I was talking about th400 I had in there preceding the 200r4. It shifted at 3900. The factory 200r4's I believe are set at 3000 or 5000. The guy I had build mine I told him that 4500 would be fine or a little less. That should cut right through my power band (torque) and not be too hard on it as far as rpms. I think with the 200r4 they can be manually held in gear, but not with my 400 in first. Second sure but not first.

The trans after install was fairly gently driven less than 10 miles home where I parked it. It seemed to shift amazing fast and silently, without a trace of`slamming the gears, like modern day transmissions do. Eerrie.. The speeds for the shifts though looked about right and the trans itself was barely warm.

I had no cooler on it just my cooling lines and no lockup yet for the drive home, and I wanted to double check the TV settings and the pressures on the tranny. That shop didn't have a gauge and were really squirrels. Not knowing how much fluid was needed. Leaving my cooling lines and speedometer cable up against sharp metal of my tunnel and the cable in a bad bind, when a pair of vice grips could have bent that metal up slightly and prevented that. The new speedo cable broke before I got home....

Parts inside. Well the builder knew what I have on power and weight, and my normal driving style, and they were running one themselves behind a BBC and had units in the 9s and 10s. The servo I can see on the side is a 694. Regular pan, but probably with a 700r4 bottom feed filter inside. I will probably find out when I replace the pan with a larger stainless steel pan, which he didn't think was needed then for what he perceived my situation to be. I want to check the pan even after that short fairly easy miles home and verify whats inside some and want a drain plug and put some magnets in the new one.

When I got home I started tearing down my motor and working for changes and on the interior and time and circumstances slowed everything way way down. Now I must get back on it and get it running again.

 

The 700R4 or early 4L60E filter will not fit a stock 2004R pan without a spacer, just sits too low. The deeper pan and bottom feed filter is necessary for hard launches and a long life. Dr Dan figured the Hughes pan and early 4L60E filter that I used, which fits better is good for maybe 12's in the 1/4. He is a firm believer in the sheet metal pan and bottom/back pick up filter for real power. He has also built them into the 9's. It will just depend on Mac's driving style and what was done to his trans if it will live. My universal TV cable did mine in. The seal rolled causing a leak, which my daughter drove an hour low and it was sticky for movement.

 

As far as I know the filter does fit with the stock pan, with a few mods such as insulation or moving the 4th gear pressure switch, so it doesn't short out on the 700r4 pan.
http://www.turbobuicks.com/forums/tr...w-install.html

Possibly some trimming on the filter stands might be done for clearance, or as you mentioned a spacer.

Baffling also can and has been done in some pans

https://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...-issues-2.html

Another fix or option if using the stock 200r4 filter is to epoxy its edges so it can't suck air on part of it because of slosh.

Dan's deep pan is to counter possibly running out of fluid in second or high in very fast higher rpm cars like his. Running the trans 1 to 2 quarts extra past full is also a good idea.

On the fluid itself most don't seem to use Dextron, but Type F in automatics for racing or heavy stress automatics for eons, and a quart or two of motor oil. Now they use Mobile 424, or John Deere Hy-guard, Case-IH and Hy-Tran, or Amsoil Compressor fluid as well.

What really fried yours was lack of experience and awareness. Its like a person that keeps driving even though the oil light is coming on or stays on and either doesn't pay attention and sees it, or ignores it and keeps going. That destroys motors or even the best built TH400s.

I am paranoid on transmissions until they gain my trust through my experiences with them. I have destroyed in my life about 3 or 4 factory fresh M22s 4-speeds. One factory TH400. One B&M "street/strip" TH400, and one Pinto 4 speed by 25 ,and technically none were my fault, except from the lack of experience. But none since then. I am extremely cautious and baby them 99% of the time or more like a normal experienced driver in a normal car.

But on this 200r4 I do have something else going in its favor, and that is 3.55 or a 3.50 gear in back, plus an extremely light weight, that I took another 150lbs off of, or so, on the rebuild. The converter is also a lower stall one, so lower torque produced at first with a heavier foot.

I really like what I saw of the 200r4 on the ride home compared to my old TH400. It was super quite and fast, but smooth at light throttle. Very eerie to be going 30-35 in a small tin can without sound deadening, with the tunnel off and a foot or so away, and have it so quite. I could touch it with my hand on the way back and there was virtually no heat and no slipping detected.

Thanks to you and Dan and TexasT, and a host of others on the info, and trying to make sure these things give no grief to their owners.

 

Feeling that this thread has kinda gotten off track from Mac's clearance questions........

 

Mac took it there

 

My 200-4r was "built". It's supposed to be good to 500 HP. We'll see if it was "built" well. I does have the hardened stator, red clutches, and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand, lol.

The TV adjustment brings up a question I've been stressing over a little. How do I break in the new motor AND get the TV adjusted at the same time? I have a trans pressure gauge but at 2k RPM?? Does it have to be in gear in order to do harm at too low a pressure?

 

Pressures are checked at around 1100-1200. You can get park, and neutral readings, by moving it by hand with off the carb and not in gear. For the gears, you have to have someone push on the brake and then do the same, or have the sometimes trustworthy emergency brake on.

 

Are you using your current Qjet? As long as there is slight tension at idle, smooth steady and full pull at full throttle and your gauge is reading in the recommended range, you are good.

