I have an 82 w/ a Built Th-350 in it now...I am getting an 86 Iroc and swapping everything from the 82' over onto it including the motor. It has a 700-r4 in it and I like the idea of having overdrive. I asked a friend who builds trans for everything from street cars to race cars if he would put a shift kit in it, and he wont cause he says those trans are junk, he wont touch an OD...I've seen way too many people on here running good 700-r4 combos and still running strong. After this summer my motor will have around 350+ hp and around 400 lb/ft of tq. If I get a transgo kit and vette servo etc I should be fine shouldnt I? I need overdrive because I am driving 6 hours each way to school next year, And I dont wanna use my th-350 and lower my rear gears cause I dont wanna lose the off the line performance....So I should be able to get the 700-r4 to work well right?

 

Many folks refer to things they don't understand as junk in an attempt to keep their ignorance from showing (I'm guilty). 700's have proven themselves over and over to be good for 100-150K+ miles. I would not consider a non-overdive trans for a daily driver. Do your research and you'll be fine.
Remember too that some of the earlier 700's did have issues, make sure yours is not one of them or run it till it breaks and replace it with a better one.
Good luck

 

i work in a garage/restoration shop and my fiance had to take his trans up there to get it rebuilt (turbo 350) but it was shot to h3ll and back and my boss said that he could use the 700 r4 its the same as a 350 it just has over drive. and its way more complicated to build. but anyways good luck with your trans

 

Its an 86... Dont know anything about the history of it, But I'll put a shift kit and vette servo in it and let it roll...If it goes on me, I'll just use it as an excuse for a stronger built 700-r4 or a T-56 swap!

 

IMO 700s are the best for the street, hands down. they can take a beating with a nice rebuild too. hell, stockers can take a beating with a mild engine attached to them.

 

The '85-'87 versions of the 700R4 were not the best of the 700R4's from what I have heard. I had an '85 that lasted 135000 before it died. Now I have a Pro-built 700R4. Life is good.

 

89+ was when they started beefing them up from the factory. still, an aftermarket build is much better then stock no question.

 

mainly you need to look at it like this ...
you need to decide if your going for an everyday driver as in your only means of transportation...if so your not going to be building a 400+hp engine anyway if so then your fine with the 700r4
if your going for a mean as can be 400+hp engine then you need think of how much its going to cost to build a 700r4 to withstand that power and then thats when you usually go with a th350 or th400 because your not worried about gas mileage anymore with that kinda power anyway so with that said you need to decide what your going to build engine wise and then decide how large your budget is !!!

 

I have 316 hp right now, And it is my daily driver as we speak. I am gettin a little toyota truck to drive while I do the swap. This summer I was planning on just a head and cam swap that should put me around 350-375 hp. After that I should have some money to spend on the tranny...I want the car drivable as much as possible but I dont have to take the long trip till Dec. The biggest reason I want the Camaro up @ college with me is cause I am going to Wyotech and I plan on working on it the whole time im up there and coming home with a better car. I will probably have the toyota and my best friends car for most of the trips back and fourth, But the Camaro has to make a few of them! Thanks for all your help!

 

yeah, they can be built for that kind of power no problem. i built the one for my buddies camaro and it had 470hp on the dyno and over 500ftlbs of torque. here's a picture.

 

hey zippy what year is that camaro you posted the pics of ...we used to have a 73 split bumper that we were running a little over 500 hp in it was a mean ride loved it till it got gutted by theives then we ended up selling it 2 years later i miss that car every day

 

1970 1/2. it idled at around 700rpm just fine, had power all the way to the 6200rpm limiter (peaked at 6000 on the dyno). 470hp was on race fuel with 32 degrees of timing and 468hp with 30 degrees of timing on 93 octane. cruise rpm was 2200 and it got 19mpg on the highway (staying out of the boost). man, i miss that car.

 

i bet i know we miss ours it was a fun car to cruise when you could keep the police off your back...lol....