TH400, what will this hold?
400 T transmission
Manual Rev. valve body
Raybestos “RED” clutches/ band
Deep pan
Roller output bearing
Dual feed direct drum
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Trans is $600. He said he could build a th350 that can hold 650hp for around $550-600.
Trans is $600. He said he could build a th350 that can hold 650hp for around $550-600.
You can take a stock valve body and modify it to a fully manual valve body but if it's a reverse pattern it's a $200 valve body.
Your clutches, bearings and pan are easily $200.
Even if it is only a 16 element sprag (which is frowned upon by many), I see it as a great thing! That means you have the early style direct drum... for $60-90 you can get a 34 element sprag and it is simple to change.
However, I don't believe him one bit. If he rebuilt it and is selling it for a profit (as a business), he didn't do anything to it. I am a fan of "you get what you pay for".
And if everything he said is true, switch to a 34 element sprag and you can throw 800 crank horse at it without blinking.
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I know he has a pretty good rep in the area and people from local forums either know him or know of him, so if I were to get screwed it wouldn't take much to ruin that rep in such a small location.
So the trans + 34 element and I'm good to go? Appreciate the input everyone.
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The biggest issue here is GM made 16 element sprags for 3-4 years and then the rest of the TH400's life was spent with a 16 element roller. The roller design isn't bad by any means and it's difficult to explain why they fail. Elements are the equivalent to ball bearings. Basically, a roller assembly has teeth that don't allow it to slip and force it to strip/bend/blow out the elements while a sprag assembly is rounded and if push comes to shove it will just keep doing its job.
The sprag assemblies are desired by anybody with half a brain but in order to switch from roller back to sprag it is pricey (around $400 aftermarket) and even used it will cost close to $200... if you can even find a used sprag style direct drum. Why he didn't change the sprag (if it really is a sprag) to a 32 element for $60-90 is beyond me.
I just can't see how this transmission is full of half-decent parts if the parts list adds up more than the asking price... now add a good TH400 core and that's another $200-300.
A more logical solution is he's old school. I believe a dual feed direct drum is when you just add extra clutch packs. Not very good with my terminology though. I know a stock valve body can be modified to be manual pretty easily so once again he isn't spending any money on it.




