putting a transmission in my 81 firebird
 

ok, my friend who is a mechanic placed a 350 chevy ( which is really a 383 stroker) into my car without changing the transmission. after doing so, he found out that I need a new transmission because the old one wouldn't change gears. He quoted me 2k for him to find a good transmission to put into my car and his labor. I believe that he is asking for too much so I decided to come to a chevy forum to get the low down on how much a good transmission cost.

His prices were
1200 for a junkyard transmission
1600 for rebuild transmission
2k for new transmission


Are these good prices or not? I'm no mechanic but they look pretty steep to me.

first, are we talkin auto or manual trans? either way, 1200 for a used tranny is steep, from my experience anyway. 1600 for rebuilt may be a little high.

sorry about the late reply. I'm talking about an auto transmission. I'm thinking about getting a rebuilt transmission. What are the usual prices for a tranny for a engine like mines?

That is very steep. I have an 80 firebird that I just put a brand new transmission in. And when I say brand new i mean freshly rebuilt. You can buy kits to completely rebuild a transmission for a couple hundred bucks. Transtar.com is where my dad used to get all his parts from. He owned a transmission shop for 30 years (thats how I got my transmission rebuilt) so granted it didnt cost me anything for labor. But $1600 is rediculous. Buy a freshly rebuilt turbo 350 for 500 bucks off craigslist or ebay.

I am curious on why your old transmission wont change gears with the 383?
Did you smoke the old tranny with the 383's HP vs your old engines?

If your old transmission is a T350 you should pull it and have it rebuilt to handle the HP of your new motor and get a Stall converter, to get the most out of it you will also have to change the gears in the rear end. I would look at a 2800 stall and 3.73 gears as a starting point.