I'm thinking about swapping out my turbo350 for a 700-R4 in my 3/4T suburban. I <U>would</U> perfer to leave it as a columb-shift. Is this feasible as is;or would I have to swap columbs &amp; dash systems to a later model. My burb is an '87, I can't remember what yr GM started installing 4spd AT in 'burbs ( any one know). If I have to mount the shifter in the floor are there any kits that make this job easier.

The biggest problem with swithing to an overdrive tranny is that all of the GM automatics have an extra shift postion for the overdrive. So installing it into your truck is easy, but getting it to work and look factory is harder when it comes to the shifter. A good place to look at shifters would be a place like Summit racing or Advance Adapters

The 700-R4s were around already in '87, so there should be column
shifter that you could replace the existing one with. I can't
recall off-hand, but I'm pretty sure that a column out of a regular
truck chassis would work, but if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.



A few words on the 700-R4s. If you haven't acquired one yet, I
would recommend going with a '91 year model or newer as these were the
strongest of the series (there were three series). These trannys
also had the highest number of vanes in the pump (13 or 14) that helped
in reducing harmonics as well as increasing the volume of fluid.
Also, it would play in the long run to "beef" it up a little. At
the least you should beef up the overdrive clutches as these are the
first to go when the tranny is overstressed. You can do this
rather inexpensively by installing a shift kit and aftermarket
servos. This well help especially if you tow. Also maybe
check into adding an aftermarket cooler with a tranny gauge. I
know it sounds like you'd be spending a lot, but if these trannies are
taken care of they can last a very long time. Another thing that
is critical to these trannys is the TV cable. If it is not
adjusted right, you can ruin the tranny within a matter of minutes
(speaking from experience). I rebuild these transmissions, so if
you have any questions in that area, let me know. I can send you
links of how to properly adjust the TV cable. Good luck