I am wanting to know all my options for an overdrive trans that will hold about 750hp. Engine has about 520 hp right now and have been spraying a 125 hp shot. After my last trip to the 1/8th mile track it is now slipping a little. It is a locally built 700r4 that has been in the car for 3 years. Now that my new engine is in it's not gonna handle it. Car went 6.95 in the 1/8th. Equivalent to about 10.80's in the 1/4. I plan on using the second stage of N20 and having the heads ported. The second stage will more than likely be a 75 hp shot.

 

sounds more like a strip only kinda car, but if you want OD and not a 350 or 400 trans then the only way to go IMO is to buy a worked over 4L80-E to the tune of $2000 last time I checked into them built up. then you need a trans controller($400?) and a good stall($700 for vig for example) and you are set. These were put into the 3500 series chevy full size trucks and are rated for high HP, although a turbo 400 seems to me to be the best bet, with a motor making that much HP fuel economy doesn't sound like much of priority.

just my .02

 

I have some 10 second 700R4's & 4L60E's out there doing ok. If you keep the horsepower around 650 at the flywheel, then I can help you on this. Let me know?

 

how about using a 200-4r?

 

This is by far a strip only car. It's mostly a street car. I have to drive over an hour to the track one way. The car gets about 13-14 mpg.

Pro-built, How far into the tens are these cars running? Also, do you know how much these cars weigh?

 

I'll ask since your here. For my next project car that will be family geared for cruising and track duty when I want. I dont want the gear spread the 700r4 or 4L60E has. I dont care about weight, just reliablity. Are they making transbrakes for the 4L80E? Any info on this I appreciate.

 

Lingenfelter uses moded 4L60es (th700r4) in his auto twin turbo C5 vettes. Some of which run bottom nines.

 

Does LPE build his own tranny's also? If not. Who does?

 

The quickest & most consistent, is a 1996 Firebird (Rick Abare) that weighs in at 3250 pounds without driver. It turns 10.20 - 10.40 ET's at 130 - 132 mph, with 1.28 - 1.35 60 foot times. This unit has well over 700+ runs, and that was a few months ago, with no 3-4 clutch problems. I have others (in the last few years) that have ran similar times, but do not race as often he does, but with little to no problems.

 

That is really impressive. Does this guy use spray? How long would it take to get one of your tranny's built? Also, what about the 4L80E like mentioned above? Will these be any stronger without robbing any horsepower and not be too heavy?

 

check out bowtieoverdrives.com for some beefy 700-R4 parts, the shop that did my tranny installed their 5 gear planetary set along with a couple other bigger n' thicker parts.
as far as the huge spread of the 700R4, specifically the 1st-2nd gear change, Gear Vendors has an interesting set-up that puts overdrive gears inbetween each of the normal gears.
the normal spread for the 700R4 is 3.06 1st and 1.63 2nd, but with the Gear Vendors system, you get 3.06 1st, 2.39 1st over, 1.63 2nd, 1.27 2nd over, 1.00 3rd, 0.78 3rd over, 0.70 4th, 0.55 4th over. I got those numbers from the November issue of Super Chevy, in which they have an article of installing that under/overdrive system into a '79 pickup.
That changes a 4 spd. auto into an 8 spd, and they have applications for both the 700R4 and the 4L80E. they also claim that their system supports up to 1200 HP.
That system is very expensive though i think the 700R4 one is like $2800 or something. You'll also need to shorten the driveshaft, which shouldn't be a biggie.

 

I think LPE uses Rossler trannies. Try the 200r4 for big power, it ain't cheap though.

 

Thanks for the lead on Rossler. I spoke to Carl at Rossler today and he claims to have a 700R4 in a twin turbo C5 going 8's in the quarter. More than likely I'll be going with one of their 700's when I can afford it. He has 3 levels for these tranny's. The one that he reccomends for a 10 second car is the level 2.

 

I was just thinking of the 4L80-E. Can these take any more hp and torque than a pro-built unit? Pro-built, do you build these? Any reason to use one over the 700r4? In stock form I know it would be wise but modded I don't know about.

 

a 4L80-E is a bigger and stronger unit. they can be built up more than a 700R4(4L60E derivative basically). The 4L60E is just the electronically controlled version of the 700R4. Some basic yahoo-ing online will show several vendors building these up for huge HP amount. Not sure how this compares to Pro-builts.....but i've heard only great things about his trans as well and would respect his advice.

 

Guys, I have had a bowtie tranny for 3yrs. The last year I put some power to it. I have a 383 in a 3200 lb. chevy ll with 3.73 gears and 2500 stall. The set-up had 5000 miles on it.

The engine was 450 fwhp and I sprayed 150 shot. The first thing that happened was clutch packs and I had a better band put in. That was after about eight trips down the 1/8 mile.

I changed cams and went to a 3000 converter. About 8 more trips to the track with no more than 2 runs each time the 3,4 clutch pack was getting weak and slipping at wot.

I am not bashing Bowtie I had a stage two trans that they say is good to 450 hp. But they only change the input shaft to get it to the stage three and I never broke it. I ran 6.84 at 102.

I think the 700 can take SOME power but over 500 it is limited to last. Sure you can get some service out of it but it won't last.

I pulled mine a month ago and will use a 4L80E instead. I have an empty case now that I have put in the tunnel without an engine. Minor work will need to be done. IMO the 4L80E is the way to go for anyone making over 500hp with some track time.

It will be a couple months, but I will let you know about the 4L80E.

 

Please let me know how it works out. Also, How do you plan on controlling the shifts since it's electronic? Shift controller?

 

I will use a speedpro controller.

 

The 4L80E will eat more HP & it does weigh quite a bit more & is much more in cost to build, but it will take more HP/torque than the 4L60E unit. The gear ratio spread on the 700R4/4L60E is not that bad when using a small diameter torque converter, with more than 2,200 rpm stall. I do not build the 4L80E.

 

Don't forget to get the biggest trans cooler you can fit under there also. Heat kills transmissions.

 

the 4L-80 is by far the strongest automatic od tranny i've worked with. I have quite a few 700r's built up, the 700r does good but the factory rating on hp and tq capabilities on the 4l80 is higher that a lot of race built 700r's. With some mods the 4l80 is the closest thing to a bullit proof tranny gm fans may ever see. Just my opinion... Also the 4l80 was avaliable from 92 on in certian pgk C2500 and almost all c3500 trucks

 

What about a TH400 with a Gear vendors OD? They have been turning up in a lot of very high HP cars lately, and seem like they might be a good way to go, other than the extra weight and possible trans tunnel clearancing. Anybody have experience with one in a third gen?

 

The gear vendor is about 2000.00, the 400 tran is about 900.00. A 4l80e ready to run about 2500 with controller. Pretty much a tossup.

 

Go to this thread:- https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ht=gearvendors

I am also interested in any comments about them. Scroll down to the bottom of that thread and you'll see the search results i got when I trying to find out more information about them.

 

check this out.tested at over 900 horsepower sucessfully.

http://ckperformance.com/gmaodpic.html

 

http://www.dynotechperformance.com/trans_main.php - Located in New Jersey. A bunch of 8-9 second GNs running their transmissions.


My buddy runs one of their street/strip (500HP) 2004R and the thing is great. Not sure of the price on the 900HP unit but it's worth a call.