The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 700R or 350 Trans for 235

I have a 1956 Chevy 235 and want to connect a 700R or 350 transmission to it. Has anyone done it? Does anyone make adapters?

www.stoveboltengineco.com makes an adapter for around 350.00 they are in Michigan. ron

So does Buffalo. No web site.Contact by phone. He advertises on the Inliner site and has an excellent reputation as does Tom Langdon of stovebolt engine co.
Buffalo Enterprises
25625 Dahl Rd.
Arlington,Washington
(360)-652-7684

I think you're nuts hangin a slushbox off a 235.

While i'm no fan of slushboxes, if I absolutely had to have one, i'd go with the 350 or 400 turbo hydromatic tranny and mate it to a 261 - 6.

I've had enough of those 'metric' 700R4 trannys take a dump on me to be nice and spooked of 'em.

The 350 and 400 TH trannys never let me down.. even after heavy, heavy abuse.

move it

Fumblin, I will second that motion. Those 700R4 trannies cannot take any abuse. The 350 and 400 are usually a work-horse if you dont abuse them to bad.

I beg to differ on a the 700R4... they are probably failing because 1. the tranny linkage was not adjusted properly, or 2. you drove the vehicle without properly adjusting the linkage.

the pre 84 or so 700R4's are not top of the line tho, so stay away from them...

I've had 350 and 400 TH trannys run for 250K, then yank 'em out and put 'em in something else, replace the filter, and put another 250K on 'em.

I haven't ever had a 700R4 (and the oldest one I ever had was a '86) last for more than 130K without needing a full rebuild.

And when it comes to parts and buying the tranny in the first place, the 350 and 400 TH's has the 700R4 beat hands down.

Except it's missing that nice thing called an overdrive. A properly built and installed 700r4 should last just as long as a 350.

I dunno Frank, I have never seen a TH350 w/250K miles on it that would still move the vehicle, a TH400 yes, but not a TH350.

I have been driving GM loyaly all my life and have seen so many being pulled home because of the tranny failed from early 80's up too 2001 pickups, I haven't much faith in any GM tranny with overdrive yet. I had an 87,94,95 pickups fail not even being worked hard.
I will take a TH400 any day of the week.

So when the factory ones start ******' fluid and blowing clutch packs around 100K miles, what's that?

They didn't properly build and install them at the factory?

Worst problem I ever had with a TH350 or 400 was a shot modulator valve.

I knew a guy who got a hand-me-down late 70's Gutless who thought he was bad because he could wind it out to about 9 grand and then slam the car into low gear and bark the tires.

Dude did it all the time.. and we'd of course, egg him on.. I personally watched the guy do it several dozen times in one day.

Tranny never flinched.. much to our surprise.

The engine, on the other hand.. apparently wasn't up to the high revvin' action and died after about a month.

A buddy of mine took that TH350 slushbox and dropped it in his Camaro and drove it another 70K before he sold it.. and he wasn't any nicer to that tranny.

The TH trannys have been nothing but good to me.. the 700R4 trannys have been nothing but headaches and high dollar repairs.

The fact that all you find in the mid 80's and up vehicles is the 700R4 is why I only buy manual GM vehicles.

I know a guy w/an '89 Silverado, has 225k & the 700 trans still doing good, my buddy eevn has a square body Silverado w/the OD, the 305 wore out before the trans & it is stil holding up to the 350 we put in coupla yrs ago. You must be buying the ones guys pull trailers with alla time in overdrive, that cooks em quick.

Perhaps, 64.. but i'd guess 99% of the people who have those things drive 'em in OD all the time.

Oh yeah, just about everyone just goes to the 1st click. I once had a fella pull into the station I moonlighted at, he had come down US65 from Missouri thru the Ozarks, had a new(then)92 Blazer, he had a 20 ft trailer behind it loaded w/everything he owned, 4-5 folks inside & it was in the 90s tempwise. He said the tranny was slippin, & it had puked fluid all the way to the back bumper & was still radiating intense heat 2 hrs later. Fluid was black, he had it in OD all the way, up & down all those hills. Burnt that mofo up in 400 miles. His wife got out the owner's manual, sure enough it read "for towing use D, not OD"

I'd make an educated guess and surmise that there could be many causes:

1. Towing in overdrive. You'd be surprised how many constantly do this.

2. Using quicklube places to change tranny fluid which suctions fluid out instead of dropping the pan. Catastrophic failure happens quickly after this usually.

3. Poor maintenance. If it's leaking fluid maybe someone overfilled? Maybe there are other items that should have been checked instead of driving until it went no more?

Last night on that new game show, "The Power of 10" one of the questions they asked people was "Who invented the Diesel engine: Rudolph Diesel, or Vin Diesel?"

I don't know if it's sad, funny, or both.. but 25% of Americans surveyed said they thought Vin Diesel invented the Diesel engine.

Now i'll bet way more than 25% of people surveyed would think that 'overdrive' meant 'super balls mode' or 'heavy hauling mode'.

