Alright here's the deal guys. I bought a 82 Camaro in the summer, it is a sport coupe. Car is very clean. It's got the good old Lg4, and whatever automatic transmission that came stock in 1982. I need a lot of help here. I am looking for around 400hp, that's pretty much my goal. I have found more then a few good deals on 350's that are in this range, no problems there.

What I need is help with the transmission and rear end. These will be noobish questions!! Will a 700r4 from a car fit right in where my old tranny is? Or will it require extra parts? What should i do about my rear end? I am thinking that 3.42's sound good for this cruiser...but should I scrap my entire rear end? is a posi unit necessary here? My only other concern is headers that are known to fit in the third gen, what long tubes fit? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!!

Matt

 

Your car likely has a TH200 metric. It and the 700r4 are similar in size but not identical. I think the 700 is a bit longer IIRC. You may need to mod the tranny mount, get the 700r4 torque convertor and driveshaft too. The th200 metric is a 3spd, no OD and even weaker then a 700.

 

I feel like this swap is going to be a pain in my wallet, amongst other things.

 

The TH700R-4 is longer, and the mount is in a different location. The torque arm is shorter, as is the driveshaft.

A "simple" solution is to go to Board sponsor hawksthirdgen site and check out what they have available. You can get a transmission crossmember & torque arm that accommodate the TH700 and even moves the torque arm mount to the crossmember. The only issue with an '82 is the mount holes for the crossmember are too far forward, so you'll have to drill two new holes and get nuts inside the frame member for the bolts. Having done this for the first time almost 12 years ago, and having tried different methods, I highly recommend welding a nut on a ~2" square 1/8" steel plate and sliding that up into the frame member.

Oh, you will need a different shifter for the TH700.

The two most popular long tube headers are Hedmans, and Hooker 2210HKR. The Hookers are pretty pricey, are larger primary tube, and don't give the best clearance. The Hedmans are decent lower-priced pieces, but you will still have ground clearance issues with the pipe routing off of the collectors. Hooker 2055HKR shorties will support 400 HP.

There are tech articles linked from the thirdgen.org homepage about beefing up the 10 bolt rear end.

 

might want to look into lsx engines they are getting cheaper and cheaper, don't forget if your wanting to 400hp you will need other supporting mods suspensions brakes blah blah blah

 

Can I still use my original driveshaft if I were to get a 700r4? Would I just need a new cross member and torque arm then?