 

No I was running it over full. I just had no idea she was driving everywhere with it, she didn't tell me she was taking it for an hour drive that killed it and with the thinner Dexron 6, it was probably made worse. My only error was not pulling the leaking TV and replacing it and showing my daughter how to check the fluids. I don't care how a trans is built, low fluid will fry it. All these trans want to do is leak from somewhere from my experience.

 

Any shop that gives a hp number instead of a Tq/rpm number either doesn't know what they're talking about or is just catering to internet crap.
The torque and where it occurs will have waaay more influence on the life of the trans than "hp" ever will.
Just an FYI.

 

She was not aware, for example usually a whine when trannys get low because the pump is starving some. Going around a corner the clutches will slip from low fluid, but unaware is unaware. Younger people mostly but there are others this way.

Yep, should have fixed it, but you thought it was parked. 3 things trannys can not tolerate. The wrong pressure, low or no fluid which goes back to pressure, or to much heat, which kinds of also goes back to pressure.

While I have extra fluid already in there and probably a bottom feed filter I want a 3 1/2 quarts extra deep pan later and still will probably run a quart or two past full. I also plan on running a different fluid.

But first have to get the motor chugging again and other things done before hooking the TV cable on and screwing in the gauge.

 

I have focus problems, okay?!

 

It's not internet crap, but its Madison avenue crap for the last 50 years. Its all torque. The problem is some big motors build torque faster that then requires pressure faster, than the trans are designed to increase their pressure. The engine is at 300ftlbs with X throttle and the tranny is only supply pressure for 200.

Anytime anyone mentions horsepower about anything I go into fits but try and bite my tongue.

 

Not a focus problem just a lot of stuff going on

 

This! ^^^

So as far as this thread goes; it can be whatever it wants now. Or just end. Of course I haven't checked my rod clearances yet. .001" per inch of journal still? Then again, my tools aren't serving me well. But I'll do it anyway.

 

Yep, about 2.5 sounds fine, as long as things don't touch you should be fine.

 

Things? Could you be more specific? Journals and bearings I assume.

 

If the bearings and journal touch, while spinning fast its bad. Like when a valve collides with a piston. Or the main bearings grab on to the crank for any reason while spinning fast. Or the piston drives itself into a cylinder wall.

 

Have you thought about installing an engine plate to help limit block flex. Cheap insurance, imo.

 

The real problem is rpms, and the crankshaft wet noodle syndrome. As rpms go up, the standard cast cranks distorts and are going to either crack the cranks and maybe block, or move themselves to places they are not suppose to be that are more than the clearances were made to clear. The simplest and cheapest, and most easy fix is to keep the rpms below 5000 or less. And that where an Olds makes its true power anyway, unless dedicated and expensive racers. Remember its torque not rpm horsepower and in an Olds that happening at lower rpms, in BBOs at least.

Of course what do I know

 

Yes but when you have drag radials and a heavy car these blocks can flex. I had it happen once. Of course a Supreme is a thousand lbs lighter than my 1967 Oldsmobile 98.

 

I am not sure if he is going the drag radials route or looking to drag race it with a high stall and higher rpms. Just a feeling, but we will see what his goals are.

Now, I liked and drove olds 88s and 98s back then, and they were very nice cars new, but huge LOL But then again most cars were back then.

 

It's nice to hear that my car is lighter than someone else's, for once! Lol.
Keeping the R's under 5k won't be a problem. My goal is simply a stout, peppy street car. No drag radials in my future. This is bucket-list stuff. "Build a big block Olds engine....check".
And we like to go places. We drove from central Illinois to Niagara Falls a couple summers ago. And with me, the wife, and her brother, and a trunk load of suitcases, I'm not a thousand pounds lighter than Kennybill's car anymore. I'll need the torque.

 

So, for installing the piston rings. I know most folks say to spiral them on. But I have no experience with this. Can I cover the pistons in blue tape to keep from scratching them?
And the instructions are a little confusing. Are the dots on the rings always on top?

 

Hey guys, I've filed my piston rings following the manufacturer's recommendation of .004" per inch of bore for both the top and second ring. But I've also read that the the second rings should have a bit more gap than the top (or was it the other way around?) Which is best?

 

Just to cap this off; I called Wiseco and they did, indeed, recommend making the second ring gap a little larger. I ended up with .018 on the top and .022 on the second rings.

 

Best way I was told to install them was not to spiral. Put the gap end in the groove (ring will kind of be on a diagonal), spread the gap with the ring in-plane until it opens up just enough to slip over the piston crown and into the ring groove. I wouldn't worry about taping the pistons.

 

Aren’t you supposed to use a ring spreader?

 

Sounds legit but my old fingers aren't up to that kind of abuse, lol.

I did pick up some ring pliers. I think I'll go that route.

 

So, I have the rings installed. I watched, and re-watched, Bill Trovato installing rings. I tried the pliers but I felt they were stretching the rings (although I don't think they were). I did most of them by hand. It was easy enough. My biggest fear was mixing up the rings and getting them all with the pip on top.
I'm wondering how far the 1st and 2nd rings should stick out when not compressed. It seems like a lot. But I didn't get low-tension rings, I don't think.