Drag Racing Tech - th400 guys and weekend cruising

How many guys have a th400 and actually drive them around A LOT.

what is your setup and how much power do you make?

I have a mild cam setup with 3.23 gears with 275/50/15 tires and boosting the car but the setup is not in yet. SOme say I will be fine driving it with the trans and others will say it will blow the tranny. Which is true?

I don't understand the question....people have driven for unknown amount of miles on 350th/400th/PG's with no real issues in stock form...sure some needed rebuilt due to wearing out from no maintenance/and other issues.
Just because it's behind an LS motor, it doesn't mean it will fail quicker.
As long as the tranny temps are kept in check, along with fluid and filter changes, it should live happy.
Now it should have been built to handle the power you'll be throwing at it to start with also.

it will support 1200hp easily. A lot of people just say that running it N/A will blow the tranny up and make it not last long at all. It will just destroy the trans because im running it n/a with a 3.23 gear and a mild cam on a 113lsa

Trans temp will kill any transmission. I run a cam/spray set up with 4.10s/28s and drove it round trip 60+mi to the track a few times and it was fine...annoying, but fine. On a boosted set up with a 3.23 gear it wouldnt be bad at all. If its just a week end cruiser, I wouldnt think twice.

Like posted above keep it cool it should live a long and healthy life. You have to remember these 400s came behind big blocks and usually paired with steeper gears like 3.73s and 4.10a

I have a cooler for it and thats bout it

I've had no problem driving mine... I love the 400! 650+hp, 3.70 gears, 275/50-17 tires, B&M cooler. Drive it an hour and a half to the track, all around town, highway, etc. Cruises about 3,000 RPM with the 6L80 I cruised about 2,600RPM so not much difference really.

anything else I should know?

I drive mine all the time. I drove it from Florida to NC and back to FL before. Just get a big trans cooler and change your fluid out every year and you will be fine.

Trans temp will kill any transmission.

Exactly, having a guage for the TH-400 is considered mandetory for regular street driving.

As for the amount of power the trans can take, it all depends on what parts are in there. TH-400 are strong but has limits and depending on the set up and use some go right to the Power Glide, but some want 3 gears.... all depends on what you can handle.

Trans temp will kill any transmission. I run a cam/spray set up with 4.10s/28s and drove it round trip 60+mi to the track a few times and it was fine...annoying, but fine. On a boosted set up with a 3.23 gear it wouldnt be bad at all. If its just a week end cruiser, I wouldnt think twice.

What cooler are you running? What speed/rpm are you turning? I have the same gearing/tire size and my tranny gets hot pretty quick on the hwy.

Typical b&m cooler mounted to the bottom of the front bumper with a deep pan. Rpms were maybe 3800

Bypass the radiator and run the biggest cooler you can reasonably fit....you won't over cool it.
Well unless you're in Antarctica maybe :D

I don't understand the question either. Over history didn't several hundred thousand GM cars and trucks drive millions of miles with TH 400's? On the street too. Oh my!
My only guess for people telling the OP something completely stupid like that is due to the "performance application" aspect of it... but still kind of an odd question.
I have a TH 400 in my '00 Camaro SS. I can drive it anywhere, as long as I don't mind cruising at 60 MPH on the 70/75 MPH Interstate while Toyota Camry's drive around me shaking their fists. :lol:

There's no magical different concept for a TH400. Build it appropriate or above your power level and like everyone else has said, run a trans cooler and a nice pan. There is nothing special that needs to be done.

The big difference is the high stall converters that people commonly run on the street today VS the stock or very mild stalls most everyone ran on the street back in the day. That is where the heat comes from.

Al

I've been running the TH400 for years with no issues at all. Perhaps 2K miles on it. Swap Filter and fluid and it's been very reliable. Now since mine is a manual valve body there are things to NOT do on them. For example I broke a sprag once being an idiot and downshifting manually and flooring it on full boost. I run a 4000 stall with a 3.42 rear end ratio. Highway is fine also with no issues. Most folks with very high stalls don't like it on the street but with 4K it's no issue and just fine on the highway. I run a cooling pan and a remote transmission cooler under the nose where I get lots of air.

You should have no issues with a well built transmission to start with.

Power is something that I'm not sure about on the street. At 10PSI I'm pulling 600RWHP.
That's the minimum I can run and what I tested on the dyno. I run 14PSI on the street and 23-24 at the strip. The tranny is holding a little over 1000RWHP at this point with no issues.

It will drive fine. Mine is big converter and 4.11's on a 28 tire. Turns about 3200 at 60. The large B&M cooler with fan and the fan comes on at 176. Trans temp stays right there.

The big difference is the high stall converters that people commonly run on the street today VS the stock or very mild stalls most everyone ran on the street back in the day. That is where the heat comes from.

Al

Bingo right there.
Big ass cooler and temp guage is a must.

I drove mine everywhere...bolt on's 4.11's on a 28" tire....never had an issue...all with a 4400 converter....

People tell me my cooler is as big as there radiator:jest:

I drive mine everywhere I want and never have a problem. Did it with the old stall on motor and new tighter stall for nitrous. New stall is much nicer. 4.10's/28's 3000rpm at 60mph.

I used to cruise mine but with the new converter its not gonna happen. I was driving it with a 4400 and 4.11's on a 28 with no problems.

I have that set up with a Gear Vendor Over-Drive installed. I havent driven yet still waiting on some parts to show up to get the car ready for the road!

Joe

I had a th400 in my LS1 car with a 5000 stall and trans cooler the size of the radiator. I drove it on the street at least once a week and never had an issue. Even on hot days in traffic the gauge never went past 160. When I first put the car together in the late winter and the first few times I drove the car I thought the trans temp gauge was broken, because it never moved off 130 where the gauge started. It wasn't until I laid into it a few times that I saw it creep up to 140 or so.

How many guys have a th400 and actually drive them around A LOT.

what is your setup and how much power do you make?

I have a mild cam setup with 3.23 gears with 275/50/15 tires and boosting the car but the setup is not in yet. SOme say I will be fine driving it with the trans and others will say it will blow the tranny. Which is true?



Daily drive mine for years in the south... Drove it all over and would drive two hours to the track and drive home... Drove countless highway trips at 75-80mph... It lasted 5 years before it had any issue and probably would have Ben avoided if I had a Trans temp gauge.

I drive mine all over... RMVB TH400, 5400 stall spragless 8" converter, 4.71 gear and 29" tire. I had two of the big 11x11 B&M supercoolers (the biggest ones you can get), both mounted on the radiator with -6 lines plumbed in a series. Never got above 180 in 95 degree heat on the freeway at 3600rpm. So I took one of the coolers off and now it gets about 195-205 on the freeway in the same heat. Ends up around 215 after a pass bringing it up to 5000 on the transbrake (quickly! don't let it sit up there). Trans temp gauge is on the return line from the cooler right at the transmission.

I am going to switch to a 4.30ish gear next season so I can cruise around at 3000 or so, the exhaust is ridiculous turning 3500+ rpm.

I drove mine for years with long tubes into off road y pipe and that's it lol