover from the drop. i do not want to go with a th350 or th400 i want an overdrive gear but i dont want a tranny that will rob me of my motors power and give me low performance. any suggestions to help my situation out? i heard doing 3.73's and a 3000 stall compensate for the 700r4's 1-2 gear drop but id like to hear from some experts. or someone to reccommend a much better tranny choice. would it be possible to put an electronic tranny like the 4l60e or 4l80e that have much better gear ratios in a carberated non-computer controlled car? input needed asap as my motor will be here soon and i need to order a tranny to push it. thanks in advance

 

a 4l80 will rob you of power .have your current 700r4 upgraded to handle 500 hp .you won't need to redo drive shafts or rewire any thing .

 

in january 2014 issue of muscle machines they talk about this .pg 72 gearing up .the only mag I get now .