Anybody ever bought a remanufactured tranny from GM and had them install it? My transmission gave up the ghost this weekend while I was traveling. I am trying to decide which route to go for repairing it. I am considering GM/ACDelco, Cottman, AAMCO, or a local shop. The local shop is offering a 12 month /12,000 mile warranty, but I would have to bring it back to them for repair (several hours away from my house). They want $1600 to do it. I am leaning toward letting the dealership do it since I could have it repaired at any GM dealership while under warranty. Has anyone had any experience with any of these options and what did the total rebuild and installation run you. Thanks in advance.

 

To save MONEY I would remove my trans and take it to a shop that could build it to something better than stock. You need to up-grade the weak parts. A good tranny shop will know what needs to be up-graded so that the trans will be able to last when you push it to the limit. If you have engine mods and drive it the way most people do, a stock trans won't last as long as a trans that has been upgraded to withstand punishment.

Tell us where you live and I'm sure that someone on the forum can suggest a GOOD trany shop.

Thats what I would do if it were mine.

Automatics are not difficult to remove and install. The only thing that I would recommend that you get a good handle onwould be the TV cable adjustment. If that is not correct the new trans be it stock or the best one money can buy will not last long.

Bill C :thumbs:

 

STAY AWAY from (PATC) Performance Automotive Transmission Center a web based company out of Louisiana!

 

I did this very thing a few years back. My original tranny died (3-4 clutchpack failure) at 98K miles. My wife refused to allow me to tackle this project and thus I relented and took it too the dealer. The tranny was $1495 with a 3yr/50K mile warranty, so the wife said do it. The install was an additional $500. So, it cost $2K to get it done.
The first test drive resulted in me bringing it back. I told the service manager that it didn't feel right. He said it was a new tranny and would be a little tighter and funny feeling for a while. I relented, but told him it just wasn't right.
Well, 6 weeks later I was back there with a dead tranny (3-4) clutch died again. I looked at the manager and told him "I told you so". There wasn't enough damage to get another new tranny, so an overhaul was done at no charge. That was 50K miles ago, and I have had no real problems since. I have changed the fluid to Mobil1 synthetic since the rebuild with a filter change as well.
Make sure you get a CORVETTE tranny and not a truck or camaro tranny, or else it will fail. There are numerous TSB's out on the 700R4/4L60. Make sure the dealer has proof these are incorporated into the tranny so it will live a long healthy life. Most are simple changes, but they do envolve disassembly.

 

Or, bite the bullet and spend some big change and do it above and beyond. Do what I did. Convert it to a th400/Gear Vendors setup. This is the best thing you can do for your car now. Don't try to figure out how to save money. If you want to save money go buy a Geo Metro. Don't keep sinking money into a 700r4. I'm glad I quit after 2 700r4 builds. Check my web site for some info on this swap. I have a page devoted to it. Good Luck.

(Okay guys, don't all jump on my at once, this is just my opinion, you can all have your own, that's what makes the net so great!)

 

So what did THAT cost? I've got a dead 700r4, but I've also got access to one of the best tranny builders in the US (makes 700r4's live behind 1100hp Syclones), I'm fairly certain we can make the r4 live behind a measly 475hp. :)

 

I went the AAMCO route. 1750 with a 3 year/50K mile warranty. They had to do it twice but it's been fine. I like the idea of a longer warranty period. It's a chain but they are independently owned. If you find a good one it is a good one but there are bad ones out there. It's like anything else. I was a lot of scratch to shell out but at least i don't have to worry about it for a while.

Good Luck,
Bob

 

AAMCO is OK...I've had mine in over 2 years without any problems....but then again that my experiance...hope yours...where ever you go will be the same...
tony
:thumbs:

 

RocketSled, who is this that supposedly makes a 700R4 hold up to 1,100 HP?

 

Shoot..there's a place I heard about, in Walnut Creek (California). A guy with a Shinoda ZR1, replaced the ZF6 with a 700R4, and when he told me that I siad "WTF?!?!" and he's all "Yeah, at first I went with an Art Carr, but then I blew TWO of those up. So I called up this place in Walnut Creek and they built me a 700R4, and it's held up to this day." The shop is called "Walnut Creek Transmission"
BTW: The guy has a LPE 385 with a 200hp Direct Port Nirous Setup. He runs consistent 10.3's in the ¼. He also has a 5000 stall converter in it!

 

WHY STAY AWAY from PACT? THey seem like a good company? :confused:

 

SO thats "Walnut Creek Transmissions" Well I live close to there, I'll check that out, DO they have a website?

