I have a 1994 firebird formula. The transmission is shot and i am trying to decide the best route. Trying to figure out if i should get the old one rebuilt or get a new tranny. i am slowly going to turn it into a drag car but for now want to keep it street so i can enjoy driving it around on the road. 4l60E's are god awful expensive for most of what i have seen. could i put a turbo350 in with relative little trouble. not sure about electronic shifting etc. thanks in advance for the help

 

Where are you going to find a NEW 4L60E?

Nowhere.

If you have a 5 year old vehicle under warranty and the transmission goes bad you're most likely getting a rebuilt one put in by the dealer.

Your options are which rebuilt one. Hope that answers that question.

The next questions are, what do you consider a drag car? Is the drag car going to happen or is this a dream?

The turbo 350 needs to be a long tail or you need to put money on a driveshaft. Then you need to put money in a torque arm mount or just go for the tunnel mounted one now since you might (or might not) need that for your drag car conversion.

Who is building the drag car? If you plan to build it then you must have some mechanical skills. If you can build a drag car you can rebuild your 4L60E for probably less than $300. Now we all now you've got a th350 (sarcasm). But you could put that $300 towards rebuilding the 4L60E or you could put it towards the th350 swap.

Also, what do you consider cruising? how fast? After 40 mph you will eventually hate not having overdrive. And I'm not some young guy pushing overdrive transmissions, I've driven the drag car I had on the highway with a th400, gears, open headers, and slicks. A 468 big block turning 5000 rpm for 45 minutes, you literally could not hear your own voice. But I damn sure wouldn't do that today. 5000 rpm at 80 mph gets old fast when you daily drive it, even in a stock vehicle.