I just picked up a '83 T/A. $300, 73,000 miles and in mint condition just needed a carb. im just wondering what trans in it already its a 305 auto. What came stock with those

 

You can look it up by the shape of the pan probably. I'm not positive what came in those but I would bet that its a 700R4 or a 200

 

thanks, what exacly would i look for to be able to tell the difference

 

a rectangular pan is usually indicative of a 700R, a square pan with a corner cut off is a TH350, if it's some crazy oddball shape it could be a 200, TH400, etc.

 

Stock a '83 T/A would have a 700R4.The shift quadrant should be D-3-2-1.Butgievn 24 years,it could have a TH350,TH400 or TH200C(by some fluke) - all 3 speeds or TH200-4R(4 speed auto used on many GM carlines but only on F-Bodies in the '89 Turbo T/A).As Drew and Ritter pointed out easy way is to look at the shape of the trans pan.

 

1 Aluminum Powerglide 14 bolts
2 TH200 Metric 11 bolts
3 TH350 13 bolts
4 TH400 13 bolts
5 TH200-4R 16 bolts
6 TH700-R4, 4L60, 4L60E 16 bolts
7 4L80E 17 bolts

 

Back when I was working autoparts I had a bad *** chart from ATP, it had pics of all the various pans and variations of them... Was pretty bad *** but took up a lot of space.

 

hey thanks a lot ill check it out and let you know what i find

 

well its the 700r4. how are these and how much power can they take.

 

Early ones(up to '86)are problematic.There are numerous posts in the transmission section about them.But it is a very good transmission that can be built to handle a fair amount of horsepower.The one in your car can be done with all the upgrades that were used on the '87 up trans.I had the one in my '83 rebuilt this way with a few more upgrades.
GM changed the designation in '90-'91 from 700R4 to 4L60(basically same trans with electronic controls 4L60E '93 and up).

 

cool thanks what did you do to your trans

 

I'll be the first to jump in and say that the 700R4 CAN be good, but most of the ones around now are garbage. In stock form they aren't very strong, and they're expensive to have rebuilt properly. Even worse most 'performance' shops won't have much idea of what they're doing. If it works, then you're in luck, if you build up the engine, don't be surprised if the transmission goes out. I sold my 86 T/A project because I couldn't find a good used transmission, and I couldn't afford to have one rebuilt by a questionable shop.