Getting ready to swap in 200r4 any advice from the pros???

Have a v8 350 with a old crappy th350 tranny... picked up a th200r4 and getting ready to swap them out... anything I should know about this swap, clearance issues? I know there is some kind of kit you can buy to lock the converter...what's the best kit to get? Any advise from the pro's would be appreciated....

Went ahead and ordered the TCI kit from summit along with a new TV/Throttle bracket for my Quadrajet carb. Modified my shifter cable bracket to work with the new transmission. Got in touch with Kilduff shifters to send me a new top plate for my shifter to go with the 200r4. I really like this shifter, pull a pin on the inside and it's set up for overdrive. Tomorrow I'm going to start working on a new crossmember.

I am watching this thread as I am planning a 200r4 swap into my 66 with a 327 this winter. Keep up the posts, and would love to see some pics!!!

Tom

Awesome, I'm interested too. Please let us know how the swap goes, including any details on hooking up and adjusting the TV/throttle cable. I hear that is kind of tricky. I have a 200r4 sitting here ready to go, but I am a little bit worried about getting the TV cable correct.

Tranny is in, slapped together a new crossmember and all bolted up... batteries in camera...dead:(  I'll get some pics up on here tomorrow. So far the cooling lines are too short just by a couple inches. Parts from summit should be here tomorrow also.

Got my parts today but didn't get to far...
The solenoid inside the pan needs 2 wires so I have one on order, so the wiring will have to wait till that comes in. Moved forward to put the throttle cable bracket on the carb... fit the carb but not the intake. If I had a 1" spacer between the intake and the carb it would of fit but decided to take my old bracket and combine it with the new one to fit. Sorry about the pics had to use a old cell phone.
Made a template for the crossmember first then slapped it together.





tranny lines are to short no matter how i bend them so I think I'll just flare up some some lines about 3" long and use a coupler to get them to reach instead of completely replacing them or going the rubber hose route.

While I'm waiting for my new soleniod to come in I got busy on the cable part. After alot of browsing the web I found the "geometry" for the arm on the carb. I drew it out on paper but had a hard time seeing everything clearly so I traced it on a small piece of plexiglass. This worked really well and easy. After finding where I needed to be I made a small tab, found a small piece that I cut off my tranny shifter cable bracket, bent it up alittle bit and clamped it the arm. Tested to make sure it went to where it was supposed to be at WOT and it was right on. So I brazed it in place...yup brazed it...used some KWool I got from work to keep the carb safe, all I had sticking out was the arm. This pin where the tv cable hooks up is 1.100" away from the pivot shaft and 23 degrees rearward with a total swing of 78 degrees.
  Thought I might of jumped the gun making the throttle cable bracket but all worked out fine. Your suppose to pull the cable all the way out and measure it, add about a 1/8" and that's how far your bracket should be away from where the tv cable hooks up on the carb in WOT position.



Adjusting the cable is the easy part IF the geometry is correct on the carb



This is the KWool I used to wrap the carb before hitting it with the torch...

Wide open throttle

all hooked up

Here's a link with some good info...

http://www.cpttransmission.com/tech_tvcable.htm

Now if the rest of my parts will come in so I can give er a test drive... 

awesome work there! Thanks for the pics.

Tom

Wow great description! Nice!

I will ask=?? when using the 2oor trans ? is it lower in height than a 400r? as some doint that 400r conversions have had to lower the engine & trans to clear ??

I have seen that in other threads where some had to lower their engine an inch... That was one of my concerns going into this. I think this 200r fit better than my th350 did.  Seems like all the ones I have seen with the engine lowered were 1st gen with straight 6  

ya thats likely too. 1st gen stuff-i just was wondering if the trannys had diff heights? yet i dont think so -lenghts yes !

Heres a site that tells all about heights & lenghts -yeaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

http://gmautomatictransmissions.com/4l80e_transmission.php

Got my tranny lines hooked up and the vacuum switch mounted.


Still waiting for solenoid to show up and got a few different brake switches I'm going to try out.

So.... things or problems I ran into so far...
Of course a new crossmember had to be made.
Solenoid was a single wire so had to order a 2 wire solenoid.
Tranny lines were to short.
New bracket for shifting linkage on tranny needed to be fabbed up.
Geometry on carb for tv cable had to be corrected.
4 wire plugin from the TCI kit did not fit, kit says to order a new gm connector p/n864383 that goes in tranny. I just cut two slots in the TCI connector so it would plug into the one I already had in my tranny.

Also had trouble with the dipstick tube and just put a flexible one in.....
I really don't forsee any more problems with the rest of this swap, still have the wiring to do and will post more as I get it done.

Thought I'd brag about this flashlight I have...this thing is awsome...has a magnet on it and head swivels and angles all different directions, left this thing on for 4 days and batteries still haven't died. Stick it to the inside of the doghouse lid and shine it anywhere you want and bright as hell too. Think I'll go pick up another one....


Stole this from my dad and he aint getting it back

Finally found a brake switch that I like and got it mounted and wired. Since I removed my 3 on a tree linkage it gave me a place to mount a toggle switch. The brake switch will unlock the converter as soon as the brake pedal is pushed and with the toggle switch I can just shut off overdrive all together. There was another option to run the green wire from the transmission to a toggle switch that goes to ground so the converter could be locked up in any gear... I ran the green wire up with the red wire but didn't hook it up...but it's there if I decide to later... testdrive? maybe tomorrow if I get time...I'll keep ya updated...

Nicely done!

the brake unlock switch is one of the best safety things you could do.

m1D

Hey Mo, sorry I didn't see this thread until now. Sounds like you're on the right track. Making that angle measuring tool out of clear plastic was brilliant!! My cardboard ones were always in the way. I was wishing I had X-ray vision to see through them!

You saw my story about adapting the 700R4, right? Sounds like we both use the same diagram to get the angles and length of the lever. This link talks about when I found I needed more throw on the carb linkage lever to get the plunger to move all the way:

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t1038p135-back-tovanagains-newest-65-chevy-sportvan-deluxe#50327

And more recently we've been getting ready to put a 200R4 into Scott's 1st Gen:

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t24747p105-scotty-s-1965-chevy-sportvan-deluxe-travel-cruiser#134989

He's got a good start in the hanger bracket, which is different from mine because the 200R4 has no tail shaft bolts. And he's made up a bracket to mount the TV cable housing on the top of his carb/air cleaner adapter. Next step is to fit the tranny to the engine, jack it up, and decide if be wants to bend the van's crossmember up to allow the tranny to be higher than mine ended up.

Keep up the good work!