Transmission questions

[Norrisboy79]

Hi I recently bought my 81 cutlass. I have a generation 6 502 I'm planing on putting in this car with a 400turbo transmission woundering if anyone has advice for what I should have done to the transmission when I go to have it rebuilt trans brake no trans brake? Manual valve body or just grind the governor down? Any input will help thanks

 

[Poncho61]

Whats the plans for the car. Street? Track? Both? Its been a few years since I ran a manual valve body in a street driven car, for a reason. Its kinda a pain sometimes. Since then I've decided if I really wanna shift all the time, I convert to a manual transmission instead of the automatic.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

I use a shift kit from B&M that lets you hold out any gear you want as long as you want. If you put it in 1st it will stay in 1st until you shift it but if you put it in Drive it will operate like a normal automatic trans would. IMO this is the way to go kinda like the old Hurst his/hers dual gate shifters.

 

[lilbowtie]

There is a book out by Ron Sessions - How to work with and modify the turbo 400 trans - I am not a trans man but with this book I have built 8 400's - 3 that were
trans brake. There are many mods to do depending on what you want to do with your trans.

 

[Norrisboy79]

I'm defiantly wanting to street the car and street race the car It may never see the track Im wanting my transmission to hold up to the power if the 502 it should be right at or close to 600hp I think if rather foot brake than trans brake more challenging that's what my plans are. Ill look into the shift kits I didn't know that would make the diffrence for it shifting loke that I just know I want to be able to run the gear out.

 

[thepcsurgeon]

83montess has the right combo. But the transmission will need some beefy sprags. My th400 behind a zz502 which is making hp a little north of your projection. I already rolled the intermediary sprague before I clocked 300 miles on the transmission. I have the B&M race transmission with the manual reverse valve body and Trans brake ( not connected), 3000 stall tq. Although it is bad *ss, the best of both worlds is better. IMO.
Ps. I still love the manual shift with the hammer down. Running those gears out= serious acceleration.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

83montess has the right combo. But the transmission will need some beefy sprags. My th400 behind a zz502 which is making hp a little north of your projection. I already rolled the intermediary sprague before I clocked 300 miles on the transmission. I have the B&M race transmission with the manual reverse valve body and Trans brake ( not connected), 3000 stall tq. Although it is bad *ss, the best of both worlds is better. IMO.
Ps. I still love the manual shift with the hammer down. Running those gears out= serious acceleration.

Not trying to hijack the thread here but what kind of power are you at with that 502? Im trying to determine how long my TH400 will last in front of my 496 stroker build.

 

[thepcsurgeon]

611+ to the crank. (the + comes from a custom BG carb bench flowing 1020) Up to 300 shot nitrous available (never used, but soon that will change). Going to the Dyno in the spring for some actual numbers and final tuning.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

611+ to the crank. (the + comes from a custom BG carb bench flowing 1020) Up to 300 shot nitrous available (never used, but soon that will change). Going to the Dyno in the spring for some actual numbers and final tuning.

Nice! Im hoping my trans lives since I will have a considerable amount less than you

 

[lilbowtie]

A trans brake will cost you north of $400.00 plus what ever else you do to the trans. I wouldn't want one for a street car because it is full manual and most trans brakes you have to neutral the car and use the brake for reverse. There is a lot of mods you can do but upgrading to a 32 sprag unit is a must. I haven't lost a 400 yet and we beat on it every weekend running the point chase.