700r4 Vehicle & Year options | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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700r4 Vehicle & Year options

ohe_boy

Well-Known Member
Joined
April 10, 2004
Messages
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City, State
Kane'ohe, Hawaii
Year, Model & Trim Level
'94 4x4 XLT
Now that I got my SAS finished I am looking around and researching to do a transmission upgrade or swap out before my stock one kicks the bucket on me.

So far I learned that a 700r4 from a 2.8L GM V6 is a nice swap out to replace the 91-94 A4LD trans. However, there are many types of 700r4's out there and in the process, I have gotten confused at the fact that a 700r4 from a 1986 IROC won't work with this type of swap out. (Am I right or wrong with this statement?) Therefore, I did a bit more research on this and found out that in order to do a 700r4 tranny replacement, it must come out of a 2.8L GM V6 60 degree engine. (Again, am I right or wrong?) Preferably something after a '86 GM vehicle.

Trying to figure out what vehicle contained a 2.8L 60 degree V6 that we could score a 700r4 from is quite intensive. ( I tried looking around the forum for something to help me out).

Anyway these are the vehicles that I came up with that contained the 700r4's that we so desperately need in order to get this swap done:

1988 Buick Regal
1987-1990 Chevy Beretta
1987-1990 Chevy Cavalier Z24
1987-1990 Chevy Corsica
1987 1989 Ponitac 6000
1988 Pontiac Grand AM
(I could be wrong with these vehicles aas I am still learning about this)

If anyone feels that this info is wrong or have any inputs, please chime in as I think this could help out a bunch of people who are interested in doing a swap out llike this.
 



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the 700r4 started in 82 went all the way to 92, there's 2 bolt bell houseing bolt patterns for the 700r4, one bigger pattern fit's the small block and big block chevy motors, as well as as 6.5 and 6.2 diesil, and the 3.3, 3.8 and 4.3 v6 gm motors. the smaller bolt pattern is for 2.5 4 cylinder, 2.8 and 3.1 v6 gm motors. hope this helps.
 






the 700r4 started in 82 went all the way to 92, there's 2 bolt bell houseing bolt patterns for the 700r4, one bigger pattern fit's the small block and big block chevy motors, as well as as 6.5 and 6.2 diesil, and the 3.3, 3.8 and 4.3 v6 gm motors. the smaller bolt pattern is for 2.5 4 cylinder, 2.8 and 3.1 v6 gm motors. hope this helps.

So would this mean that any vehicle with the 2.8L or 3.1L V6, any year would work? I noticed on bowtie's website they have different levels of 700r4's. One specifically made for 4x4's. Does this have any thing to do when selecting a donor vehicle to do the swap out with. IE a 2 door corsica vs. a 4x4 S-10 Blazer?
 






Well most of the cars you listed are front wheel drive I beleive. Firebirds, cameros, s-10's had the 2.8/3.1l which are for the most part identical. You want newer vehicles, as close to 92 as you can get because the early on ones, 85 ish I think were a bit weaker and more prone to failure then the...89+ I wanna say. thirdgen.org has a lot of information about the 700r4 in thirdgen camero and firebirds. www.thirdgenresource.com I think it was has 700r4's for sale. http://www.tacreationsusa.com/ also has them for sale. Transgo makes shift kits for them, I know for the thirdgen's at least. Hope this helps some.
 






those vehicles you listed are 4T60E transmisions. in 82 and 83 the input shaft has 27 splines, 84 and up have 30 spline input shaft, like Nocturnall said try to get a late model 700r4 unless your planning on rebuilding it with upgrades, the older ones are week and known for failure.
 






Well most of the cars you listed are front wheel drive I beleive.

Does it matter if its a rear or front wheel drive?


Firebirds, cameros, s-10's had the 2.8/3.1l which are for the most part identical.

Does it matter if the 700r4 came from a 2.8 or 3.1?

Is it ok to use a 700r4 from a 3.1L since its grouped with the 2.8L?
 






yes you can use a 700r4 from a rear wheel drive 2.8 or 3.1.
 






If you can get one from a 3.1l because while they are much alike the 2 engines the 3.1l took over in 1990 I beleive so you would be getting a newer version of the transmission. Front wheel rear wheel drive will matter. Ever look in a front wheel drive car at the transmission? I've yet to see one that resembles a rear wheel drive, I may be wrong but I am pretty sure that a front wheel drive trans WILL NOT work in a rear drive application.
 






no a front wheel drive wont work in rear wheel drive aplication. The front wheel drive's are eather 4T60 or 4T65 trans dependin on year. The changes to the 700r4 were mad in 1987 models and up, so even tho the 3.1 wasnt used until 1990 the 700r4 that was used on the 2.8 after 1987 is the same 700r4 that is used on the 3.1L.
 












Theres an ad in the paper that has a 700r4 transmission from a 91, rebuilt never used for 750. Pretty good deal, too bad Im not in a need of a transmission. Need to save to money for wheels and tires.
 






If you're looking for a case to rebuild, don't worry what year its from. You'll want to throw all the V8 upgrades into the case during the rebuild anyway. 4x4 vs 2x4 won't matter either as you will be replacing the output shaft and tailhousing with the AA adapters.
 






I haven't decided if I was gonna rebuild one myself, buy an already rebuilt one, or pick up one from the bowtie website.

From what I gathered so far, it seems that rebuilt transmissions fail sooner then expected.
 






Well, even my brand new trans from Bowtie only lasted me 20k miles, so its all about the warranty on the work.
 






Well, even my brand new trans from Bowtie only lasted me 20k miles, so its all about the warranty on the work.

I'd say get it built locally, by someone that can test it too. Bowtie cannot test the 60 degree 700r4 (at least they couldn't when we got ours fixed by them)..

We now have about 60k miles on the current bowtie transmission. Its a level 2 with what they call a 1800 stall converter (I get a much higher stall).

The 1st trans we got from them didnt' last long at all (snapped the input drum about a month after the install).. the 2nd one didn't feel right so I drove it out to them.. I made it within 116 miles of them when I snapped the xfer case chain (thank goodness for AAA).. Fixed that (at their shop with a yard xfer case) and they rebuilt the 700r4 for me right there and I helped do the install (since it isn't a stock install with the AA kit). They lowered the line pressure some (it was too high for the explorer) once it was installed.

I got to see their dyno, but turns out they don't actually "dyno" the transmissions. They install them on an el-camino or a chevy 1/2 ton truck and actually road test them (the guy who does the test install is fast).

The guys there are nice, I just wish they had a way to test the trans before it goes out, which they don't (on the model 700r4 we need). The TV cable kit does work well But you have to double check they send you the right one.. The 1st one I got was labeld 4.0 but wasn't the correct length (way too long).. Also, Do double check you have the right spring in the transmission. They don't put the "red" spring in many so it does get missed (all 3 transmisions from them had the wrong spring when it came from the assembly room).

If you get it locally built you can still get the TV cable kit w/ spring from bowtie.

~Mark
 






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