Hello all, looking for experienced commentary from guys who are using overdrive transmissions in their high horse power cars. I am considering putting an overdrive transmission in my car. I want to make the swap as painless as possible and try to maintain a factory look in the interior. I don't really want to change the factory floor shift set up to something after market. I want to keep the original stock appearing interior. Thanks in advance!
The is a company that can make an adapter so a manual shift lever stays in the factory location. There are few aftermarket trans rated to handle that much HP.
I am pretty sure the Gear Vendors overdrive is rated for over twice that power level. Maybe "the wizard" will chime in. I think he is running one. Cliff
art carr has been doing great things with the 2004r. they had been claiming 1000 plus hp capability. I don't like the 700r4. the gear spread is less than favorable. the 4l80e is huge and requires a computer. not to mention there is no input for a mechanical Speedo. the gear vendors is ok. the overdrive ratio is only .78, which isn't a lot. they are about bullet proof though. it is fairly expensive though.
I have the Gear Vendors since 2006, never a problem. It is rated for 1200 HP and can be modified to take 2000 HP. I don't worry about breaking it. I always get a kick out of reading this section of the instruction manual.
IMHO if plan to race then the gear vendors or a 4L80 is the way to go. If you do lots of street driving with only a bit of track time then the 4L60 or 2004R is the way to go. Compared to the GV unit a trans with lockup converter is going to be like nearly having a 5th gear for most highway cruising depending on rear gear and converter stall. Of the 2 latter transmissions I like the 2004R and so do most people as it bolts right up to the Buick engine without an adaptor plate. Tons of reading in the auto trans section of the board.
I have a 4L80e and the builder rated it to 1000 hp, (?) red eagle clutches, HD Trans go kit, 3000 stall TSP 9" converter. I am using the original shifter and linkage, original cross member, trans mount and yoke. you will need to back up your frame mount and shorten your drive shaft. here is the link. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/got-jiggy-with-it-4l80e-behind-455-bbb.302742/
Gear Vendors or 200-4R. Just look at what they do with the 200-4R behind the high horse Grand Nationals, plus they're light and parts are readily available.
I'm just short of 600 hp and 600 lbs ft torque in my 470 and the 2004-r works perfect. Mine was built by Vince Janis in Akron Oh. Built for well over 600 hp with billet internals it handles my engines power easily with no problems. Shifts rock hard runs smooth with no noise and with 28" tires 3.89 gears I'm running 2200 rpm at 65 mph and can drop it to 2000 rpm by locking up my converter built by JW at TSP. It easily fits in any Buick application because of its size. Good luck. Roger. On The Eighth Day God Created Buick
I like my 200-4R because it is as close to a drop in as possible. The TV cable bracket is available that bolts on the back of the two carb studs. I swapped an 8.5 rear at the same time and used an 8.5 turbo 350 drive shaft without modification. It bolts to the block, the speedo works as is (gearing may need adjusting) and the rear mount is not overly complicated to get the cross member in the turbo 400 holes. Shiftworks makes a console shifter plate, trans mounted shift arm, pan bracket that works with their cable that will mount to the stock shifter. It allow P-R-N-4-3-2-1 without issue. You will have to modify a neutral start switch to get it to work properly but that's about the only futzing you will have to do. I swapped one built locally by a racer with experience and it is pretty awesome. My 3.73 rear gear launches like 4.10s and cruises like 2.56. With a 2800-ish stall, the lock up torque converter drops another about another 300 RPM and feels like a 5th gear.
