how is this combo for a daily driver? or should i go with 410s and a 700R4 trans or 3.73 with a th350?
can i have some goods and bads of both?


thanks guys

mike

3.73's if you plan on cruising any distance with a th350,4.ll's with OD but I'm not sold on the strength of OD transmissions.

700R4's suck IMO, been through three of them in my truck. Just plain junk, even after having the experts work on them. If you plan on driving this car hard at all forget about the 700r4. JMO

3.55's or tops,373's
JMHO and experience.

awesome, please keep em comin, im real unsure of what kinda combo i wanna run, any advise would be great

I've got 4.10's and a TH350....I don't care for the combo that much, mainly cuz the engines not set up to run with them.

If you just run around town go with the 4.10s if you get on the hiway you might think about 3.55s

Originally posted by BruteSBC:
awesome, please keep em comin, im real unsure of what kinda combo i wanna run, any advise would be great What combo is that?

I've got 3.73's right now with my 454 and TH350.. Performance is very good and RPM's are not bad at all @ 70MPH (with 28" tall tires) on the highway BUT, in the 12 bolt I'm building right now I'm going with 4.10's. Mine is not my daily driver and the cruising around town I do is 30-40MPH. My local track is only a 15 minute drive so I think I'll be able happy with it... we'll see.

If using an overdrive trans, don't you want to go to a beefed up 200R-4?

Depending on the motor and the tire size, 3.55 - 3.73 is very tolerable on the highway at 65MPH with a 28" tall tire. This was pretty much standard Detroit issue back in the day.

I think it'll boil down to what you want and expect from the combo you decide to go with. Also, a determining factor will be how you intend to use the car...daily driver, street/strip, or track car with an occational dive on the street.
If you're looking for off the line performance, and don't mind revving high on the freeway/highway, then by all means go with 4.11s and a TH350. If you still want that off the line take off but don't want to suffer on the freeway, then 3.73s are a better choice. Others, as the few that have already chimed in, will tell you 3.55s or numerically lower is your best bet for freeway/highway driving.
If the car is going to be a daily driver, not driven very hard, then I think a well built 700R4 with 4.11s is a great combo. 3.73s and a 700R4 is good, but, why not just go to 4.11s and take advantage of that overdrive? Like a few others have also already mentioned, the 700R4 isn't a very tough tranny to duke it with. I have heard that you can buy a "race" built 700R4 and beat on it all day long with no problems at all, except for an empty wallet and bank account. All in all, what how do you intend to use the car? What do you want from it? And #1, will you be happy with it?
In case if you're wondering how high you'll be revving with 4.11s and a TH350, I have the proposed set up and I rev between 3200-3500rpms @ 65-70mph with a 28" tall tire. If you can handle that, then the only question is, why not? And go for it! If that's too high, then you might consider 3.73s or perhaps numerically lower gears. I believe 4.11s and a 700R4 rev around 2800rpms@65mph, but I could be off. Good luck, and most importantly, as long as your happy....why not? graemlins/thumbsup.gif

well i wanna run an air gap intake, 750 DP carb, 10 or so :1 compression, undecided with vortec heads or a different type. i just wanna run mid- low 12s and have the car be Streetable, gas milage doesnt matter. however the combo is going in a car that is set up for a 700r4 and thats why i wanted to know, cuz i can get a crossmember and adapt it to a 350 trans, but then my Subframe connectors wont work.

Run the gears that will get you the proper peak HP rpm when crossing the finishline for your engine.


I shift at 6500rpm, putting 3.73 in. Could use 4.10s but the th350 I drive freeway to gatherings alot.

I'm still trying to figure out what effect lower numerical gears have on the life and health of the transmission. Right now I have a 454/TH350/4.11 combo and it revs way too high on the highway especially if I want to go on Power Tour next summer. Problem is the converter I have stalls around 3000 RPM with the 454. What happens if I would switch to 3.00 gears? My cruise RPM would be considerably less than my stall speed. How long would the tranny last? I have a 700R4 but I broke it twice behind a 350 and am leary about it's strength with the 550-600lb-ft of torque the BBC makes.

yeah, im totally tossed on this

I had that exact combo once.

Back when the speed limit was 55 mph.

It didn't like cruising above about 60 or 65 for any length of time (like, 30 seconds). It was a 78 Z28, stock short block, double-hump heads, Comp 268HE cam, Holley carb... ran OK for what it was, but it was no race car.

I'd say, if this is a street-driven car, you probably won't like it very much for very long. It'll launch like leaving an aircraft carrier, it'll spend a grand total of about 2 seconds in the lower gears, and then it'll be in 3rd with the motor tached to the moon and people driving by you on both sides, with you wondering why you're not going any faster any more.

If it's a race-only car, or at least mostly race with occasional Sat night exhibitions, it would probably be OK; but if you expect to actually use the car, 3.73 is about as far as you'll likely want to go.

and that was a good part of the decision maker. thank you.

what about an OD trans?

If you have the money to spend on a "race" built 700R4 and converter...then by all means, give it a shot! If you don't have the money to spend, then your best bet is sticking with a TH350. If your looking to buy a stock 700R4 from a friend, wrecking, or happen to know someone who's selling one for cheap and all it needs is a stock rebuild, then you might have yourself a decent tranny for daily/light driving. But since your looking for mid to low 12s, that 700R4 will not hang!
I'm just guessing here, but, I believe you'd be looking to spend anywhere between $800 to 1G for a well built 700R4 to last you, and that's not including the converter, which I'd imagine would run you another $600 or so. Now, like I mentioned earlier, if you have the money, then by all means, go for it. If you don't have the money, or just don't want to spend that much, then your best bet is going with a TH350.