sould I switch to a 400 or keep rebuilding my 200

[Matt_86]

I am tired of breaking my 200 in my 86 gn. I keep getting told by my old man to pull that piece of crap out and put in a 400. Any suggestions. Is it worth it with my setup, or do I just need to find a better shop to rebuild it again. It has been rebuilt 3 or 4 times in the last 3000 miles and supposedly beefed up. I am only running mid to high 11s. I am not really worried about loosing a little bit of drivability if I can just not worry about toasting it again. I guess my question is, with my setup, should I even consider swapping to a 400, and how would the car run in all aspects with the 400. I am no tranny expert. Any pointers would be appreciated.

 

[chris718]

at your power level there should be no reason not to use a 2004r built by someone who understands how the trans works

 

[snipersixx]

Save your self alot problems switch to 400 it's not worth the money to build a 2004r. I learned the hard way. I had all the hard parts and it was built by one of the vendors here same thing as you 3 rebuilds.

 

[XXQUICK6XX]

Trans

A 400 for peace of mind or a good rebuild by a quality builder that knows these tran's. There are guy's running them in the nines so it can be done but it cost's. But the 400 takes more power tu run and no O/D.

Steve

 

[TurboDave]

I agree with Chris. At your power level, it's really easy to get a 200 literally bullet proofed! I used to break mine every year.
Finally broke down and got some select billet (not hardened) parts and a good knowledgable builder and I literally cant break it now.
It's not at all hard to get 200's to easilly live deep into the low 10's.
Hardened parts are a pain, and are nothing more than more brittle than the originals.
With the new billet parts available, get it done right. There are several builders that can do it right.

 

[brian]

In an 11 second car do not even think about a change!

Most "local" or mom and pop shops, can not do the right job on a GN trans.
Trust one of the builders here to build it correctly for you.

A 400 for a strip only mid 10 car or faster maybe. But for a street GN no way!

Hope this helps, Brian

 

[Sweet6]

I agree with Chris. At your power level, it's really easy to get a 200 literally bullet proofed! I used to break mine every year.
Finally broke down and got some select billet (not hardened) parts and a good knowledgable builder and I literally cant break it now.
It's not at all hard to get 200's to easilly live deep into the low 10's.
Hardened parts are a pain, and are nothing more than more brittle than the originals.
With the new billet parts available, get it done right. There are several builders that can do it right.

+1. I would not even consider a 400 until you are deep in the 10s. 11s and slower a properly built 200 will be more than enough. There are several guys on this board that can build a great 200 for you.

 

[Studmonkey]

I have a T350 run low 10's very happy with it. $100 for tranny, $450 upgrades and rebuild, never a problem, priceless. Plus uses less ponies than that ver 400 too.

 

[Matt_86]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think maybe Ill have to give someone a call who knows a lot about these trannys and I can work something out with a shop close to me to get it done right with the 200. I really dont want to send the thing out somewhere. I am in the Fort Wayne Indiana area. Now, who do I call.

 

[brian]

Matt,
You have mail... Two actually

Brian

 

[ChavoLC2]

Who's Who up top

Sticky says up top of this tranny forum says "I want you to know exactly who's who!" Bowler Transmission near Evansville Indiana...is listed, I don't know how far he is from Fort Wayne but he is in state. TurboD said BILLET not hardened. You can buy the best of the best but if your tranny guy doens't know the little tricks that are done to these tranny's you probably will keep experiencing failure. I've learned the hard way with my 1st car.There is a few guys here that work out of their garage who I'd rather chase down and find before I took one of these trannys to a local Tranny shop because they know these buicks, same thing with engines here I'd rather drive over 600 miles to take an engine to Arizona i.e.AZGN Nick then buy all the good /best parts then have a local yocal build it like a Chevy.

Looked up the site Bowler Performance Transmissions (they were in Indiana)and they seem quite expensive. The 1st thing you see is As seen on OVERHAULIN. Compared prices with PTS extreme Tran...... The Bowler OTC 200 built tranny $5000+(hardened this and hardened that, plus this tranny is ONLY rated to 500lbs torque) and PTS OTC Street/strip $2800+(more billet pieces in their build up)..I know BPT is closer but I'd Check em out see if they're legit, they seem way overpriced.That comes out to 1000 dollars pr 100lbs of torque.LOL Just quoting prices of their site. Good Luck in finding a builder....

 

[ChavoLC2]

Bowler Transmission

Correction they are near Indiana not in Indiana actually Ill.. Hopefully they can hook you up with a rebuild for less money By the way OTC BPT tranny comes with a Custom Billet TC per customers specs.