FASTV6HENRY
Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
- Messages
- 280
So a while back my 200r4 took a crap on me and after pricing the cost of shipping it out and upgrading to a stage 3 with a converter I decided to put in a th400. My new th400 is rated to about 950-1000hp along with the new converter. I figured this new transmission will last me a lot longer than a 200r4 will and whenever the time comes to give it a refresh it will cost a lot less and I will not have to ship it out to some special wizard. After driving my car around for a while with a reverse manual valve body I found it to be actually fun. However, I started to miss that 4th gear overdrive on the occasional long trips. It’s not that the car couldn’t go 70mph but that it was taching out at 3000rpm. So after seeing what the benefits of a Gear Vendors overdrive does I decided to pull the trigger. The Gear Vendors was not a direct bolt in. I did have to slightly persuade the transmission tunnel a little with a hammer. But the biggest hurdle was the transmission cross member. I had to notch it to clear the small oil pan on the Gear Vendors unit. I also had to shorten my drive shaft. I can say the car runs fantastic and I can split 2nd and 3rd. The Gear Vendors essentially makes my th400 into a five speed transmission. Below is a approximate cost of my endeavor. I only made this thread for other people who might consider going this same route.
FTI stage 4 TH400 $1930
FTI 3400 converter $900
New drive shaft $300
Gear Vendors $2750
Total cost: $5880
Reliability: priceless
Transmission cross member notch.
The two ears at 10 and 2 had to get clearance a little with a hammer.
Gear Vendors oil pan clearance in the notch
Used the same H&R parts th400 motor mount
2300rpm at 71mph
FTI stage 4 TH400 $1930
FTI 3400 converter $900
New drive shaft $300
Gear Vendors $2750
Total cost: $5880
Reliability: priceless
Transmission cross member notch.
The two ears at 10 and 2 had to get clearance a little with a hammer.
Gear Vendors oil pan clearance in the notch
Used the same H&R parts th400 motor mount
2300rpm at 71mph