Have a problem. I have a 1982 pontiac firbird S/E with 305. Saturday my transmission seemingly stopped working. However, I was able to limp the car home. It goes into gear, but will barely move, and of course the engine revs while this is happening. I thinking the transmission is shot, but I going to have it looked at anyway. Could it by the torque converter or something elsel, or maybe the clutch packs are gone. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Jeff Morgan

 

These transmissions are well known for being junk, which is why they only lasted 2 years in Third Gens. Your best bet is to get another tranny type altogether. Even if you have the 200C rebuilt, it will still most likely cause problems down the road.

 

Mine had a TH200C when I bought it, it failed and I swapped in a TH700-R4.

Very easy swap and worth the trouble. You need the donor car's trans crossmember, transmission, torque converter, torque arm mount, driveshaft, torque arm, shifter cable, throttle valve cable, and shifter.

Only modifications I had to make to the car were drilling the rear holes for the crossmember in my frame rails, and fitting the shifter to the trans tunnel. The torque converter clutch lockup plug on my '82 harness plugged right into the TH700 connector without modification, pinouts and hoods were identical.

If you go this route, be sure you get a trans with cable-driven vehicle speed sensor. The later 3rd gens used magnetic and it's a hassle you'd rather avoid. Mine came from an '88 RS.

 

I posted yesturday, guss I turned the computer off a tad quick after.

If it goes dead and you have no movement in any gear that would be from a dead converter or a fraged front pump. If it slightly moves forward your in need of a rebuilt (clutches slipping).

Last time I checked they were going for $500 rebuilt so you might consider using somthing else.

Replacing your TH200c with a short shaft TH350 would be a nearly direct swap excluding the tq arm kit that would need to be ordered. The kits run from $80+ and nearly everybody makes them. That would keep your factory shifter intact and give you a much more reliable transmission with the factory untouched look. Now if you were to go with a 700R4 you would need a new shifter and the glass indicator peice with OD. Its been a while and I cant fully remember every detail but I had to hax0r the one cable that goes back up to the coulmb and locks the wheel and the OEM 4 speed shifter dident line up with the factory bolts.
It was a swap well worth the time and money but I'm much happier with my current setup.

 

exactly what he said, except they were only in 82 IIRC

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/techdb.shtml

Although the TH700-R4 was introduced in '83, the TH200C was still available. '84-up all automatics were TH700-R4.

 

gotcha.. never knew that

 

Guys,

Thanks for all of your input. I have a TH 350 in my wrecked 86 bird, which I will remove this weekend. I'll replace the 200c in my 82 with the TH 350 from my 86. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. My 86 has the B&M shifter in it, and I may try to put it in my 82, but I'm not sure if it's a direct fit because the consoles are different. What do you guys think?

Thanks

Jeff Morgan

 

with the b&m you may have to cut up your console..

 

If the 82 is real nice I wouldent bother with the B&M shifter. I personally would rather use a stock shifter then an aftermarket unit especially one that doesent fit correctly and needs to be adjusted every 6 months. One the other hand the entire console could be swap'd over and it would fit like it's suposed to.

 

any updates jeff...........

 

I thought I read that the 89 TTA had a 200 series tranny ?

 

consoles same

both are three speed autos, same deal, same length as the 200c if the 350 is 6" tail one(car or 69-72 truck one)

happy swapping

 

Hi Jeff,
I noticed that your 200c is going.
Well, I'm upgrading my 200c to 4L60e.
My 200c is in great shape and has absolutly nothing wrong with it. I'm switching to the 4L60e to acheive better MPG with the overdrive. My 200c should go into your car with no problems.
I have scheduled the removal of the 200c the day after Christmas.
I do have a shipping container for the transmissin. An Aamco shop near me in Cary, NC is switching out the transmission. I can have the shop verify the condition of the 200c before it is removed.

If you are interested send me PM.

 

200R4, different animal than a 200C

 

I'm sure he already took care of the problem since the thread is a year old.

 

Ya I knew that after responing to thread. Want to delete, but for some reason Delete does not work!

 

um so if you go from th-200c to a th 350 it is really a direct bolt on? cuz my th-200c has no 2nd and since its an auto I can't skip it.

 

Hi,
This thread is old, almost 2 years. Anyway my 4L60e conversion went great. Absolutly no problems. Mileage went from 17MPG to 27MPG. Engine loves the gear ratio and overdrive. Car accerates like a bat out of hell.