Auto Transmission from '85 Grand National - free for pickup

One of my coworkers lost her husband a couple years back. They are finally selling the house and have to move his currently disassembled 1985 Grand National. Their son is taking the car and parts, but her husband had purchased an upgraded trans for it - he was doing a whole range of power upgrades when he passed. She asked me if I knew anyone that would want the original auto transmission. She doesn't think there was anything wrong with it, and the car is fairly low mileage, but it's been sitting in a shop for maybe a decade.

Free for pickup in Warner Robins GA but needs to be gone before the end of September. hit me up here and I can put you in touch with her.

Can anyine heading to the challenge grab this for me please?

200R4 correct? They can be built to be tough...um I had to do that after blowing the one in my GN.

In reply to Patrick:

Man school just started today or I would have done that as a Friday day trip. I don't think we can get it by the end of September.

I'm not sure if the 1985 GN and the 86-87 GN used the same transmission, but it's worth looking into. The 86-87 cars were intercooled, and made a bunch more power than the 1985 version. I'm not sure if the trans was beefed up for those models, but they may have been.

just my .02

I don't have a clue what it is and neither does she. I might bw able to get her to take a picture of it if you think it can be identified, but not sure how often she's getting over to that house right now.

Patrick wrote: Can anyine heading to the challenge grab this for me please?

Secondary dibs?

The Grand National 200-4R is a very special beast, it's a completely different animal from even the ones put behind the V8 Cadillacs.

they have a couple upgrades, nothing you wouldn't upgrade in a rebuild,(performance) I also would like to come get it,there is a shop I passed last trip I want to Check out.I had one in my X-body Skylark W/455 Mountain car.I spent about 300 bucks for parts and did the Valve body myself manual shift converted to Non Lockup, Great trans.

The 200-4R is what was in all of our company cars (Lesabres)in the 80s that would puke its guts well before 100k miles. I always found it humorous that this was the "strong" transmission that went in the GNXs.

spitfirebill wrote: The 200-4R is what was in all of our company cars (Lesabres)in the 80s that would puke its guts well before 100k miles. I always found it humorous that this was the "strong" transmission that went in the GNXs.

funny how different these two reply's are. ya'll probly didn't like the engine either (4.1L ?)

spitfirebill wrote: The 200-4R is what was in all of our company cars (Lesabres)in the 80s that would puke its guts well before 100k miles. I always found it humorous that this was the "strong" transmission that went in the GNXs.

They are waaay different. Better pump, much larger pistons in the servos, etc.

I found out recently that you CAN upgrade a lane jane 200-4R to GN spec if you have the GN valvebody and GN front pump and access to a machine shop.

In reply to Knurled:

I'm just curious why GM didn't make it stronger if they were putting it in a full size car. Other than that, the cars were fine.

belive me adding two or three vanes to the pump is simple, the monster piston is 25% larger still, you can drill the flow return with a hand drill and knock out the fluid flow plug out with a punch,and you can do a Valve body by paying attention.

I Did It And If I Can so can you. Trying to determine what color and legnth or diameter some springs were(from pics in the manual) was a PIA but I musta done it right.

The one in my Monte held on for about 125,000 very hard miles. If this was closer I'd be there now for it.

spitfirebill wrote: In reply to Knurled: I'm just curious why GM didn't make it stronger if they were putting it in a full size car. Other than that, the cars were fine.

It was the 1980s. I think the idea was you weren't supposed to feel a shift.

Every non-GN 200-4R that I pulled the pan down from, back when 3.8 Regals and 4100 Caddys were regular ol' cars and not collector items, had a half inch of sediment on top of the filter. They just did that

Transmission life went up exponentially when the manufacturers (I think Ford did it first, with the '96 Taurus) realized that when the computer controls the trans as well as the engine, they could cut ignition timing during a shift to smooth it out that way, instead of making the trans slip by design. And then when drive by wire came along, the revolution was completed.

I've had 200-4Rs live just fine behind 700-odd horsepower GN engines. More than that and you really ought to step up to a TH400 though.

Bumping this back up since I'm back in town after a work trip. Here's how I read it so far -
Order of Dibs:
Patrick - if he can arrange transport.
Knurled
GTXVette

There's another factor - the coworker gave the trans to someone else who was going to dispose of it, but it's still available from THAT guy for free, but you'll have to contact him to get it. I have his number that I can PM to you.

So - Patrick, can you find someone to get it?

David I tried to call you and catch you at Lunch but missed. Still on the ready Thanks, Call Or what ever.

I can't find anyone who is close that's going to be in Gainesville too that wouldn't also just keep it for themselves

allright, Patrick bows out. Knurled? If you still want it PM me and I'll give you the guy's contact. If not, it goes to GTXVette

Sweat'n Bullets here. Lol :)