Hi Again Guys,
I have some trans specific questions - maybe Pete can chime in?

I'm not a "drive it like you stole it" type, but I DO enjoy driving, so if I have an automatic car, I'll often shift it manually or hold it in gear on a winding road. I also tend to "assert myself" when leaving a green light in traffic - if you know what I mean. No smokin' tires off, but just driving tough.

So, I'm wondering how many of you have gone through 700R4's and used TCI parts to beef it up. Which parts are good improvements and which are a waste/overkill for a DD street car?

This would be going (eventually) behind a mild 383 (around 10:1, probably run a HOT cam, hopefully use a SuperRam, good exhaust, good ignition, etc.) I'm in Kalifornia, so I have to keep it smogable.

Thanks!
Marc

 

 

 

Youll need a stout 700r behind that 383 to live, see if Pete cant help you out.

Lot of little things to know to make one live outside of most popular internals you see advertised.

 

5 years ago my 700r4 let go, took it to our local performance tranny shop and had it rebuilt with performance clutches, shift kit, a beast shell and 5 gear planetary. It's built to withstand 450-500hp ( my buddy had his built the same way to fit behind his 383 stroker). My motor is stock with minor mods. It was the best thing I ever did! Up shift down shift all day long no issues. I also put a tranny cooler in. Good luck if you do it

 

Marc,

First order of business is not to "upgrade" your trans with TCI parts. In my experiences, they are not great. I did a build that is documented at corvette-guru. With the exception of the custom planetaries, that is one of my favorite build combination's. For under 650 hp, stock 4 pinion gm planetaries are fine, provided they are well within spec.
If you or your builder are insistent on using TCI parts, all I can do is wish you luck.

 

As a 700r4 owner who just had one go up in flames (literally!) while on the dyno, I can tell you what I did. First, a little background: 1989 with a 383 stroker, balanced and blue printed with a fairly lopey cam, 1.6.1 Crane roller rockers, First Injection systems top end, Hedman headers w/ no cats putting out 427 ft. lbs torque. My stock tranny had mucho miles on it (160K) and the extra horsepower didn't do it any good. While on the dyno, the torque converter let go and squirted trans fluid up and out the filler pipe and on to the glowing headers at about 5200 rpms and caught fire. It was spectacular! Luckily, the fire extinguisher was right there and we put out the fire with no damage done. (other than the toasted trans.) I had it re-built by a local shop who put beefed it up plenty. I added a B&M shift kit as well. Now, this brought about a secondary problem. Namely, I couldn't hook up the tires anymore, so that brought about the purchase of a shiny new pair of Nitto 555R street radials.
Between the two, (new trans and tires) I picked up 2 10ths and 3 miles per hour on the 1/8th mile track as well as a serious dent in my bulimic wallet to the tune of $1500 for the trans work and (actually a great deal from www.discounttiresdirect.com) $159 each for the two Nitto's with free shipping!
The moral of this story (at least for me) was that when you start to get into the 400 hp area with these older C-4's and like to run it hard, the trans will definitely need some beefing up or eventually it will let go... and it's not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when!"

 

Thanks for the info Pete! I tried to register there but got a message that the system can't send out the greeting e-mail. Could you shoot me a direct link to the build page please?

Thanks,
Marc

 

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules...=10612&forum=1

 

Awesome, thanks Pete!