 

Brian Hartman, he's rather well known over on the Sy/Ty list for making 700r4's live behind turbo AWD v'6s making crazy horsepower. :crazy:

He's hard to get a hold of (very popular), and he's not cheap, but he's got the ear of some really well known people in the field (think Lingenfelter).

He's also the only guy who claims to make a tranny live behind 750 hp that DOESN'T have any negative comments that I've found so far (unlike Raptor, Bowtie Overdrive, et. al.)

I can't personally vouch for his abilities as my tranny had the nerve to give it up just before my TWINS WERE BORN (that'd be Dec 17th, 4:18pm), but he's who I'm going with when I come up for air, temporally and financially.

He DOES sell rebuild kits, so that's a route you can take also.

 

Mike, how do we get ahold of this Brian Hartman guy? Has he got his own shop?

 

One other thing to consider, those tranny's are holding up for drag racing. Anybody know anyone that has had one hold up for road racing and autocrossing? This activity puts a LOT more strain on a tranny. Don't be so quick to rule out the th400/Gear Vendors combo.

 

Yeah thats What I think of using, TH400 with a gear vendors Overdrive unit gives you a feel of a 6speed auto that can take a lot of power and you now can run higher gear ratios on the rear axel than compared to if you did not have a gear vendores OD. :yesnod:

 

HHP Racing
Brian Hartman 303-649-1808
303-649-1164 (fax) SyTy Tranny Parts
brianhartman@sprintmail.com

This guy is one of the few people that have continued to develop racing tech for transmissions. A lot of the real popular folks (Art Carr, etc.) won't sell you a 700r4 solution because they stopped R&D with the th400.

As far as roadrace situations, that's exactly what I'm having spec'd up. Once the tranny is beefed up, and it's got quality fluid in it, and it's adequately cooled, roadracing shouldn't be an issue.

Doing my research for the tranny, I found that, while every big city has one or more tranny shops, they all purchase from a very small number of suppliers. It's up to the shop to know how to take the parts and put them together to get them to live.

Brian IS one of those suppliers, he builds the parts that are sold to other people to put in transmissions. He also is extremely knowledgable where it comes to the math/physics/dyanmics behind why and how a tranny works. I called Bowtie, I called both Art Carrs (CA. and TX, two different shops.), and I read an awful lot on the net about Raptor. These guys can slap some stuff together, but I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling from any of them. They didn't know how to make a 700r4 situation work, and they were more than happy to slam the competition. I talked to Brian for about 90 minutes one night, my BS meter (which is pretty sensitive) didn't quiver.

 

Why does Bob86ZZ4 keep putting the 700R4 down ? :confused:

Many stockers run over 100K miles with no issues.

Also, I have seen guys put 100's of 1/4 mile passes on the 700R4 with no issues. Just like with other parts, nothing lasts forever.

Vic

 

Because they really do get fragile when you put much more than stock power through them. Part throttle thrid or fourth gear acceleration is actually the highest load these trannies usually see, and that's what goes first.

Known weak points are the input sprag, 3/4 clutchpack and sun shell assembly. A common practice is to place a couple of additional friction plates in the 3/4 clutchpack...it SOUNDS like a good idea, but it really isn't. If you add surface area (more plates) without increasing pressure, you actually REDUCE the clamping pressure, as it's a pound-force per square inch issue -- increase the square inch without increasing the pressure and you haven't improved anything. (think about that indian guy lieing on a bed of nails...if he's on 5 nails, he's a pincushion...if he's lieing on 150 nails, he'll be fine...)

As it is, my motor took out fourth gear about 24 hours after I got it properly tuned (and now that I know what to look for, it'd been slowly failing for quite awhile into the tuining process). Since 4th was gone, I was essentially driving a th400 (third gear in both trannys is 1:1), with a 2.82 rearend, I was getting 12 mpg on the highway and turning 2400 rpm.

IF I put a 400 in the car and changed it to a more advantagous 3.07 rear-end, I'd be turning _2600_ rpm, with mileage to suit. :U That's what Art Carr California suggested. When I brought up the cruise rpm, he said "Well, your father drove a car like that for YEARS and it didn't hurt anything." I thought, "Yeah, and I'm not driving my father's Oldsmobile!"

While the gear vendors OD looks good, I just don't wanna take that route. Why? I dunno. I just don't.

 

I have a 700r4 in my iroc that I'm pulling out this weekend.
it have 40k orig miles on it. converting to 5spd(for now).
You can have it for $850, but i would know how to ship it
so you can come check it out and if you like you can take it with you,
I'm in northern NJ.
LMK. - email me