200R4 question

Building a driver and sometimes cruiser shop pu. May do ocassional trip? 40 ford pickup. Stock 4.3 chev V-6., 8 in rear with 3;00 gear. 29 inch tall rears. No towing. Must ll frt. Mocked up a junk 350 trans to start. Wondering if go with 200R? Just need to move trans mount. Is the 3;00 gear going to be a problem? Lug down to much? Or just stay with 350? Going to get a rebuilt trans soon. Chassis 99% done.

Thanks for input
Don

 

700r4, 200-4r. I think the short tires will help you out. final drive will make it fast if the 4.3 can push it.

 

IMHO ... if you are keeping the 3.00 gear ... keep the Turbo 350
I would go with the 200R4 and change the rear gear.

The 200R4 has a overdrive of 33 per cent.
Your 3.00 would be

3.00 X .33 = .99
3.00 - .99 = 2.01

Final drive of 2.01 is just too high to get the 4.3 in a decent RPM range for efficent fuel mileage IMHO.

I would go to a 3.73 and then use the 200R4.

It would be a final drive of 2.49 ...
doable with a 4.3 IMHO

.

 

I have a 406/2004R with 3:89 gears in Faye & I love it. I have 3:08 & T400 in my '55 Suburban behind a 396 and you don't have to worry about spinning the tires!!

 

DUECE ROADSTER you nailed it,could not have explained it better.

 

200R4 will fit in the same space as the T350 withut modifying the x member. 700R4 requires hacking up the x-member. see post #76 here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527407&page=4

 

concur - my 462/200-4R was happier with 3.55's than 3.23's...

 

Thanks a bunch. Great info! Sounds like either change rear gears or stay with the 350! Should be on road in late spring.

 

X2
i have a 200 transmission and had 300 gears..it sucked..changed to 3.55 a lot better...wish I would have gone to 3.73

 

I put a 200-R4 in my 70 Chevelle. All I had to do was move the crossmember back to the 400 position. holes were already drilled. Had to get a intermediate park brake cable for a 400 car. Already had a Q-jet with the right throttle arm and the TH350 kickdown cable bracket worked as-is for the TV cable. Driveshaft worked. cooler lines worked with a little persuasion.

I have a 3.73 and wish I had a 3.42 or 3.36. Engine is a torque monster 406.

Oops, you'll have to do something about the converter lockup. Several vendors with kits out there.

 

we just did a '40 ford pickup with a buick V6 and th350 and 3:36 rear end.
real nice combo.

 

I run 200R4 with 3.90 rear gears and 29" tall tires in my Willys - perfection. The 200R4 with 3.73 to 4.10 gears and 28-29" tall rear tires will get you off the line real quick and you can still cruise in o/d at low rpms. Lockup converter recommended. I have changed a couple of TH350 or TH 400 to 200R4 or 7004R and never looked back - well worth the $$$ IMO....

 

I have a 305 TPI with a 2004R in my 60 Corvette with 3.36 gears and 25inch tires. It works really good but doesn't stay in low gear long enough. Need to recalibrate the governor. Cruises beatifully at 75-80 mph.

 

331, 4.10s, 24" tall tires, and a 200R4 going in my current o/t project. If I had bought the gears brand new, probably would have gone 4.56s, but I got a good deal on an almost new set of 4.10s.

 

I run a 2004R behind a 350 with 3:08 chevy 10 bolt. In a '39 ford pickup. It runs great. A little high for around town but 80 mph on the freeway at just under two grand. The mount hole are 10" back from a TH350. I would for sure go with the 200!!

 

Tall tires verus short tires can affect the outcome.
A V8 ... not a V6 will affect the outcome.
Vehicle weight will affect the outcome.
Vehicle aerodynamics will affect the outcome.

ALL of these should be under condsideration

 

the trans mount is 6 5/8" back from most of the GM trans. same as 400 turbo

 

I have a 4.3 with an automatic w/od and 3.40ish rear gears in my daily. Quite frankly it sucks as far as I am concerned. The engine goes great when it's over 2 grand, but at cruising speed of 15 or 16 hundred, it's a dog. The transmission and the lock/unlock converter are constantly shifting just to maintain a constant speed with the other traffic. Just to pull 55 on a good sized hill will cause it to go into second, while running the cruise control. Frankly I drive it in 3rd most of the time when not on highways.
Stick with the turbo 350.