I bought an '86 Camaro with the 700R4 tranny in it real cheap years ago because it only had reverse.

The guy at the tranny shop said he saw 'em all the time, because people were driving 'em in OD.. and the only time you should have it in OD was if you were on the highway, and not pulling anything.

Seems like the only 700R4's i've ever heard of being long lasting were the ones that got babied.

If more than 25% of the people think O/D is for ballsy driving then I really regret the fact that there must be a higher illiteracy rate in the USA than is common belief seeing as any vehicle I have ever owned with an O/D tranny had a warning about doing so in plain view.

You think maybe the previous owner of the 86 Camaro took it a track? Nah that would never happen right? Or nobody with a Camaro would ever do a burnout, right?

Robin.. I fully expect a guy with a Camaro to do a burnout. Lots of 'em.

If they got a TH tranny, the car will still move. If they got a 700R4 they better have AAA or a cousin in the tow truck biz.

I've never owned a vehicle newer than a '98 or so.. but i've never seen any warning saying not to drive in OD while city driving or towing. Never.

I suppose if you got an owners manual with the vehicle, and actually bothered to read it, you'd see something about that.. but I have to wonder how many people actually read those owners manuals.. aside from checking to see how to set the radio station pre-sets or clock.

Interesting to note the Fords with OD don't have the same kind of failure rate.. is that because Ford owners are 'smarter' or is it just that their OD trannys aren't pieces of crap.

It's plastered all over my 95 Suburban's sunvisor. It's all over my son's 90 C1500's sunvisor too. Clear as a bell to me.

Fawd's prolly don't have the same failure rate because they never get up enough oomph to get the trailer moving

Robin58 beat me to it, Fo*ds don't have enough power to burn one up, and if they do take a dump, who cares, its just a Fo*d and you expect that anyway! Joe

I have a 92 GMC 4x4 with 165K on it. Has 6.5 turbo diesel and 700R4 with 4.10 rear end. Change autotrans fluid and filter every 15K. Pull a 20' gooseneck livestock trailer, 18' car carrier' numerous bale wagons etc. and have never had to do anything to the treans.

the 350 in my 69 went 267000, motor gave so i'll have to let you know how long it does last. i'm religous about fluid and filter tho...

Well from my experience the 700R4 from 87 and up were much better than the old ones. Thats the year they went to a 10 vein pump instead of a 7 vein. 86 and older weren't as well built. There's a 69 Camaro that was at a show in July here in southern Oregon with a 1100 hp blown big block with a blower on it and has a special built 700R4 and it handles it just fine. I have two. One in my 87 full size p/u and one in my 90' full size van. The van one is new about 5k miles ago. it was replaced about 144k miles on it. The truck is original with 100k on it and no slippage. If you have a rebuilder that really knows his stuff this tranny will work just great. I've seen many 350 trannys that were blown. Many never lasted very long in trucks and had to be rebuilt every 40-50k. One went through 4 or 5 350s in his pick up with a stock motor in a half ton. He is middle aged and doesn't burn the tires with it. I told him to go to a 400 which would last longer and stronger. Ford keeps the tranny shops in buisiness. One does 60% of their business fixing Ford trannies. Especially in the mini vans, SUVs and Taurus's and P/Us. The tranny they fix the least is the 400. Then the 727 Torquefilte and the C6.

i have a 87' chevy shortbox and the 700r4 lasted 180,000 miles behind a 350. couple of key factors are change the oil in transmission every other time you change your engine oil and keep it out of overdrive unless your on the freeway above 50 mph. not towing anything. find one 86' and newer from a truck or van.

I've rebuilt 350's and 700's many times,usually it's abuse that bum's them out. But most of the 700's have more room for additinal clutches, wich I put in at the rebuild.Them seem go last alot longer as more clutches mean more durability.Also I recomennd changing out the tourque converter at the same time,I've seen a few failures because of this.Actually had one guy wanting his money back but said he didn't change the converter!I just say to bad for you,but pulled the tranny apart anyway,found nothing wrong, got the converter stuffed it in and no more problems! lesson learned to him, but glad it didnt burn the thing up again.

Running a 700R4 in my 55 with a 350 SB.No problems whatsoever.Another factor is what rearend are you gonna use. The 700R4 is an overdrive unit,which allows you to use a lower geared rear.I am running a 3:90 rear and getting 20 MPG with plenty of get up and go.

I've gotta 700R4 in my 53 as well, an '87, which gets beaten regular. I've had several 'R4's tru the years, once you rebuild them they seem to go forever. Now that I'm used to the lower first gear plus the advantage of overdrive I'll never own another 350 or 400 tranny again. BTW, I've seen plenty of 350 trannys burn up, nothing lasts forever...

Don't know a lot about transmissions, but I've always been told that the worst enemy of a trans is not keeping the fluid cool. I have also been told that if the cable that runs off the throttle linkage is not adjusted correctly, the trans won't last.