Its been a while, and the bird has been full of projects to where nothing has gone simple,easy, or cheap. but its now more of a personal mission to get this ready to go at some point. let me lay out a couple of things and hopefully some of you heavy hitter out there can steer me in the right direction....
i have a 200-4r tranny that has been built well with a nice stall. i am running into issue after issue with the installation of this and i a, just about ready to loose. it. i know a few of you out there have them in your bird, or at least know enough to help me guide me through this. here are the issues i am having...
1. orginal powerglide that has a 350 in it now. i have bought the detent and all the switch over pieces, tv cable, etc..i have read on some places that you have to move the crossmember back, and some places you dont. i know that the set up in it now will not support this, but i also know that there is no possible way i can slide it back 6.5 inches like i have read. there simply is not that much from rail left to go that far back. http://www.transmissioncenter.net/raptor_x_crossmember.htm i went to the above link and saw this company offers a f-body crossmember that looks like a big U but i am not sure if this will work. can someone take a peek and share your thoughts.
2. taking the old tranny out. i have a convertible 68 with ac. headers, ignition system. ac system is mostly taken out, only the suitcase remains. for the life of me, i can not see a way to get to 3 of the bolts on the tranny without unbolting the motor and sliding it up some to get to the bolts. has anyone ran into this issue? am i right to think that is the way that i have to go?
i know this is a lot ot throw out there, but i really appreciate any halp anyone has to give. you all have been kind to me in the past, so i am sure if anyone out there has knowledge than i am sure i wll be contacted. thanks again.
The "sliding the crossmember back" idea works for A-bodies like GTO's they have two sets of holes in the frame rails for the same crossmember to be used on TH400's and ST300's. Firebirds have only one place to mount the crossmember. What you need is a crossmember that's intended for a TH400. This crossmember will mount to the car in the same place, but the transmission mount will be further back. Maybe that's the U-shape you describe.
I reached all of the transmission bolts from under the car. For the ones that were a long reach, I used long extensions and a u-joint on my socket. Don't unbolt the engine from its mounts. You're not going to slide it anywhere. I don't have headers. I don't know if they're in your way. The A/C equipment is not in the way when you work from underneath.
Be careful using a Camaro crossmember. I think it is the Chevy small block that is mounted in the center of the car. If I am remebering correctly Chevy big block and Pontiac engines are mounted off-center, requiring different mounts. Maybe someone else remembers better than I do.
Yes, chevy engines mount further forward then Pontiac's.
I modified a th350 x-over for my 700r4. Set the engine/trans assembly in place and test fit x-over in place. Then mark where new holes needed to be drilled. Had to move it back. And may of reversed it and rewelded the trans mount bracket... Been 3-4 yrs.
Think 200-4r's mount further forward then 700's. Can you measure from the front lower case to the center of the mount? Maybe someone else can measure thier th350 length.
If I understand correctly, the 200 4R is the same length and spline as a TH350. They use the same drive shaft. The difference is that the 200 4R takes a TH400 transmission mount since it is located further back than the TH350.