 

200r4 is NOT a performace transmission. You WILL have to run the lockup TC with this unit. The 3.00 gear is too high for the overdrive and you will be shifting in and out of lockup under light throttle. The TV cable adjustment is critical on this trans. One slipped on me and the trans burned up going around the block.....
Stick with the 350..... Stick a shift kit (trans-go) in it and run. The kick down cable is easy to mount and adjust.

 

It seems to have done quite well in Buick Grand Nationals... and the 1987 GNX... and the 1989 Turbo Tran Ams. My 462 powered 3900# Lemans Sport has been running 10+ years with quite a few full power passes on a 200-4R.

This being said - I would get a nice converter and run the TH350

 

My 3300 lb blown Willys has 650hp and the 2004R works fine, even when I play!

 

200-4R not a performance transmission? Tell that to mine backing up an Olds 455 tork monster (550 + ft lb) with only minor upgrades. Has about a hundred passes down the quarter @ 12.7 in a 3300 lb street car and cruises beautifully in fourth on the highway. Absolutely love it and could never go back to "only" three gears

 

had a 38 chevy with a 305 and a 350 trans. with 3.73 gears 225 75 15 tires. Loved the off the line hated 3000rpm on the freeway. went with the 2004r from a cadillac. the cadillacs have a chevy bolt pattern. I bought the b&m TQ lockup. I got a cable bracket of a chevy van from the 80s that ran a 700, my 350 bracket was too far back. the van bracket bolted to my carb mounting studs and had the proper hole for the TV cable. It worked great! I drove it that way for 2 years but was paranoid about breaking it because of all the people who told me I would. I pulled it from the yard and ran it and it never failed me. I don't know about the new owner.

 

I run a 700R behind a 5lt with 3.55:1 Jag rear in my 35 Chevy. I run 235:75:15 (28.8" tall) rear tyres. At 60mph, engine is turning 2k rpm and not labouring at all.

 

IIRC, 200-4R has lower 1st gear than either TH350 or 700R4, and more overdrive than the 700. So it is a bit of a wide ratio trans. That said, definately go with the 3.73 to 3.90 neighborhood gear ratio. Otherwise, you'll be cruising the interstate at 70 with the engine idling.

AS to the converter lockup, I just use a toggle switch. I usually run around town without it locked up. But once out on the freeway, or long stretch of highway, I'll lock it up. No trouble with it in 16 years.

 

200R4 will stand up to some level of abuse, I beat hell out of one in my younger days. Use the Randy's Ring & Pinion RPM calculator (google) to figure out what your cruise RPMs will be with the 200R4 and adjust either tire size or rear gear to get the RPMS in a decent range. Build accordingly. The 4.3 isn't going to have the torque of a 350 so it's not going to like low RPMs in OD with a tall gear. I ran a Suburban with a 350-700R4-2.73 for several years and it was okay, but nothing great. Biggest problem was I got the best milage out of it driving 75-80 MPH. Even my current driver with a 3.23 isn't that happy in OD.

 

GM trans ratios are as follows:

1st 2nd 3rd OD
Powerglide 1.76 1.00
TH350 2.52 1.52 1.00
TH400 2.48 1.48 1.00
200r4 2.74 1.57 1.00 0.67
700r4 3.06 1.62 1.00 0.70

 

I tried to space those ratios as a chart, but, that's the way they posted. ??

 

Nobody can knock the TH350/2.78 combo. I put this combo in my dad's car and love driving it. It is the simple, low cost thing to do. That's why you see so many of them.
Four gears are nice to have however. My off topic car has a tuned up 93' LT1/built 700r4/ 3.70 nine inch with trac loc. It's the best of both worlds, great repsonse at any rpm or mph.
It all comes down to how much money you want to spend.

 

Good combo. I put a 406"sbc with a 700R4 and 3.70's in my '57 Ford. It ran 12.90's and got 21mpg all day long.