Technical Best bang for the buck automatic transmissions -Ford,Chevy, etc.

I like having the Hurst Autostick I bolted to a Turbo 400 or a Turbo 350..

 

What engine is in it now, are you also going to do an engine swap also?

 

I have also used the power glides in the past but in a hot rod or custom out on the interstate I keep waiting for that third gear change, they always seem to be stuck in lower gear, that's why I like the 350. HRP

 

That's fine but what does it have to do with the question?

 

I used an aluminum 'glide in my F100 at first, behind an LT1. After 10 years of towing boats, hauling Hemis, and many miles, the ol' PG slipped and let go 1 block from my shop...I hopped out at 15 MPH, pushed it into the front door, and let it sit.
2 hours later, jacked it up and replaced it with a '67 350 Turbo Hydro, same driveline, just a linkage change and good to go. 2 engine changes and many miles later (Bonneville twice, L.A. 20+ times, 400 miles one way)
Slipped a little in reverse last year, (had a trans leak, fixed the leak and topped it off...Perfect again.
My wife says it needs a stick...she hates automatics...but she agrees it's a 'good one'.

 

I always just thought of it as stuck in p***ing gear....

 

In a GM car, I’ve burned up a few 700r4’s & beat on a bunch of TH350’s & 400’s & never broke one.......


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For a GM trans a TH350 is the best for the money in most early rod applications. You can always add on one of those bolt on overdrives if you need another gear on the highway as most of the more modern GM transmissions dont have provisions for speedos and more wiring to make them shift.

 

Hey Danny, I have to ask again. What engine are you running or do you have plans to do an engine swap?

So say you want to run a 289, but a TH 350 saves 100 bucks on a rebuild, factor in the cost to adapt it. So say you have a banger, then I’d look for the smallest power robbing trans out there. Might be a ‘78-foreign thing. Then factor cost to adapt it.

if I had. Ford and wanted just a cruiser, C4, GM and wanted just a cruiser TH 350. Cost to rebuild either shouldn’t be too much difference, but to adapt one to the other would be outweigh any savings.

If your car has a 4 cyl stock engine, I’d be looking at adapting some thing from the 70’s , like Pinto or Vega auto. But that can’t be cheap?

like squirrel said, depends on the application, which is not just for street or racing.

 

Can bad mouth autos but this is where they came from which is a pretty fair endor*****t.


I like the 200R4 4sp overdrives for GMs. Buick Grand Nationals ran them so not slouches. Not ***y (which means not expensive ) 'cause they didn't come in Corvettes but have better gear ratios than 7004Rs and universal bellhousing bolt patterns.

 

I have a 327 under the work bench and a power glide, but I'm thinking along the lines of a 350 turbo transmission for my next project. HRP

 

Talking Powerglides, how short is the shortest factory setup for a Chevy? And what is it from?

 

Well, the TH350 or PG is the answer to your question...based on the ***le of the post. If I told you a Subaru ****** could handle the power and only cost 250 bucks to rebuild, what would it cost to adapt it to the SBC?

You have the PG, compare the cost of rebuilding it to buying/finding a TH350 and rebuilding it.

PG only has two gears, I know...but when in "high" it's still 1 to 1.

So in essence your ***le was a bit misleading right?

I mean how much extra would it cost me to mate a C4 to a Chevy, a TH350 to a 289, etc?

Bottom line is you should be asking what's the best expense - wise auto to run behind my 327.

Then next Q would be what plans are you thinking of for the 327? Big build, refresh, etc.

I know you know all this stuff, I'm just trying to find some some common ground for you based on what you have.

I used to cruise my '62 El Camino, wore out 283 with a PG...I'd take an extra set of plugs band a wire brush with me when I went to Southern California and back. Spent a few times on the pull overs on the G****vine swapping plugs (and adding oil...mercy), but never gave the stock PG a concern. I never beat on it(even at the young age) but did overload it way to many times.

