A couple of days ago while driving my 53 I decided to hammer it through the gears.. Good solid shifts but at about 4 grand it started to slip in third I let off immediately. Stopped and started over normal driving and it shifted just fine. I'm thinking maybe since I have a stock pan I might have pulled the fluid away from the pick up. Fluid still looks good, nice and clear pink no odor hopefully I got off lucky? Any ideas from the tranny people? Bob H.
Bob I hate tp tell you my experience but, if it was mine i'd have pulled it out allready. They don't heal themselves. T400 experience. Never did a 200. But you never know, try cruising and getting into it and see what happens.
I know what you mean about them not healing themselves. I'm going to pull it but will baby it until my project is finished. I was thinking if it was a matter of losing pressure and nothing else it might be OK If I stay out of it. Thanks for the reply. Bob H.
Bob, What's the rest of the history of the trans? Who built it? Does it have any billet components and is it dual fed? I build the 200-4Rs pretty often and the importance of a deep pan can't be overstated on them. TH400 is a different beast. My Chevelle would lose pressure on the 2-3 shift with the 200-4R (427, mid 12 second car). I had already hurt the direct clutches and after a deep pan install the 3rd gear problems went away. When I did get into it to freshen it, you could see the heat from the pre-deep pan experiences on the clutches steels. After the deep pan and even with hurt clutches it would break traction going into 3rd. So I wouldn't pull it yet since the fluid smells OK, just run it for now. I have a new Art Carr deep aluminum pan if you want one, I can sell it cheaper than you can buy one from anybody else. email me jakeshoe@yahoo.com That said, the REAL fix for the 200-4R is to dual feed the directs BUT, you must use the billet forward drum to do so, it the stock piece will snap on the first WOT 2-3 shift. I would recommend having someone very familiar with 200-4Rs do the build if you decide to go that way. There are some tricks to making the dual feed work right with the 200-4R that only a hal;f a dozen guys really know.
