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Powerglide or TH400

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Old Jul 3, 2007 | 09:09 PM
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Default Powerglide or TH400

The t56 is out of the car, and now I've finally given in with an automatic tranny. The car will be making 700-800 on the street, 800 plus at the track. (370 TT)

The car will see the street more often then it will see the track.

My question is is the powerglide being a two speed kill the streetablity?
My father swears by the powerglide due to his consistancy with it compared to his TH 400.

Any comments are great
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Old Jul 3, 2007 | 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by bret97gsx
The t56 is out of the car, and now I've finally given in with an automatic tranny. The car will be making 700-800 on the street, 800 plus at the track. (370 TT)

The car will see the street more often then it will see the track.

My question is is the powerglide being a two speed kill the streetablity?
My father swears by the powerglide due to his consistancy with it compared to his TH 400.

Any comments are great
TH400 or Powerglide, both will be 1:1 final drive. Streetability is going to be about the same. If the car is pretty light then go with the Powerglide. It's a lighter unit and has less parasitic loss.
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Old Jul 4, 2007 | 02:48 PM
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Like GMRACER said, if it's a light car, go with a glide. If it weighs more than 3100 or 3200, I would go with the turbo 400.
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 02:58 AM
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Powerglides arent just for light cars, stock camaros had powerglides from the factory and they weight in at 3700lbs give or take.

Listen to your father, hes right, those transmissions are the best, specially for the street trust me race with a powerglide compared to a 400 and you will see a HUGE difference. Alot of track cars use powerglides due to there quick ratio change and 2 gears.
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 06:46 AM
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Put a 400 in it if you do a lot of street driving. You'll enjoy it a lot more!
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 10:02 AM
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The car does not have to be light to use a glide. mine weighs in a 3600lb race weight. I rock a glide. car picked up a good bit over the 400(from the same builder) as for street driving. in a 400 and any high hp car 1st is good to like 10 mph and useless on a launch. the glide is good to like 20 cruising and much better in a race .LOL
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 11:01 AM
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I personally went with a TH400 because I didn't feel a glide had enough oomph for street driving in 1st gear. The 2.48 1st gear helps to move the car easier. I run 2.75 gears because I want good highway drivability (they work great at the track as well) so a glide really wouldn't work for me. My car is also 3900lbs with just me an a full tank of gas and I don't even have a rollbar yet Oink oink.

Since you are going turbo you will be using a tight converter wich might make driving worse with a glide.

It's your car and your choice though. I street drive mine regularly and could not live with a glide. Your car could be completely different though. I'd suggest that if you do a RMVB th400 that you have them setup 2nd so that it doesn't freewheel if you use a gear set similar to me. I drive a lot in 2nd gear in town.

PS. i've found that anything over about 650 RWHP feels the same on nitto drag radials, the extra HP just goes to wheelspin on the street. It's usable at the track though.
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 12:13 PM
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th400 ???! Nothing against the PG as you really couldnt go wrong with that either, but for more street than strip duty, the th400 is the way to go, IMO.
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Old Jul 5, 2007 | 09:15 PM
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wow thanks for all the replies...

The car won't be driven much, probably five times a month. I would be mainly going from a roll, 20mph plus. Unless I was at the track. TH400 seems to be the choice, but still debating. Id like to hear what others with experience with the two would say.
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Old Sep 14, 2007 | 10:59 PM
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just wondering what the difference would be between these two setup's.
say your street driven 650 hp car at the track.
The first trans would be a powerglide. 1.80 1st gear and 1.00 2nd. 4.56 gears out back with 28 inch slicks.
The second trans would be a TH400. You use the first and second gear for racing on the track just like the glide. Only using a higher rear end ratio like 3.08 or something similiar. My point being use only 1st and 2nd on the 400 trans for racing and use the 3d gear 1.00:1 as an overdrive.

Anybody out there doing this. Am I wrong in my thinking.

PS. Just having a few beers and thinking. This could be very wrong. Don't crack down to hard.
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Old Sep 15, 2007 | 03:38 AM
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I have driven my TH400 with a 3.73, a 2.73, and now a 4.10 gear.
3.73 was a good gear but I like the 4.10s even better. Its a weekend only car so I can live with the revs on the hiway.
The 2.73 gear sucked for performance but only because I have a stock internal LT1 and it just doesn't have the nuts to use a 2.73 gear. Car felt like a dog. Ran much lower revs on the hiway though, just not fun.

My opinion is if its going to be driven on the street cruisin and such run the TH400 it will be much more fun. If mostly track and you have the horsepower a glide will run the number.
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Old Sep 15, 2007 | 06:20 AM
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I would go with a glide personally. Neither one of them have overdrive so what is the HUGE deal?
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Old Sep 16, 2007 | 11:52 PM
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Originally Posted by WE TODD DID
Put a 400 in it if you do a lot of street driving. You'll enjoy it a lot more!
+1 on th400 for street, If you want to launch harder another vote for the 400.
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Old Sep 17, 2007 | 12:03 AM
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If you're willing to gear it for max rpm/speed at the track, do a glide. If you want highway gearing and still be quick, do a 400. The glide needs all the rear gear it can get to help get first gear moving.

Also...the glide will need a more precise converter to work great. What I mean is...a 400 with a tight converter can be as quick as a glide with a perfect converter in relation to the torque peak, etc.

Street manners? with 800hp, your last worry is getting in and out of traffic politely. They both cruise in a 1:1 ratio so it doesn't matter.
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Old Sep 17, 2007 | 09:54 AM
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+1 on the PG....

What ever you decided do go with make sure you have the proper safety equipment, SFI bell, SFI case or shield, SFI liner for PG, 800hp is no joke and depending on how fast you go you might not pass tech if you don't have them, also get straight cut 1.8 gears, the 1.76 are crap.

That being said, the 1.8 low gear og the PG will place more of a load on the turbo's and causing them to spool much harder than the Th400.... now if you choices where between a 210 Th400 or a PG i would go with the 210th400, you wouldn't have the huge drop you get in a pg that could drop you out of your power band if your converter isn't matched properly.
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