Thm 700R4

[capriceowns]

How much can the 700R4 take power and torque wise?

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by capriceowns

How much can the 700R4 take power and torque wise?

Stock, a V8 transmission will take about 200-300 HP and about 350 ft.lb. torque ... a V6 transmission will take about 150-200 HP and maybe 250-300 ft.lb. torque.

[capriceowns]

Originally Posted by silicon212

Stock, a V8 transmission will take about 200-300 HP and about 350 ft.lb. torque ... a V6 transmission will take about 150-200 HP and maybe 250-300 ft.lb. torque.

so it wouldnt do good behing my 355 or 383(havent decided yet, money is a issue)?ill probably be making a little above 300 maybe 320.

Should I spring for a dif trans, or can mine be beffed up?

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by capriceowns

so it wouldnt do good behing my 355 or 383(havent decided yet, money is a issue)?ill probably be making a little above 300 maybe 320.

Should I spring for a dif trans, or can mine be beffed up?

Keep in mind what the car in my sig is - it has a factory stock 1986 TH700R4 in it, and it's doing just fine.

Just make sure there's at least 6 plates in the 3-4 clutch, put a good shift kit in it (not a B&M "shift improver kit" but something like a TransGo that fixes bugs), and since it's a heavy car (I'm assuming your Caprice), spend about $50-60 on an SPX/Filtran Beast sun shell (also sold by TCi) to replace the factory one. The newer GM 4L65E sun shell is just as good and might be cheaper.

FWIW, the transmission in my car now is out of an '86 Caprice Classic Brougham.

[capriceowns]

Originally Posted by silicon212

Keep in mind what the car in my sig is - it has a factory stock 1986 TH700R4 in it, and it's doing just fine.

Just make sure there's at least 6 plates in the 3-4 clutch, put a good shift kit in it (not a B&M "shift improver kit" but something like a TransGo that fixes bugs), and since it's a heavy car (I'm assuming your Caprice), spend about $50-60 on an SPX/Filtran Beast sun shell (also sold by TCi) to replace the factory one. The newer GM 4L65E sun shell is just as good and might be cheaper.

FWIW, the transmission in my car now is out of an '86 Caprice Classic Brougham.

yeah its for my caprice.

How can I make sure I have 6 3-4 clutch plates? Im going to have it rebuilt while im finishing the motor. Should I tell the guy to put that many in? im not taking it to a shop, we have a guy from national trans do the stuff for our shop, hes a cool guy. so its not gonna be hard to tell him to do some extra stuff.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by capriceowns

yeah its for my caprice.

How can I make sure I have 6 3-4 clutch plates? Im going to have it rebuilt while im finishing the motor. Should I tell the guy to put that many in? im not taking it to a shop, we have a guy from national trans do the stuff for our shop, hes a cool guy. so its not gonna be hard to tell him to do some extra stuff.

You can't just stack more plates in the clutch - if it has 4 or 5 plates, the clutch piston will have to be replaced with a thinner one in order to take advantage of the additional plates (actually to even let them fit). If you're going to go to that length, get the thin piston and use 8 plates for more power handling capability. This 3-4 clutch is the weakest clutch on these and definitely benefits from additional plates.

[capriceowns]

Sounds like I got some work to do on the trans :-p I wish I could rebuild it and save some money. instead of paying someone to do it.

And Silicon(or BB) how much power would you think it would take to twist or bend the frame on my caprice? I wouldnt be shooting for any power about 350hp and not much more in torque as a max, would that be enough to ruin the frame?

[96capricemgr]

The thing is so very few folks around the country are actually capable of building the 700R4/4L60E well so it gets a bad rap. When I put my ProBuilt Automatics street/strip 4L60E in 3 years ago I was at about 330hp, today I am up to about 480fwhp running low 12s and launching on slicks and it is still doing well. I daily drive the thing, light towing etc. I have more miles and time on this one behind MUCH more power than I did a local build by a reputable shop which only lasted 16 months behind 220-330hp(large range is due to modifications during that time).

With the full frame no worries about power hurting anything till you get truely wild, IMO 350hp is barely warm far from wild.

[silicon212]

96 is right - it'd take about 800 lb. ft. at the crankshaft to twist that thing.