The Money Pit

Last year I installed a BowTie OverDrive level 3 700r4,made all kinds of mods to the car to get it in,and the result was a week of blissful cruising,followed by one hard romp and parking the car for the rest of the summer.Well in the year of waiting for cash flow to catch up with my ambitions,I've been researching the subject and still have a hung jury.
The reason I didn't press BTO for their warranty repair was because at the time of the installation,when calling in the line pressures(required by BTO)they told me due to the fact I was not running my transmission cooling through the radiator,they would not honor any warranty claim.I ran an external 10x15 cooler with an electric fan instead.
Long story short,they are on my S#$&t list,and I decided to try to find a local tranmission shop to rebuild it.In the past year I've had all but one shop say they would look at it.All other's either backed out,failed to return my calls,or elected to replace the 700 with a TH350 or TH400.The internet searches give mixed opinions as to weather or not the 700r4 will hold up behind 500 hp/500 lbs of tq.,so as you can see,I'm not sure which direction to go.The gearing with the 700r4 is great with my 3.70 rear,and I can clearly feel the engine relax on the highway turming 2500 or less.But this is a fairly pricey ordeal which I'd rather not repeat if it can be avoided.
Also as with any red blooded hotrodder,my next rendition of the 406 will be sporting a solid cam in the 250@.050 duration range,maybe a Vic Jr intake for a bit more top end.No 6-71 yet,but maybe someday.So my question to you transmission gurus is will the 700 live,or am I at the level where only a beefy TH350 or TH400 will do?

For what it's worth I do not race this car,but as you can see from the sig it's not stock. :reddevil

CFI-EFI

There are an awful lot of 11 second cars on here running the 700R4. Ten second cars and even those in the 9's. The transmission in my car was built to handle 700+ hp, according to the builder. It certainly CAN be done. Good luck, and...

RACE ON!!!

mikenfl

Give us more information. What was the nature of the failure? (what's it doing or not doing) Are you running TPI or have you converted to a carb? This is important as it relates to proper TV cable adjustment. If you're running a carb be aware that the linkage where the TV cable attaches to the carb is not the same on a 350 application as it is on a 700R4. This can make it very difficult to get the TV pressure correct at all the various throttle openings. If you have insuffiient throttle pressure in high load conditions no 700 (or any other throttle cable operated transmission) is going to live very long no matter how well it's built. So, tell us a little more. :crazy:

The Money Pit

The car is an 80 that came originally with the TH350c transmission,later replaced with a B&M TH350 and 2000 Holeshot converter. That transmission lasted four years,till I put the 406 in.The 406 though not wild by some standards,is lightyears ahead of the tired 350 it replaced.All engines so far have be carburated,this one's a Holley 3310 with the TV EZ linkage system I baught from BTO with the transmission.All pressure readings taken from the test port on the transmission,and verified with BTO prior to even driving the car.
The failure seems to be the infamous 3/4 clutch pack,as it slips in drive.This car will boil the 295 50's from a 25 mph roll in first,and pull 6500 rpms through first and second gear.I only did this once just to see how hard I could run it out of the hole,and from this I learned to launch a bit more easily on the throttle.This is also why I'm concidering a larger solid cam and Vic Jr intake next round,in an effort to bleed off some low end and shift the whole torque band up around 500 rpms or so.Most likely I'll then need a vacuum can for the brakes,as even now I sometimes don't have all the power that power brakes are supposed to have.

I posted here because the C-4's run more 700r4's than the C-3 group,and I know some of you are running in the 11 second range,which puts the power close to what I'm making.I hope this helps clear things up for you.

drive it

Hmmmm, so I'm not the only one unhappy with BTO.....
I also went thru their crap-but they did rebuild mine once(3/4 clutches)....then said no more warranty 'cause I drive it up and down the mtn and I overheat it-anything over 150F....gee,so does every other car that lives up here!! Less then about 8000mi. and it was gone again....(2 temp gauges-one in the pan and one on return line after xtra cooler and becool trans cooler-pan at 160 to 200 dependant on coolant temps, return line 150F)
I know it isn't close to you, but I'm now happy with probuilt....and Dana helped me out quite a bit even before I bought his tranny.
Just make sure you go with a Vigilante TC, I had problems with others not able to stay locked even with part throttle.
There's other folk here with moded cars that also run probuilts' without any problems. Also when I was having problems with the TC-Dana at probuilt dealt with the problem without giving any grief-exchanged the TC for the higher priced Vig without any charge!!!
None of the crap that you get from Steve at BTO!!!
And as you can see by my sig-mines not stock either.....
Oh yea-Steve's excuse for not honoring your warranty is a bunch of BS too....He tried to blame my brand new Be cool radiator.....
Gee, do I come off as still upset? :crazy:


[Modified by drive it, 3:56 PM 2/1/2004]

zelement

WHen I was shopping for my 700 I talked to Steve(I think) from Bowtie, he was very informative and helpful. However, he does not have any experiences with racing application. He does a lot fo Hot rods and street rods, but they are not race cars with crazy hp. Mostly just for cruise and show, that is why I didn't go with him.

I narrowed down my choices between Art Carr and Level Ten. Since Art Carr was local I decided to go with them. At the time I was pushing around 500rwhp and a little less torque. I bought the best 700 Art Carr has to offer along with their 9" non lockup converter and cooler. I killed the input drum shaft on that tranny within a week. Art Carr replaced it for free but it was a hassle.

Right before the supercharger install I messed up the tranny again by shifting into 1st gear at 60mph. The tranny was stuck in 1st. I called Art to see if he would honor the warranty he said yes but I would have to pay for parts. Instead of towing it up to Art (about 100miles) I just took it to my buddies trans shop and he fixed it for free.

NOw I am 377 superchared and nitroused. I should be pushing around 750rwhp and torque. I haven't touched the nitrous yet but so far the tranny has held up for about 600 test drive miles. It feels pretty strong, strong enough to kill my rear end instead of the tranny.

I have thought about doing a 400 swap or a 6 speed swap but the more I look around the more I see very very high hp cars and fast cars running the 700. I personally haven't had the greatest experiences with them but apparently others have. The most reputable 700 builder I have found is Rossler. They are the only shop that I have seen in person run consistent low 9s with a 700.

Paul

HWoods

Rossler builds Lingenfelter trans
http://www.rosslertrans.com/

Also Level 10 offers some High Dollar trans in your area.

Probuilt is on the wrong side of the country, but you already went that route with BTO
http://www.pro-built.net