I am going to build a old 350 4 bolt main out of a early 80s suburban. Going to take the block to a machine shop and have dipped,checked,honed(maybe punch 30 over if needed) not sure on that, zero decked,new freeze plug, and cam bearings. Going with all new upgraded internals from northerautoparts. Going to run 1999 vortec 350 heads with upgraded springs and a better cam. Here is a link to pretty much what I want to do https://answers.yahoo.com/question/inde ... 836AAk4lWu. The best answer. Anyways I want your thoughts and will be backing this up with a 2004r built to handle this. I am going to build the engine myself. I am looking a either having a pro build the transmission for about 2k or buying the jegs 200r4. I have a 2004r but have never dived into a transmission myself. I also haven't heard anything about the jegs unit. As far as the reared I would love to find an 8.5 out or a gn or something but if not I guess I will go the for 9 direction. It's just not cheap. I appreciate all advice.
Your thoughts on build and advice
- Thread starter Redline007
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Sound like a great build. One thing you might think of is to get a later 880 or some 638 blocks that are set up for the hyd. roller cam. Will make more power then the flat tapped but will cost a little more for the cam. Yes its very easy to make around 400HP with the vortec heads and a little planning on the internals and cam.
I run a 200R4 in my monte Carlo. These are finicky transmissions that initially got a bad rap in the hot rod community because they are tough to work on and easy for burn up if not setup properly. Years ago many guys would switch to a 7004r or turbo 350 under the belief they were a better transmission, but the truth is the 200R4 is a great transmission. I just has to be setup by someone experienced. Don't dive into this bad boy yourself and get it done by someone with real experience with these. The shop I used http://www.competitiontransmission.com/ did a killer job. Talking to the owner you could tell he was more than comfortable working on these. He has about 8 techs but he insisted he work on this one himself because they don't see that many come through. If you live anywhere in the Northeast, consider this guy. Look at his website, he builds everything. Gets trannies shipped in from Finland to be worked on.
Yeah after research I really want to go with a built 2004r. I like the gear ratio and overdrive. I'm really torn on the rearend part of the build. Not sure thebest route and don't want to break the bank. I doubt I will have much luck with a gn rear. I live in central tx. I was thinking of having the trannydone at century transmission down in Houston. Check their site and see what you think.
Redline007 said:
I checked the site out, they look like the real deal. I'd be comfortable going there. Price is right too.
Summit sells CNC'd blocks that. with shipping, may be cheaper than your machine shop, if you plan to assemble the short block yourself. If you go this route, I suggest you look at a one-piece. The bellhousing and accessory bolts patterns are identical, but you gain a less leaky rear main seal. Just need to use the correct one-piece flexplate.
Before building a 2oo4r see if you can find one from an early monte carlo ss. One time I scored one for just a few hundred dollars and it was ready to go w/ low miles stock. The ss version is just the same thing but with a few small improvements that should be able to handle about 400hp stock w/o even rebuild. Of course the likelihood of scoring one like I did is not very high but it could save you lots of money if you were able to find one...
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