So you have a 327 and a PG...You're looking for a cruiser, have them both gone through and be done with it

 

Depending on who builds the transmission and outside of odd combinations like a Nail head Buick with a later transmission There common automatics that will bolt to the block without adapters that can be built for serious street use or strip use. Some may be less spendy to build and some more spendy.
The old 4 speed hydros are nifty but finding someone who can actually build one now may be a challenge. A friend of mine could build a torqueflite that would stand up to anything you could possibly throw at it but he is 80 now and long retired. He would be the one guy that I know could sort out 34 Larry's trans if he was still working on them.

 

700r4 for a chevy is a good choice, deep first and overdrive.. Yeah its more money but I like freeway driving. 350/400s dime a dozen, cheap to build and work pretty good all in all, just hate vacuum modulators....
Mopar... 727 is good for sure for big HP. 904 great little trans for SB mopars, A518 is the 727 overdrive basically, decent piece when built right.
Ford AOD are cheap to find, modest to rebuild, Just takes some money to make them hold anything more than 350 horse, c6 for big block, c4 for SB if you only want 3 gears.

Mopar and ford are mech linkage to control kick down and trans pressures, chevy modulator valves on their 3 speeds, and mech for 700r4.

All brands big boys. 727, 400, c6 require more hp to run due to mech. losses. So Sometimes bigger isn't always better, but it does give you a platform to build up from if your doing it that way.

My list of experiences with automatic transmissions in vehicles I've owned.
cast iron glide, paper weight but did the job behind a 283
nailhead powered, Dynaflow, MAjor pain slush box, STAY AWAY..... $$$$$
drag car, 460 cj ford, M***ively built C6 guaranteed to 1k HP running 800 on it with no failures.
31 tudor 440 power 727 built to handle 600 throwing 500 at it with no problems,
first car, ot lincoln AOD with some goodies, handled 350horse fine till it cracked the case on a shift.
My dads 58 ford AOD stock build behind a mild 302, Perfect combo
My 53 bel air had a 700r4 behind the 350, did great,
My 56 dodge has 904 behind a warmed up 318, still kicking ***, NEVER been into 1969 model.

 

I'm looking at a similar dilemma with my current project; I have a TH350 but like the idea of OD. I've been doing a lot of reading here on the HAMB and I'm getting the idea that the 200R4 is the best choice for OD instead of the 700R4. Lots of posts about the better internal gearing and a lower cost to build.

 

We all have different taste and the thread addresses that fact, in my case I dislike the power glide transmission because of the two gears, a aluminum power glide is great for drag racing but in my opinion for a driver hot rod or custom I will opt for that extra gear. HRP

 

It occurs to me that no one has mentioned the Mopar M6. It is perfect for bad knees.....
...sorry, just couldn't resist with all that new fangled stuff being talked about....
Now back to the regularly scheduled programme.

.

 

"Way back story" but not as far back as most. Power Glide story.
Low bucks n racing,with my way of closing the $ gap,was too come up with better if I could for ideas+ work not $.
I had a junkyard that would give me most any thing to use for my race car he had laying around,had his Jyard name on my race car fender but he did not give any $. Big pile of alum PG's to play with. Who know there were 3 def low gear sizes?
I started building a super LMMod,desided I'd try a PowerGlide =no one had them for 600HP on blacktop*{ there was a shop making PG for dirt racing. Winters had just put out a kit for there dirt PG},so I redesigned alum powerglide my way,not use TQ at all,just a 1/2 ball valve hooked up as a clutch pedal to control psi to tran,built clutch pack to 8 vs 6 stack stock,pump to 190 psi an bigger 1/2" line for low piston with my own valve body control. It failed 5 races in a row from def things I'd fix better design
each time. 6th race was a win. Was kicking *** top 5 for next 2 months. Tell the nite I was off BSing with a buddy across the pit from my racer,the call to go out to line up. I ran back to car running late,started up jammed it in "R"with too many revs{and 190psi+}! I blow the alum Power Glide, back 1/2 of case completely off the ******/super mess. So no racing for me that nite. Fix was drill bigger leak off hole in R piston,an try not to be stupid.
I ran my design PG for 4 years,a few hot dogs I was out running, tried too get TSI to build them PG race tran. But TSI only had a design for drit,on blacktop it burned up every time. I offered to sell TSI my design,but would not give me $ tell after they had one of my working Trans first< nope not going let them have design first before my $.
Soon as I stopped racing that cl***,made a rule for next year outlawed any Auto tran of any type. LOL
The tran design did up shift from low to high with zero time from low to high,so on all restarts I could p*** 2 to 4 cars,they after all had to shift with clutch n gears one to two times an I had zero no power on.
Had to tell flagman before race what was going to happen the nite I was pole start,but he LOL,said he'd be watching close= He yellowed the first start,thinking I had jumped it.Even though I told him what would happen!
So next start,I held back a tiny bit to make even with outside pole car just as we hit the straight. Green was good an I was in Turn one when P2 was going under the flag stand,our flagman"Randy"did stop by after the races to talk,he really did at first thought I was talking BS,tell he saw it work as I told him. Still cost me a few beers n watermellon from race cooler,the one we can't have in pits but looks like a toolbox
. YUP,I liked Power Glide ,LOL

