[fantm2flyer]

I've seen threads about Hydramatic transmission interchanges and the 200R-4 transmission is listed as a possible, but most of the references are for an older 200R-4. Is a 200 R-4 transmission from a 1987 Monte Carlo a good replacement for a 1957 Star Chief Hydramatic? Will it just bolt up? Are adapters available? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[SRR]

How will the starter mount up?

[JLMounce]

My understanding is that all 200r4 transmissions have the dual BOP and Chevy bolt pattern and should also have a 3/4 bell. It should by that nature bolt straight up to your engine without issues related to the starter. However, because I'm not 100% sure on that, if you are looking at transmissions, verify this for yourself first.

You didn't state what engine your Star Chief has in it, whether it's the original, or a possible hopped up swap from later v8's. The 200r4 in stock form is not known to handle the torque of Pontiac engines well. In a big, heavy car like the Star Chief, that can be more of a concern.

If this is a basically stock car that is used for nothing but cruising, I don't see an issue. If the car has been hopped up at all or sees regular wide open throttle runs, a performance rebuild of either the 200r4 or a 700r4 would be recommended. Given the weight of the car and assuming the factory engine, the 700r4 may be better suited for your application. With either the 200 or 700, you are losing 1 forward under-driven gear for an overdrive gear. The 700r4 however has a gear spread and 1st gear ratio that more closely matches the original hydra-matic in your car now. Going to the 200r4 is a pretty big torque multiplied reduction over your current transmission.

The only real difference with going to a 700r4 in this application would be the need for an adapter plate. Those are readily available and economical, so I wouldn't rule it out just on that bit of information alone.

[694.1]

Will not bolt to a 1960 or earlier block.

[fantm2flyer]

Thanks for all the responses! I should have given more info about my car in the original post. It is a bone-stock Star Chief with the original 347 engine and Hydramatic transmission, strictly for cruising and car shows. The transmission leaks pretty bad and it has a very hard shift into 3rd. I'm taking it out to have a shop rebuild it. In doing research to see what my options were, I read in another forum about interchangeable transmissions and the 200R-4 was one of them, but they only mentioned late 60's versions. I don't know how hard they are to source, but this one from an '87 Monte Carlo popped up for sale locally and at a pretty good price, so I was thinking about grabbing it up. Fingers crossed that the rebuild of my Hydramatic solves the problem. We'll see. Thanks again for the advice!

[JLMounce]

I spent some time digging on this further last night. Yeah you're going to have a nightmare of a time getting a more modern transmission bolted up to your pre 60 block.

The hydra-matic with it's 4 forward gears and very steep 1st gear is a much better gear spread then the more modern 4 speed transmission with 3 forward gears and an overdrive. I would have your factory transmission rebuilt a look to a rear gear change if you desire a better highway cruising rpm. Do you know what gear ratio is in the rear-end?

[Bill Hanlon]

... and SRR's comment "How will the starter mount up?" has yet to be answered. Later ('64 or so) Pontiac V8s mounted the starter to the engine while the earlier engines mounted the starter to the bellhousing. So whatever you use for a bellhousing/adapter to adapt your much newer transmission to you 1957 engine would need to offer mounting holes for the starter bolts. Probably hard to find.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by Bill Hanlon

... and SRR's comment "How will the starter mount up?" has yet to be answered. Later ('64 or so) Pontiac V8s mounted the starter to the engine while the earlier engines mounted the starter to the bellhousing. So whatever you use for a bellhousing/adapter to adapt your much newer transmission to you 1957 engine would need to offer mounting holes for the starter bolts. Probably hard to find.

Butler does offer a started mount adapter plate for 60-63 engines, prior to the starter being block mounted. However, because the OP has an original 347, that adapter won't match up to the Pre 1960 bellhousing bolt pattern.

You'd need a pre 1960 to post 1960 adapter that included the starter mount. You would likely need a post 1964 flexplate and the converter pilot would need to be sized to accept the pre 1960 register and lengthened by the difference of the adapter plate and thickness/spacing of the more modern flex plate.

This is at least based on the bit of research I did into this last night.

Anything is possible with the right knowledge, people and money, but for a car that is only a weekend cruise and car show vehicle, rebuilding the factory transmission and maybe changing a rear gear is a much more straight forward way to deal with this. At least to me anyway.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by fantm2flyer

I read in another forum about interchangeable transmissions and the 200R-4 was one of them, but they only mentioned late 60's versions.

Find another forum. There ARE NO "late '60s" 200 transmissions.

The piece-of-crap 200s were introduced in '75 or '76. Then came the 200C with a torque-converter clutch. After that, the 4-speed overdrive 2004-R showed up in '81.

There was a two-speed "300" transmission in the '60s. Maybe that's what they're thinking of.

[Goatracer1]

The 200-4R would be a complete pain in the butt to install. Nobody even mentioned the fact that your bell housing has the frame mounts on it. In stock form they also will not stand up to a lot of torque/HP although with the correct mods they will.

[fantm2flyer]

Okay, I think I have enough input from you guys to realize that my best option is to have my Hydramatic rebuilt, and forget about swapping for anything else. That's the plan for now. Anyway, thanks for the advice

[694.1]

If I could change one thing on mine, the 1-2 shift is very quick and the 2-3 shift, rather delayed. Don't know if they are all that way.

[hojs69]

Posted a few days back by another member. Modern transmission and starter adapters for older Pontiacs.

https://wilcap.com/

https://transmissionadapters.com/collections/pontiac

[tom s]

55-60 have one bell ,61-64 big car another.64 A body and 65 and up another bell.Tom