Hey guys. I got a good working '87 th200-R4 tranny in my garage. The local tranny guy that has built automatics for 20 years said he could build it up fairly strong, he said it would live behind a mild small block for a bit. I am curuious, did third gens come with any of these trannies, and if so, what year and what motor? I would need a tailhousing out of one to make it work with a torque arm, correct?

Also, does anyone know if they can be made with non-lockup torque converters, and if not, what is an aproximate price for a 11" or a good 10" for one? I am thinking I will either build it up to go with my new 406 sb or just rebuild it mostly stock and stick it in a daily-driver truck. Thanks guys.

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1981 Olds Delta 88 455/th400/3.23 posi

1988 Trans Am WS6, 355/T5/3.27 posi; RPM heads and Intake; Crane Fireball cam; Holley 750 carb; soon Comp RXE294H; th350 & 10" converter.

1994 Trans Am LT1/T56, no cat; Hooker CB; Hotch. SFC and STB; Ripper shifter; Poly mount; Lakewood LCA; K&N FIPK; Hypertech Airfoil; soon to port&polish MAF; Sprint springs & Bilstein shocks; GM Motive 4.10; Hypertech PowerTuner III

 

those tranny's came in turbo trans ams. 1989

all grand nationals came w/them and plenty of them go into the 10's. Level 10 is prolly one of the leading sources for good strong parts.

as for the torque arm, a better solution (and maybe easier) is get the spohn swap tranny crossmember. it has a built in mount for the stock torque arm I believe.

they are said to be able to be made just as strong as a built 700r4, but I think it will cost more. and I believe the 700r4 has the bigger first gear ratio.

 

I was going to do this swap b/c I too have one but decided against it for a couple of reasons.

1. driveshaft needed to be lengthened b/c the 200 is shorter than the 700
2. no torque arm provision and I didn't have the $$ for an aftermarket one.... if you can find the piece from a TTA you will be ok, good luck finding it though


all said it was going to cost me at least $500 for the swap not including the price of the trannie (new torque arm, ds lengthening, new crossmember)

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Jay
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