ready to go with 200r4 (BRF CODE)...but

Got really lucky and found a trani fr a 87 grand national with TC. Trani shop did the rebuild, left my car on Monday, thought it would be all done...but I got the old "drop by the shop, we have some issues/challenges we need to discuss.

1. you will have to relocate your e brake.
2. we will have some issues around your exhaust system
3. are you sure you want this in your car? that car is in great shape, just want to check with your before we start butchering it (drilling into frame to relocate the cross member)!

Either he is a little nervous about doing this swap. (which I doubt, had great references and has been around for while)...either he has a buddy who wants the buy the GN trani. Or mabe the fellow is just being sincere and would not do this if it was his car. Guess I will have a better idea tomorrow. Anyone run into the ebrake issue before? Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Only word of advice I have for you is to make sure the tranny shop reused the OEM valve body. Many shops swap them out not realizing that it is what makes the GN tranny so desirable. Also they are hard to find. When you do its about $500! So if they did not put it back see if they still have it and grab it!
I've driven a 67 lark (340) with the 200R...its a nice upgrade!

- Bill

 

well he is right you will have to relocate the e brake but it can be done will a couple of u clamps and a couple of holes drilled in the crossmember to accept them( if your hndy at all tell him that you will handle that////////as for the exhaust yes you may have to make an adjustment if it hits mine did and yes you will have to move the trans crossmemberto the rear and drill 4 new holes (that is the easiest of al if he seams to think it is a difficult job FIND a diffenent guy call me if you want at 708 638 4668 and i cantalk you thru it later pete

 

I have one in my car and I did NOT have to re-drill for the crossmember. I do have a full exhaust with x-pipe and never had to touch that either. Nor do I remember having to mess with the emergency brake cables.

I did have to fab up a bracket to move the linkage brace closer to the trans, but that was it.

 

I agree with the above.

Maybe he is very picky, and so he treats his customers that way too. He wants to make sure you will be OK with the necessary changes, when some people may gasp at drilling a couple of holes.

A stock BRF would likely handle anything any 340 could dish out. Consider making him take the pan off and verify that you still have your precious BRF valve-body there before he puts it in the car.

 

You didn't have to deal with the e-brake/crossmember issues because you were dealing with a TH400 set up to begin with. Crossmember location stays the same on a th400 to 200 swap, but it moves back on a ST300 to 200 swap.

 

This is true. My car originally had a 455/th400 setup. Sorry.

 

Thanks guys, this guy is reliable, he came highly recomended by the local GN club members. I printed off a copy of the swap that appeared on one of our threads that was scanned from an article that featured a 2004r swap into a 67 buick special. My only missing piece is the cross member, will I have to modify? In this article they used a Chevelle cross member with some modifications...I hade never heard of cross member issues till I read that article... I have been able to source all required parts (BM lock up kit was available locally as well as required brackets), except cross member...by the way thanks for chiming in! Buick owners are a stand up crowd...Cheers!!

 

I tried to reply to the email you sent me, but it kept "bouncing back"... Anyway:
The tranny cross member has to be moved back about 3 inches. There is
an "S" or "J" hook (which supports/guides part of the emergency brake
cable) that is hooked to the tranny crossmember as well, so there was
some slight modification to the positioning of the emergency brake cable, just to make sure everything clears what it needs to clear. I'm sure you could
fabricate a bracket/hook or 2, but all I used was a couple of
"zip-ties" and I haven't had any problems since...Really it wasn't an
issue...

 

I used the stock crossmember, but notched it for extra pan clearance or pan bolt access (It's been about 5-years now, so a little fuzzy). I don't think it was necessary for a stock pan, but you might mock it up and have a look.

 

What did you guys do for TCC? That is the bigest hangup I have in putting this on my 64 Skylark. I don't know how to connect the TCC linkage to the Rochester 4GC acarb and have it work right.

 

Thanks, I meant TV cable, thanks for the links as well.

 

I made my own brackets. Gary had very favorable things to say about the bowtie overdrives guys. (Not so glowing a report for the Real Art Carr guys)

 

Thanks for the links Larry.

I just ordered the Carter AFB/Edelbrock TV cable kit from Bowtie Overdrive! I'll be sure to post my results when my swap is complete.

'67 cars should have the rear frame holes already drilled for the TH-400, should they not? I don't think my '66 does, but I haven't looked under there yet.

Brian

 

does the site have any thing for the 2 barrel? id look but i dont even know what the carbs real name is. if they dont have one waht would be the best option? id like to go for a four barrel but iv had bad luck finding a manifold.

 

just installed a 200r4 in my 66 skylark 340 4v, had to move th crossmember back a litle bit and drill new holes after measuring it even on frame members, also the pan is hard to remove but can be done with a little turn on each side with a box wrench of different length , made my own tv bracket out of 2 off another cars, I have a 27" tire height and at 55 in lock up with 3.90 rear my tach is at 1900 rpm which is about 1/2 of my st300 only problem I am having is my lock up is coming on early in 3rd gear and 4th but I installed my own lock up kit that I can tweek.

 

Cool, your set up is exactly what mine will be. I'm running a 235/60-15 tire though, which I think is 26" if I remember right. What tire are you running?

As for your lockup question, not sure on that. I ordered the lockup kit from bowtie overdrive on Friday (the brake light switch kit) and it only locks up in 4th. My trans is not installed yet, maybe another couple weeks and I'll have a report on my set up.

So what did the swap (tranny and gears) do for performance of the car compared to stock? I'm pretty disapointed with my cars stock performance. A car with 375 ft/lbs should break the tires loose, and mine will not do it. Just doesn't have the gearing. What would you do differently, if anything?

Thanks,

Brian

 

Just an update. Swap went well. I was too busy so had that trani guy rebuild and swap. After I received the bill I just about wish I had done it myself. Anyhow, I used that B&M lock up kit, works like a dream. My trani guy should have kept my car for another day for set up. Shift point seem off etc...I am off this week so I will go to the shop and we will do the fine tuning together (may even learn a thing or two). I have 3.23 gears with 27 inch tires, am running a 300 4bbl, 600cfm carb, mild cam and duals, big difference in performance but I am not acheiving full potential yet due to 1st gear shifting too early and carb choking up on me.