 

I've used a number of TH350's and they're cheap, plentiful, easy to rebuild, and strong when properly built. Plus less sinning weight to turn them than a TH400. A good choice for an around town hotrod, and not bad for a freeway car if you stay with 3.50 or taller gears.
But the 700R4 has it all over a TH350 for versatility. It's got a very low 1st gear that allows for great out of the hole pulling power, and the OD 4th to allow you to run a decent rear axle ration, and not have the engine screaming at freeway speds.
Yes they cost more, and cost more to build. But for my buck they're such an improvement over any 3 speed automatic that it's all I'd use, unless I was going over 450 hp engines.

 

I would like to see a picture of your '62 Elcamino as I have never seen one!

 

The most bang for the buck is a free one.
We started cleaning up a th475 (HD400) from a motorhome I got for hauling it off the guys property.
My Doug Nash OD set up looks nice bolted to it.

 

I have a short tail shaft 350 if you need it.

 

Being a Ford guy I have never broke a C4 or C6 and mid 80's AOD's are great for street performance. In my Mopar projects a 727 is my choice and Gm's have always been turbo 350's for street and turbo 400's behind my big blocks. But recently a number of my buddies who are into GM's have had excellent results with 200 r's built by an area guy. Great track performance with an excellent 1st gear and over drive that makes their 390 to 456 tail gears livable on the street. But as long as my 65 year old knees hold out a 4 or 5 speed manual is still more fun! lol Larry

 

Maybe in your neck of the woods, but not in mine. I can't find a good AOD anywhere, was quoted $900 to build mine from a trans shop, and that was with me taking it out and bringing it to them. Not too modest if you ask me.

I see lots of E40d's, the computer operated version and lots of Ranger and Explorer AOD's that only fit the V6's, but V8 AOD's are hard to find around here. And haven't had any luck in finding a complete parts car with one in them, either. I'm a little scared of buying an unknown transmission anyway, last couple I've bought were supposed to be good and ended up being junk.

 

Neither have I, tough typing a phone...even with gl***es on

2's and 5's look the same

 

The C6 optioned as mentioned is about as tough as it gets , Bar none . The first AODs are a brute also when build with good stuff . I have had PGs , 350s , 400s , 700R4s and C4s , all were good can’t say any of them were junk , but I’ll take the C6 as the best in my book. I have worked in Chrysler dealerships , rebuilding auto trans also the 727 is tough , the 518 is a good unit also . I’m not into computer controlled shifts !

 

Those 200R4,s are small,strong, light rotating weight and you can hop them up to shift great! I knew a guy that raced one in a Super Stock car for those very reasons. And they are cheap to find and build!


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Sometimes you just gotta go with what's available, like this TH350. It'll work fine, it'll fit easily in the ch***is. It was the right price, at the right time.

 

I usually go with whatever is attached to the motor I am using. In my 49 Buick I used a 472 Cad motor and it came with a 400 automatic, so that's what I used.