Hello, i am new to these boards. I work at a Ford delaership as a tech and ill admit i dont know very much about gm so just bear with me. I have just "inherited" a 1985 Firebird with a fuel injected V6 in it. What i wanted to know was which transmission do i have in my car, it is an automatic with over drive. Is this a worth while transmission to keep/ build? Will it bolt up to a SBC?

Thank you, Bob

 

It's a 700-R4.

I guess that depends on what you'd consider "worth while". It's the only automatic that you're likely to find that will fit one of these cars.

It will not bolt up to a V8. The bell housing is different.

 

By that you mean that these cars are hard to swap auto trans. other than 700r4's into them?

 

these car use a torque arm suspension and the 700r4 is the only trans that has the mounting point cast into the tranny case. this tranny also uses a different crossmember. B&M makes a kit to mount the torque arm to other GM trannies, like TH-350 and TH-400. crossmembers for these trannies are available from aftermarket companies like Spohn, or you can use a crossmember from the 82-83 cars that had the TH-200C transmissions. these crossmembers are the same as the one you need for the TH-350.

you also need to get the appropriate length drive shaft for a TH-350 or TH-400. the driveshaft from an 82-83 TH-200C will work for the TH-350.

 

My 82 driveshaft worked fine for the TH400, just needed to change the slip yoke.

 

I heard from other people that some transmissions dont like to fit in the 3rd gen f bodies because of the transmission tunnel. Good, I was hoping that my dads TH 350 would fit. Ok, thank you.
-Bob

 

that doesnt surprise me, cause i thought that at least some of the TH-400 trans (the short tails i think) were the same length as the 700r4. i just couldnt remmeber for sure. thank you for clarifying that. thats also why i said appropriate length and didnt specify shorter, longer, or the same. hehehheh


actually i think one the TH-350 trannies can use the sock driveshaft too, i think the one with the six inch tailshaft, if i remember correctly.