my mechanic tells me that if want to run another tranny, i should get a 700 instead of a 200 opinions please? Im not 100% sure if i was listening closely but i think he said i wouldnt have to run a lockup on it?

84 MC SS
310ci 3.42 rear gears
Computer delete
gonna be a daily driver

 

I would go with the 700r4 if it was my car..
We put 700r4 in the mail truck's they came with 180's

 

the 200 is usually considered the better of the 2(my brother and i dont agree with most on this). we run 700s(mine in my 80 with a 406, his behind a bbc in his camaro). it has a steep first gear, which with a motor like yours(i assume, small cubic inch, low torque) may be a benefit, for my car it makes launching the car cleanly with 3.73s difficult(with a street tire). also the drop from 1st to 2nd is absurd. they do sell a new planetary for the 700 to change the gearing in it, but its crazy expensive. to my knowledge you dont have to run a lockup on either. i dont run lock up on mine. if you run a 700 your probably going to have to have the drive shaft shortened or purchase a new one. if you run the 200 you can source everything from a junk yard. either way they both need to be beefed up to handle any serious power so its really more of a preference in gearing, and amount of effort you want to put in to it. the 200 would be the easier of the two to swap in, has closer gearing ratios, and its overdrive ratio is better. the 700s are also readily available, require more work, has wider gear ratios, but having the steeper gearing would make a under torqued car feel a lot peppier.

 

Thank you guys. Its not going to be a race car atleast at this point. I want the OD for mileage reasons but not having to run a lock-up is very smiled upon as well

 

if thats the case go for the 200. you would get better mileage with a lock up. the torque convertors are slightly more expensive and you could run it on a toggle switch. ive never done it, but have a buddy with a 79 that runs a lock up convertor in his 700 that way. you can find a lot of info on car crafts site on performance builds for them. also look into art carr since he builds some impressive ones, im sure he has a site with tons of info.

 

I've heard a lot more praise go to the 200 (from my personal experience I don't know why) but it would be 100 times easier to actually install in the car as far as crossmembers and driveshafts are concerned. You can use a stock 85-88 crossmember from a junkyard. I did the exact opposite of what you're trying to do. I had the stock 200 4r in my monte but got a newly rebuilt TH350 on a trade that came out of a 3/4 ton truck. We had to buy a crossmember from an 81 model and have the driveshaft shortened 3 inches to fit the 350 turbo in my car (an 87). My car got pretty good gas mileage when it had the stock 305/200 setup, it just didn't last very long since the car already had 226k miles on it when I got it. We put a 350 out of a Silverado on the front of that 350 turbo and I love it. So the point I'm trying to make is it's funny you want to swap your TH350 out when so many people are trying to switch over to the set-up you already have. I have a 3.73 rear gear and still get 15-18 mpg (which is better than my v6 explorer). It runs 2000 rpms at 55 mph and since we live in the sticks I don't hit the interstate much but it don't rev out real bad at 70 mph, about 2900 rpms. To get back on subject, I would say if you want to run a GM overdrive transmission, 200 or 700, get a new/rebuilt one. Used ones are usually junk, ran forever with wrong tv cable tension and any other problem you could think of. Don't forget about that when you go to hook a 200 or 700 up. In my experience, improper TV cable tension has ruined many of these trannys so make sure you adjust it right and have the right stud on your throttle linkage to run your tv cable. You can just leave it unhooked on a th350 but a overdrive won't even upshift without it. Just a few thoughts on your situation, hope it helps.

 

I had a 1986 monte carlo ss had to get the transmission rebuild, stay with the 200. I had the best parts put in it, shift kit, trans cooler, paid about $2100 was a lot. But i think the max HP build for the 200 trans. was around 475hp. Yes you can get about 650HP from a rebuild 700 trans. thats putting in the best parts. but you will need to shorten the drive shaft.

 

FYI - This thread was in the "how to" section and did not relate to a "how to". For all following, I've moved it to a more appropriate location.

 

@vwmontels thank you for the response. I see you said you were getting 15-18mpg but are you running the computer b/c mines has been ripped out already? its gonna be my DD so i dont plan on running high HP yet. Also i wouldnt mind too much about the th350 and rpms but i live in Austin and there are 2 highways(IH-35 & HWY 79) running through my city.

 

Yeah all that's left of my monte's computer is a faint memory. I had to buy a HEI distributor (87-88 has a computer controlled distributor) and a non-computer controlled carburetor. I picked up a used holley spreadbore 650 double pumper and rebuilt it. We put it on in place of that CCC Quadrajet and the car gets killer gas mileage and runs pretty good too, with stock jetting. What kind of carb are you running?