Get Reliable Overdrive For Your Gm Muscle Car When You Build a 200-4R for 1,000 HP
Art Carr loves the 700-R4 overdrive automatic transmission as much as the next guy. The problem is, these transmissions blow up when they’re subjected to real power. That’s why Carr is a huge supporter of the TH200-4R overdrive automatic. Blessed by GM’s Hydramatic Division with superior guts, it only takes a few well-chosen tweaks to make a TH200-4R live behind as much as 1,000 horsepower. Got a 6-71 supercharged 468 rat motor in your daily driver—like Robbie Whitlock’s ’66 Chevelle? Carr can build you a TH200-4R that’ll take the gaff.
We stopped by Art’s California Performance Transmission and came away impressed by the 200-4R’s clear advantage over competing four-speed automatics. First off, the TH200-4R is an analog transmission. That means, unlike the 4L80-E and its lesser “E” siblings, it isn’t dependent on a computer to tell it what to do. This fact alone means the cost of a rebuildable core is much lower, a savings that quickly trickles down to your wallet.
While it is true that the 700-R4 is also analog, and rebuildable cores are priced as low as the TH200-4R, the 700-R4 has a fatal flaw in the form of a weak input shaft and sun gear shell assembly. Its lightweight aluminum construction limits its capacity to around 500 horsepower—less if the car is heavy.