Most guys opt for a 4l60E or 80.... maybe even 6 speed or TKO but considering I am staying TPI, I am really interested in having a nice 700 put back in it. Anybody else running an aftermarket built 700 youve had good luck with?

 

I'm happy with mine. It's behind a built 427. I ordered a rebuilt kit from Dana at https://probuiltautomatics.com/ Still working fine after 10 years. Nice smooth shifts when driving normal. And nice hard snappy shifts when getting heavy on the throttle. If you went this route. I'd call him and tell him your setup and he'll give you what you need.

 

I've had mine in my 2nd gen since 1993 (it's been rebuilt since then), but yeah I love it.... even more so now with the Gear Vendors OD unit behind it. 8 speeds now... it's a hoot going through them all from a stand still...


A good torque converter will also wake it up.... I have a Hughes 2500 rpm converter in it.

 

I've got a TCI street fighter, 800 miles in and it hasn't blown up. The governor is totally wrong, like it's for an LG4 with 2.73 final so it shifts way too soon for me but it's reasonably easy to fix just haven't had the time. Manual shift though... It'll bark the tires on a 1-2 upshift at 5% throttle, over 50% I can feel the rear kick out. Looking to eventually go 4L60E with the 2.84 first mainly for the ability to map shifts rather than trial and error the governor.
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I work for a restoration/performance shop and we have the worst luck with TCI transmissions. Its almost a guarantee theyll be wrong or bad out of the crate. Last one had a bad front pump and no line pressure. Just to get it in the shop it was at 3800rpm.

Im looking at Gearstar, Performabuilt, Monster and Art Carr but im open to suggestion.

 

Have had 3 built ones behind a healthy 383 with no issues. First one was a built one from monster that I had rebuilt into reverse manual, held up fine with both configurations. Recently got tired of driving a reverse manual trans around town so I swapped in a 700r4 from someone on here with a mystery kit in it and so far its holding up fine. Feel like they unfairly get a bad reputation

 

Are you talking about The Real Art Carr?

California Performance Transmission

 

My 700R4 is a ProBuilt Automatics build and it has withstood over 140 dragstrip passes in the 10 and 11 second zone, same amount of dragstrip burnouts, dozens more street burnouts, lots and lots of nitrous launches and wide open nitrous shifts, and about 60 laps on autocross courses. Also, the car is only street driven, no trailers, so I kept converter lockup feature for on the highways.

 

I'm happy with mine. It's behind a built 406. I ordered a rebuilt kit from Dana at https://probuiltautomatics.com/ Still working fine after 3000 miles. Nice smooth shifts when driving normal. And nice hard snappy shifts when getting heavy on the throttle.

 

Whats the set up in front of the trans? IROCZman

 

Not aftermarket but locally built for the last two previous to that, I drag raced and drove countless miles (as in the tens of thousands) with a solid 700R4 core purchased used, added a TransGo-2&3 kit, .500"/.300" boost valves, B4C kit, Vette servo and a few other bolt in bits that didn't require the trans to be disassembled. An off the shelf TCI converter (although I'd strongly recommend a custom built which is my latest Edge 3800) and I was good to go. Lockup in all of the above.

Are you a member of LS1Tech?
I bring that up as there's a member there named Franks Custom Trans and he contributed to my 4L60 build thread. If he was local to me I'd have gone there.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...-thoughts.html

I've checked out some of your recommendations most notably GearStar and spoke with their rep. Of all of the above I'd probably go that route but the USD/CDN dollar exchange not to mention shipping make it cost prohibitive.
I went for a local rebuilder with my old transmission full of Sonnax and new GM parts (which was built by another guy but failed due to an assembly error) and had a fresh core combined with my hardly used parts for the current unit . Still untested in anger though.

 

I assume we're talking about post-'87 transmissions...

 

Good point. I certainly am. And the later on in the production cycle before they went to the "E" version, the better.
ATSG has a 700R4 update manual that I found very useful when speccing my last couple of transmissions.

https://atsgbookstore.com/700-r4-update-handbook_dl/

 

Mine unfortunately is a 87 700R4 but I will have to upgrade. Im not too worried. I think the later cases are better but I really need to refresh my knowledge... I certainly have forgotten a lot of info over the years to make way for more knowledge.

 

Well I'd rather have your '87 than my '84...

 

Ill sell it to you, for the core charge. Only has 27k miles on it. lol I dont think theyll even take mine for a core... I gotta look at the differences and start figuring it out again. I knew all this **** circa 2000-2012. lol

IIRC, the case is different and the internals are stronger in the later 80s 700's

 

Do yourself a favour and get a copy of the ATSG update manual listed above.
Either that or go for a 90/91 core. It'll have the lastest edition of upgraded hard parts plus the valve body you're after.
The K cases (for 4x4's) are stronger although your builder will have to supply a 2WD output shaft and 3rd gen specific extension housing. That said, the case for me has never been an issue. I just ended up with the beefier case by default.
The link for LS1 Tech posted above has tons of good info should you decide to have someone private put it together rather than an aftermarket vendor.

 

Its a 406 Small block chevy. gen 1
DART SHP block with callies forged crank and rods, mahle pistons, 10.5:1 compression ratio. 600 lift and 245 duration with 110 lobe seperation on the comp cams roller cam. Dart Pro1 215 heads with an Edelbrock Victor Jr manifold. NOS nitrous wet plate, currently jetted at 150 hp shot. Holley sniper EFI and hyperspark ignition system.
Yank Performance 9.5" Power Adder Series-3800 rpm converter, with lockup