Since I am a newby at this thing, I am asking for your advice. What changes am I looking at when using an '87 GN tranny behind a carburated '70 455? Snowbound made mention of changing some wiring & a pressure valve when he did his. I have a GN tranny with 100k+ miles on it located but have not gotten it yet. Besides doing a general freshening before using it, what all should I be looking at doing to it? Stock rebuild? Shift kit? Etc.? This tranny will be used behind the 455 mentioned above & installed in my Willys panel truck. The general usage will be for cruising, some long trips & possibly an occasional romp thru the gears (I want to embaress a couple Chevies :grin: ). The finished curb weight should be 33-3500# (2 people & luggage about 37-3900#), not sure about rear ratio (I'm guessing a 70mph road speed around 2000rpm) & about 28-29" tall rear tires. Any suggestions, recommendations or past history experiences about a similar set-up would be most welcome. Thanks.......Thom
I use the 200 4r with my 350. I had my guy set it up so I can lock up the torque convertor with a switch in the car that is all you will need. The torque convertor was more money because of the lockup feature. i have the ability to lock it up in 3rd or 4 the gear. i run a 373 gear and my highway speed is about 2-2200 rpm at 65 to 70 mph. My old 350 trans it was 3000 rpm at 60-65 mph. Now if I am going 3000 rpm I am doing 90. If you have a basic stock engine you should be ok with just a good rebuild and a shift kit. If you are modified with the 455 you may need a billet drum. That was a 600$$ part alone. I did not get this part and I am ok so far. i have run 11.90 with nitrous and the trans builder knew this when I had it built. I used Janis Transmission in Akron Ohio. He is a very good builder. He specializes in race transmissions. His pricing is good also. The important part of these is to get the kickdown cable set up correctly. check out this site for more info on that. www.tvmadeez.com/article/index.php
There is more than one way to do this. All you really need is a method for locking the converter. There are kits available to do this; although after doing it once I don't think a kit is really needed. All you need is a method to energize the lockup solenoid in 4th gear and disconnect it when you hit the brakes. You can wire it to a manual switch if you want or you can wire it to the pressure switch inside the transmission and then have a relay cutout wired to your brake lights and it will work automatically.
I installed one in my car. Here's the thread with pics of just about everything: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=68307
