StylnCamaro

Does anyone have a reverse valve body tranny in their car, how does it perform and is there any problems that I should be aware of with this? I will also be having a tranny brake installed too. Any comments about this?

Jay 727

I have a reverse manual valve body in a th400 that I built, it has no front band and that gives it no engine braking. I love it, it's totally different than driving an automatic with a manual /automatic valve body kit.

StylnCamaro

Forgot to mention but I'll be keepin the 700r4, I can't stand the way 3rd gears winds down on certain trannies, or is it different with the th400?

AlkyIROC

There are very few manual valve bodies for 700R4's. I think there are even less transbrakes (if any). The 700R4 just isn't considered a performance transmission that the manufactures want to produce a lot of performance parts for. Just like the 7.5" 10 bolt diff.

I also have a TH400 with a manual valve body and transbrake. There is no engine braking in second or third gear. If you lift off the throttle while in any gear other than first it's just like putting the car in neutral. This is NOT recommended for street use. The manual valve body has no automatic feature. In other words you don't have the option to put the tranny into D and drive away letting the tranny shift like normal. If I put the tranny in 3, it will start in third gear.

The transbrake is strictly a strip only feature. It allows you to come up on the converters stall and will allow the car to launch at an rpm higher than what the vehicles brakes can hold the engine to. My 8" converter stalls at 5000 rpm but the launches are too violent to be consistant. Instead I use a 2 step with the transbrake and launch at 3500 rpm which will flash the converter and make a softer launch.

Fast3rdGen

how are the shifts with those manual valve bodies? nice and hard? i haven't been able to road test mine yet as i am still runnin new fuel and brake lines from my 9" install and trans rebuild.

Fast3rdGen

hey stephen....i got a couple questions about your car......what offset wheels did you go with? also do you have any problems with flexing being that you got t-tops? reason i am askin is except for the big block we got about identicle cars and a few people i know are tellin me my t-topped car won't hold up to the power i'm makin.

XxPichulonxX

if the 700-r4 isn't a performance trans then what the hell is it doing in our cars?

Fast3rdGen

my 700r4 was in excellent shape when i got my car.....blew up my 305 and put in a 350 bored .030 over with MAYBE 350hp. when i pulled the tranny to swap over to the th400 the tailshaft fell out the back, and the input shaft came out with the torque convertor. i only had the motor in for about 2-3 months and did no drag racing with it and i didn't abuse it cuz i was still breaking in my motor.......that is why it's not a performance transmission and they only mate it to a 5.0 and 5.7tpi whick make no where near 300hp stock. the only exception maybe being the 93 lt1 f-bodies had the newer 700r4's.

AlkyIROC

GM hasn't produced a true "performance" car since the late 60's.

A performance tranny for any kind of racing needs to take a lot of abuse. The 700R4 just isn't made like that. Sure you can spend a ton of money to beef it up but why not spend less to build a TH350 or a TH400? Dragstrip and oval track cars don't need OD. Why carry around that extra weight? Even using a Powerglide is a good performance tranny but not with any stock parts. A complete aftermarket PG is the best choice however a lot of cars benifit more from a third gear. Although the 700R4's low first gear and OD are good for the street that gear spread between first and second gear is too great for any proper dragstrip action. The rpms drop too much during that shift.

Nice or hard shift? I can't say. I shift at 6700 rpm and with a very high stall converter I never feel it shift at low rpms because the converter slips so much at those lower speeds.

My rims are 15x10 with 5.5" backspace. My 9" diff is out of a 1970 F100 so it's not exactly the same width as a third gen diff but it's very close.

The SFC and 6 point rollbar have stiffened up the chassis. There are no cracks anywhere in my roof. There's a lot of wrinkling in the floor before I converted over to ladder bars from the lower control arms pushing forward and up. My engine and tranny mounts are solid also. I think a hardtop car will start cracking the roof before a T-top one will. I've never had a T-top come off either from any flexing. I can't run without the T-tops unless I have a full roll cage and window net.

Bob86ZZ4

I had a reverse pattern manual valve body in my 700r4. Hated it. No engine braking as stated above. Also, I concur with above statements about 700r4's are no good. I gave up on them and went with the th400/Gear Vendors setup. Wow, am I happy. The only manual valve body I could find that provides engine braking is a forward pattern. No big deal to me. It works very well. Firm shifts. More fun to drive than putting it in "D". If you are making any serious power consider dumping the 700r4 before spending too much money on it and wishing you hadn't. Been there, done that.