Whats the best 700R4 that can be bought? Who has the best reputation for 700/4l60?

I like probuilts specs but im more interested in the Mega Raptor. I WANT TO retain lockup.

Heres a few specs of what itll be used for.
1992 Camaro or 1987 T/A
Stock style suspension
Caged
2800-3000lbs
N/A 383 with a power range of 3500-7500ish.
Currie 9" with ears
4.11 w/28" ET or 4.30 w/26" ET
with tags and insurance

 

With that much HP, why do you need a tranny with such a low first gear. If you feel you need an OD, install a 200-4R. It has a better gear ratio and still gives an OD. Spend even more money and put a 4L80E behind it.

You'll probably spend a lot more money getting a beefed up 700R4 and it still won't be as good as these other trannys.

I doubt you'll get a NA 600hp 383 very streetable.

 

I disagree there are serveral reputable companies with 9-10 second cars . Our company and others with 700r4 trans to handle that power lever, There are quite a few on LS1TECH and they are reasonbly prices compared to moding for another type trans instalation

 

Stephan, were not really trying to obtain a street car, but just be able to take in town if we like. 4l80 is out of the equation, but who offers a 200R for that power level.

How much difference is there between the 200R and 700R? How hard is it to obtain parts for the 200R?

bowtieoverdrives.com seem to have good parts and trannys.

 

Lots of 200-4R's in 8-9 second Grand Nationals. Lots of speed parts available because of the G-body market.

If it's not a daily driver then you don't need the extra weight and gearing of an OD. OD isn't very strong anyway. For the occasional street use, a normal 3 speed auto will do fine. GM produced non OD transmissions for decades and high HP cars got along fine without them.

 

Not trying to put down non od cars. But I do hear lots of complaints of guys not having it and hating to hear their car revving loudly down the highway. I mean its ok if your car is a trailer queen but most guys want to be able to cruise also.

 

yes i drove for many years with out it and looking back I dont see how I did it lol

 

It's not like you need to take it down the highway for long cross country trips. The occasion street use doesn't require an OD. You want a tranny for performance gearing. OD isn't a performance gear. You're adding extra weight and parts because you want to keep the rpms lower where there is no performance. You might as well install a TH400 with a Gear Vendor OD unit on the back of it.

If you want a street car, get a tranny with an OD. If you want a performance car with some occasional street use, get a regular 3 speed auto. If you don't plan on long highway trips, you don't need OD.

The 700R4 was created to give a little of both worlds for a street car. Give a low first gear to help the car get moving quicker with highway gears in the diff. Give it an OD so that the effective ratio of the highway gears drops even lower for better highway fuel mileage. From a performance standpoint, the 700R4 is terrible. The gear spread between 1-2 is too far apart. You need to over rev the engine in first gear so that when it shifts to second, the rpms don't drop well below the powerband. Putting in performance gearing in the diff causes more problems. With the low first gear in the tranny multiplied with a deep gear in the diff, even a low hp engine can easily overpower the tires because of too much torque multiplication.

You can always install a T56 manual tranny. 4 speed with 2 OD gears.

Remember, you're planning on 600+ HP. The entire driveline needs to handle all that extra power.

 

Would this still be a problem if you had some real sticky big tires? But then I guess it goes back to durability of the trans. My buddies 700r4 is setup with a manual switch to turn off OD which seems what would end up destroying it at the track. Otherwise it seems to run strong even with the supercharged motor and has been running fine for a little over 3 years.

 

A 400 weighs more than a 700r4 and a gear vendors overdrive more. The 700r4 is a great dual purpose trans and trust me they can be built to handle plenty of power .

 

I am a fan of 700r's. Pro Built and PATC(raptor) are the only two companies I would trust for 700r trans or parts. now, with that said, if you don't intend on highwaying the car, why run a 700r? A T400 with a good clutch kit will handle that much power, and cost less than 1/2 as much. Plus, as Stephen said, the 3.06 low gear and 1.46 second make for a horrid step for performance. The 200r is 3.00 1st, 2.00 2nd, 1.00 3rd, and .67 OD. It will run you as much, if not slightly more than a good 700, but will work much better in a performance application.

The 4L80 idea is also not bad if you don't mind the extra weight or the floor board dents. It also requires either a manual vb or a computer to operate though....it is basically a T400 with OD though, so it is very tough.

 

First, lets get the gear ratios correct.
700R4/4L60E;
3.06
1.63
1.00
0.70
2004R;
2.74
1.57
1.00
0.67
TH400/3L80E;
2.48
1.48
1.00
and for the 4L80E add 0.75 for overdrive.
I have had a few 700R4's in the ten's over the years doing ok. So I would say that they will hold up fine. The torque converter plays a big part too.

 

The 700r4 is a tough unit built properly .I personally like the gearing with the right converter.

 

Whats the trick in finding the right converter? For instance I have a superramed 383 which I think the torque peaks around 4000 rpm. On my powerglide I ran a 3000 stall. Should I be looking for an even higher stall for the 700r4?

 

I have a best of 10.76 at 127 with my 700r4, and a handfull of 6.8x's(1/8 mile) timeslips. Tranny is holding up fine on the bottle.

 

Dana - thanks for the ratios. I've heard conflicting numbers for the 700 2nd, and I've never messed with a 200 myself, just repeating what I read from a supposed reputable magazine. Do they make an aftermarket planets for the 200r with different ratios? I could have swore they were 3.0/2.0/1.0.....hummm

So if you look at it, the 200r 1-2 step isn't all that much better.

As for the converter thing, the biggest problem is the quality of the converter. The cheapies are cheap for a reason.

 

We went with the Level 4 - "Extreme Duty" 700 Mega Raptor. It just arrived today.