Well, some of you know I live in NJ and attend Moravian College in PA, 75 minutes away from each other and often come home on the weekend to work my summer job, lend a hand at the lumberyard for a fairly decent paycheck. My El Camino has 159,500 miles on it and frankly, it's done me well. Just my luck though, three days after I sell that Spector to pay off my credit card debt, my tranny starts acting up, starts whining in 1st gear, clunks into 2nd and then doesn't want to go into 3rd without really coaxing it. Took it to the shop today for a quick gander and they're talking rebuild. About $1400-1600. Kinda sucks. Looks like I'll be commuting home even more to pay for the rebuild.
Three or four speed auto, Tim? $1400 - $1600 seems kinda high for either, especially since they'll likely swap it out for a rebuilt unit, rather than rebuild yours. Call around to some tranny shops for estimates, imo.
Good advice Mike, that does seem to be about right though. Us dodge guys are seeing typical prices of 1800+ for our tranny rebuilds. Granted these are computer controlled, and I'm not sure how much bearing that has on price.
my van needs a new transmission as well. but poor me has no money. man i wish a relative would die soon...
I was waiting for you to chime in. 3 Speed Auto she is, w/ OD. I want to make a few calls but this guy comes highly recommended by my family trusted mechanic who goes out of his way to save his customers money. I'll call a few local places about this too.
I was thinking " El Camino? It'll probably have one of those old Turbo 350's." A good rebuilt one shouldn't be hard to come up with. Down here that would be about $1100. Maybe the price difference is geographical somehow?
The El Camino probably has a 350 - 400 turbo. There are tons of them out there. Shouldnt be that expensive. since its rear wheel driven, its easy to replace. the price they quoted should include a new torque converter (around $300.00). When I was in the business, a rebuilt 350 turbo, a rebuilt torque converter with labor was around $1200.00. Our transmissions also came with a 2 yr unlimited mileage warranty.
I would advise against this. If the junkyard tranny craps out a week down the road, you're responsible to pay the labor to have the tranny replaced again. Imo and ime spend the extra $ to get a rebuilt unit (that should last, and comes with a warranty) rather than a used one (that's a crapshoot as to whether it's good or not).
Do you know which OD you have? There's two, the 200R4 and the 700R4. To tell which you have, look at the tranny pan. A rectangular pan is the 700R4, and the non-rectangular pan (that narrows near the crossmember) is the 200R4. The 700 is more expensive than the 200. If you can let me know which you have (and the year and engine size of your Elky), I'll call my tranny man for a ballpark estimate, to see if your guy is close on price.
99% sure it's the 200R4, but I can't get a look now, I'm back in PA. My parents are taking care of this while I'm at school. It's an 87 GMC Caballero with the stock 305.
probably a 700r4, fairly common. Nice ride, that would make a cool project vehicle some day. Stick with a national chain too, that way you can get it serviced anywhere if there's a problem.
We use this guy. He can make a Powerglide live in a 1500+ horsepower car running 6.80's @ 200+ mph. www.competitiontransmission.com
I may look this one up. I swapped a C-6 for A Doug Nash 4sp auto. Jumped my pony up quite a bit. Mike