700r from 89 Vandura questions

[89Vandura]

I have a rusty 1989 Vandura with a good 350 and 700r and I'm wondering what it will swap into without too much difficulty. In addition to the differences mentioned in the other thread, I've heard that the van transmissions have a longer bellhousing. Is this correct?

Otherwise, would it be a direct fit for any other g20 van through 1996? Would it fit a G30? I've read those use a 4l80.

What about a pre-Vortec (pre-1996) Suburban/Yukon/Tahoe?

Would it fit those models regardless if they have 4WD or not?

As far as I know, the 350 TBI would fit these pre-Vortec vans/suvs/trucks, but the transmission sounds like it underwent more changes during this 1988-1996 period.

I'm thinking of saving both for an extended van or OBS SUV.

 

[NickTransmissions]

Who told you that transmissions of whichever type or model installed into vans have longer bell housings?

The 700 will technically swap into anything with an engine that has chevy bolt pattern and there's probably adaptor plates available for other engines from other manufacturers. All depends on how much you want to do to make it all work.

1993+ 1/2 ton and a few 3/4 ton GM trucks/vans/SUVs take the 4L60E while most 1991+ 3/4 and 1-ton trucks, vans and suvs take the 4L80E. And of course some had NV4500 manual transmissions as well.

What exactly are you wanting to swap that engine/trans combo into?

 

[L31MaxExpress]

The only non-standard thing I have seen on some of the vans is they used the tailshaft housing with the added mounting holes and had the crossmember in the same position as IIRC a TH400.

 

[Schurkey]

More likely, the tailhousing was different, not the bellhousing.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

The tailhousing was a standard length, just had an added mounting point.

 

[NickTransmissions]

The bell housings were all the same for the Chevy V8 and 4.3L v6 applications. The 700R4s fitted to 60-degree V6 applications had diff bell housing bolt patterns for those smaller engines.

To my knowledge, there were three different 2WD ext housings, all were 4-bolt: "Standard", Corvette and F-Body. Corvette is on the left and F-Body on the right. The standard housing is identical to the F-Body housing except it lacks the axle-torque arm through-bolt locations cast into the side (I dont have an extra standard one handy atm). The F-Body housing will work with any application and case but the Corvette housing is Corvette only - and the Corvette cases will NOT work in any application outside of a Corvette. Those cases have no rear mount bolt hole locations.

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[L31MaxExpress]

You are definitely missing one. My 10/82 built van used this one. I had to snag the same equivalent from a LT1 4L60E Caprice when I put a 4L60E in that van to make it mount as the 700r4 did. This style was for applications using the rear mount. The 4L60E had basically the same housing but the driven speedo gear support area was machined out of it allowing clearence for the VSS reluctor. On the earlier 80s vans atleast the Canadian produced ones, all transmission options had the crossmember in the same position and GM had a tailhousing mount on the 700r4 and the 9" tail TH350C that roughly lined up with a TH400 mount distance. The crossmember was slotted across its upper width about 2" making up for small differences in mounting length distances between the units.

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[NickTransmissions]

You are definitely missing one. My 10/82 built van used this one. I had to snag the same equivalent from a LT1 4L60E Caprice when I put a 4L60E in that van to make it mount as the 700r4 did. This style was for applications using the rear mount. The 4L60E had basically the same housing but the driven speedo gear support area was machined out of it allowing clearence for the VSS reluctor. On the earlier 80s vans atleast the Canadian produced ones, all transmission options had the crossmember in the same position and GM had a tailhousing mount on the 700r4 and the 9" tail TH350C that roughly lined up with a TH400 mount distance. The crossmember was slotted across its upper width about 2" making up for small differences in mounting length distances between the units.

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Thanks, forgot about those. Ive built several with the rear mounting flange but none recently.

 

[89Vandura]

1993+ 1/2 ton and a few 3/4 ton GM trucks/vans/SUVs take the 4L60E while most 1991+ 3/4 and 1-ton trucks, vans and suvs take the 4L80E. And of course some had NV4500 manual transmissions as well.

What exactly are you wanting to swap that engine/trans combo into?

Basically I just have a rusted out 1989 van and I'm thinking of saving the engine and 700r/4L60 for a 3/4 extended van or 1995 and earlier Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban.

So it sounds like the transmission should work, with some possible modifications?

With the 350 TBI, I think I'm limited to these pre-Vortec, pre-OBD2 years because of wiring/computer differences. So that rules out any 1996 and up GM trucks/SUVs.

Does this sound like a good plan? Just seems like it'd be easy enough to save it for a rust-free vehicle.

 

[NickTransmissions]

Basically I just have a rusted out 1989 van and I'm thinking of saving the engine and 700r/4L60 for a 3/4 extended van or 1995 and earlier Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban.

So it sounds like the transmission should work, with some possible modifications?

With the 350 TBI, I think I'm limited to these pre-Vortec, pre-OBD2 years because of wiring/computer differences. So that rules out any 1996 and up GM trucks/SUVs.

Does this sound like a good plan? Just seems like it'd be easy enough to save it for a rust-free vehicle.

93+ 1/2 ton trucks/suvs take 4L60Es but you could put the 700 in there if you wanted, just need the right TV cable bracket which you could transfer from your 89. You will also need an internal/external TCC lock up kit or somehow adapt the vehicle harness and program pcm to control the 700r4's tcc solenoid for any vehicle that's 93-95 (if that's even possible). Once you've got it in, set up and adjust the tv cable and validate settings via pressure testing.

To make it easier, transmission-wise, id look for anything 88-92 but you may have other considerations where a 93-95 better meets those needs.