Who is a reputable transmission vendors for the 200r4? I was thinking about using transmission depot. Any suggestions are welcome. The transmission needs to live behind an olds 455
Transmission vendors
- Thread starter 90hurst/oldsguy
- Start date
There a bunch of guys that would probably be better at building a 2004r.
Janis Transmissions
Dave Husek
Extreme Automatics
Janis Transmissions
Dave Husek
Extreme Automatics
Dave Husek actually manufactures some of the hard parts needed to build them. All 3 are very knowledgeable. The best builders come out of the Turbo Buick community as the turbo 6 is more than capable of putting a hurting on transmissions.
2004r's are a cult. I'd agree, you need to go to a 2004r specialist. It's not a th400 or 4l60e where everyone down the street has the parts and knowledge to build one.
I recently rebuilt a 2004r for my turbo Buick setup. I had a CA valve body (non performance) core. I went through Husek. He wouldn't use the CA valve body for my turbo Buick setup so I sent him my CA valve body and he put some parts into a core BRF valve body he had and sent it back to me. I also have typically cut down v8 governors to look like BRF stuff and he wouldn't use that so I had to buy a BRF governor from him.
I spent $2000 getting mine to hold ~500hp doing mostly everything myself. Husek set up my valve body with his personal calibration. For what it's worth it's still not in the car and I am working on putting it now. It might not work IDK. I had about $1000 in shipping, wear parts and seals and about $1000 in upgrade parts like a hardened forward drum, 3 friction overdrive carrier, pump pressure boost valves, BRF valve body and governor.
If you have a performance core to start with you can save $500-$1000. If I had a BRF GN core I might have had $1000 in parts. Performance cores don't exist around here so I had to piece a performance unit together.
Also factor in $650+ for a torque converter. Its a 27 spline unit so uncommon and is $200+ more than a typical turbo spline or 60e unit. PTC was $650-700 for a typical one, Hughes was $725. I splurged a bit on a $900 FTI as it's a billet front cover with anti balloon plate and free restalls for a year. With a 455 unless it's stock, you aren't going to be in the entry level torque converter area. I felt like the $200 additional cost got you a lot of good features, service, warranty and capability that the $650-725 didn't offer. If you can get a sub $500 converter builder that is OK doing something for 450 HP+ go for it, but I didn't want to screw with blowing up a fin and sending shrapnel through a $2000 parts trans.
Here's my synopsis:
CK Performance is probably the best priced but has poor customer service, stuff is not in stock, they don't answer the phone, don't provide updates, charge you and don't ship stuff out
Husek is expensive but he sources everything himself, answers the phone, is very helpful and loves to talk
No experience with Janis or Extreme Automatics.
None of them were close locally so I went Husek because he was willing to supply me parts and advice.
Honestly after going through it I'd recommend a $500 known working salvage yard 4l80e with 60% of a TransGo HD2 kit, an external controller and an adapter plate or cut the bell housing off and put a BOP one on. Especially for a torquey BBO
I recently rebuilt a 2004r for my turbo Buick setup. I had a CA valve body (non performance) core. I went through Husek. He wouldn't use the CA valve body for my turbo Buick setup so I sent him my CA valve body and he put some parts into a core BRF valve body he had and sent it back to me. I also have typically cut down v8 governors to look like BRF stuff and he wouldn't use that so I had to buy a BRF governor from him.
I spent $2000 getting mine to hold ~500hp doing mostly everything myself. Husek set up my valve body with his personal calibration. For what it's worth it's still not in the car and I am working on putting it now. It might not work IDK. I had about $1000 in shipping, wear parts and seals and about $1000 in upgrade parts like a hardened forward drum, 3 friction overdrive carrier, pump pressure boost valves, BRF valve body and governor.
If you have a performance core to start with you can save $500-$1000. If I had a BRF GN core I might have had $1000 in parts. Performance cores don't exist around here so I had to piece a performance unit together.
Also factor in $650+ for a torque converter. Its a 27 spline unit so uncommon and is $200+ more than a typical turbo spline or 60e unit. PTC was $650-700 for a typical one, Hughes was $725. I splurged a bit on a $900 FTI as it's a billet front cover with anti balloon plate and free restalls for a year. With a 455 unless it's stock, you aren't going to be in the entry level torque converter area. I felt like the $200 additional cost got you a lot of good features, service, warranty and capability that the $650-725 didn't offer. If you can get a sub $500 converter builder that is OK doing something for 450 HP+ go for it, but I didn't want to screw with blowing up a fin and sending shrapnel through a $2000 parts trans.
Here's my synopsis:
CK Performance is probably the best priced but has poor customer service, stuff is not in stock, they don't answer the phone, don't provide updates, charge you and don't ship stuff out
Husek is expensive but he sources everything himself, answers the phone, is very helpful and loves to talk
No experience with Janis or Extreme Automatics.
None of them were close locally so I went Husek because he was willing to supply me parts and advice.
Honestly after going through it I'd recommend a $500 known working salvage yard 4l80e with 60% of a TransGo HD2 kit, an external controller and an adapter plate or cut the bell housing off and put a BOP one on. Especially for a torquey BBO
This is in 84 Hurst but the the trans code. I have is KZF code. Also I'm out of the bootheel of Missouri,so nothing is real close in this area and no known reputable transmission builders for the 200r4
The KZF is one of the good cores to start with. It's considered a performance calibration. Any good performance torque converter is going to be at least a grand regardless of transmission type. You need rmto decide if you want to retain the lock up or go non lock up. Non lock ups typically et quicker. PTC is the converter of choice with a lot of the Turbo Buick guys.
I used Extreme Automatics in my last build and was very happy I did. https://extremeautomatics.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=79
Another is BowTies Overdrives.
Bowtie Overdrives
Stainless steel cooling lines for 700R4, 2004R, TH400, TH350 and Power Glide transmissions. Install in 15 minutes. Cheap and Easy to do!
www.bowtieoverdrives.com
KZF doesn't use a hammer to shift from 1-2 like the OZ that came in the 83 and 84 H/O and 85 442, but it is one of the better units to start with, similar to the CZFs and BRFs and earlier BR GN and CZ Monte SS 200-4Rs. When new, the OZ's were very brutal 1-2 shifts. It almost felt like you were getting rear-ended with another car. After a while, they settled down a bit, but when new? Yikes.
86 and 87 KZFs got softer calibrations for that 1-2 shift. Don't let anyone try to tell you KZFs came in the H/Os, because they were only OZs. 85 442 was a carry-over drivetrain exactly as the 84 H/O so that's why it got the OZ.
Stock 305s and turbo 231s and 307s wouldn't instantly kill a 200-4R, so they were plenty for their day and power range. They did cheap out on some engineering. But putting them behind high HP engines is probably not the greatest idea. You can bullet-proof them with lots of $$$ and a good builder, but with other options out there that are sturdier out of the gate, why would you?
86 and 87 KZFs got softer calibrations for that 1-2 shift. Don't let anyone try to tell you KZFs came in the H/Os, because they were only OZs. 85 442 was a carry-over drivetrain exactly as the 84 H/O so that's why it got the OZ.
Stock 305s and turbo 231s and 307s wouldn't instantly kill a 200-4R, so they were plenty for their day and power range. They did cheap out on some engineering. But putting them behind high HP engines is probably not the greatest idea. You can bullet-proof them with lots of $$$ and a good builder, but with other options out there that are sturdier out of the gate, why would you?
Similar threads
