Had rear end rebuilt, now it's exposed transmission problems: Resolved!

[oldmansmonte]

I wouldn't be keen to swap valve bodies. When I swapped in the 200r4 and 3.73 rear into my car ( from an SS ) if shifted well but "factory" soft like the high mileage trans it was. I knew it was on borrowed time behind the 350. When I promptly cooked 2nd gear in the trans from the SS I left it in the car so I could limp it around. I had a spare trans from a friends 442 ( he went stick ) and had that build up. To be fair we put a healthy bunch of parts in it during the rebuild. And the trans tech spent a lot of time with the steels and friction disks checking the clutch pack with an air line until he got the right "feel" that he was looking for. When we put that rebuilt trans from the 442 in my car I found the shifts were happening sooner and much much firmer than the trans from the SS. Adjustment of the TV cable would either make the trans shift sooner or on the other end if we set it to delay the shifts they were too harsh. Trying to remedy the issue we swapped the VB from the SS into the 442 trans and it made the issues even worse. In the end we monkied with the governor to get it better ( see link below ). It still feels like it shifts too soon at part throttle but holds to just shy of 6k when you get into it so I am happy. But if I did it over again I would have rebuild the trans from the SS to begin with.
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/200r4-mod-info.7116/

That what I was thinking. I'm afraid if I take the VB from the SS and stick it in my current transmission I'll have a real Frankenstein transmission and if it doesn't work right no one will be able to help me. I thinking as an option, It might be cheapest and easiest if I switch the rear end to 3:23's(tallest gear the series 3 carrier I now have can handle). Yeah I'll have just wasted money on brand new 3:73's, but maybe I can sell them and make a few bucks back.

 

[axisg]

Its a PIA to drop the pan but I think I would try swapping out the governor before I would swap the rear gears. FWIW we put the GN governor in mine as a starting point and still had to take some weight off. Guy was a real whiz and did performance transmissions in the old neighborhood for 20+ years but the 200r4 seemed to stump him a little. I recall it was 6 or 7 Saturdays over the course of 2 months in the summer I would be at the trans shop for 530 am to try again. By the 3rd time we got to messing with the Governor I was happy with the WOT and sick of going to the trans shop 😉 Being he was a Jehovahs convert didn't make it any easier 🙂

Seems there is a youtube vid for everything now LOL. Its not very hard to get to

 

[oldmansmonte]

Its a PIA to drop the pan but I think I would try swapping out the governor before I would swap the rear gears. FWIW we put the GN governor in mine as a starting point and still had to take some weight off. Guy was a real whiz and did performance transmissions in the old neighborhood for 20+ years but the 200r4 seemed to stump him a little. I recall it was 6 or 7 Saturdays over the course of 2 months in the summer I would be at the trans shop for 530 am to try again. By the 3rd time we got to messing with the Governor I was happy with the WOT and sick of going to the trans shop 😉 Being he was a Jehovahs convert didn't make it any easier 🙂

Seems there is a youtube vid for everything now LOL. Its not very hard to get to

Yeah when I get my hands on that friend of a friends old 2004r I might just try the gov swap first. Couldn't hurt right?

 

[el camino ss 84]

On my 2004r it locks up in 4th at 55mph know matter what and it has the governor is set to 5500 rpm. It did this with 3:08 gears should do the same with 3:42 gear's.

 

[oldmansmonte]

On my 2004r it locks up in 4th at 55mph know matter what and it has the governor is set to 5500 rpm. It did this with 3:08 gears should do the same with 3:42 gear's.

I had 2.41's and jumped to 3:73's. It's a big jump.

 

[L67ss]

Have you changed the speedo drive cables to match?

 

[axisg]

This thread popped up when I logged in. Decent read

https://gbodyforum.com/threads/200r4-governor.17468/

I am still interested in how you like the new rear setup ( once you get it rolling ). I priced out the same Auburn rear setup you have listed and its going to cost me appx $1100 cdn just in parts ....

 

[oldmansmonte]

Have you changed the speedo drive cables to match?

Drive(on governor) and driven gears have been changed.

 

[oldmansmonte]

Update: With the bowtie kit the car is drive able and feels somewhat like a normal car. With the pressure gauge hooked up, Bowtie told me my pressures were good. Only problem I'm having is when I hit the accelerator I'm not getting a pressure rise off the line in through 1-2, 2-3. Also 2-3 is SLOPPY. Everything else seems ok. WOT shifts are still very early, but that obviously relates to the Gov/VB still being the same. When I was on the phone with Bowtie they started having phone issues and we kept getting cut off. I'll get with them again on the pressures tomorrow.


Other random question. The guy who has the 2004r available, If I decide to buy the whole core off of him, how much is it worth? It has sat for many years unused.

 

[L67ss]

Dual pattern 2004r cores sell for $100-200 where I live