TRANSMISSIONS: SWITCH PITCH VS. 200R4. OLD SCHOOL VS. OVERDRIVE AND DEEP FIRST?

Above, A 200R4 with the adaptor available through Russ Martin and highly recommended by  DualQuadDave on the HAMB. 

You learn something new every day if you listen to the right nailhead gurus. 

Dave Gaines being this blog's subject. 

It's one thing for a nailhead guy to swear by his own parts, but another when a nailhead guy who makes a living selling nailhead parts and modifications swears by someone else's stuff. Case in point, the trans adaptor above available through Nailhead.com

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It all began innocently enough as I was researching nailhead intakes on the HAMB and came across some posts by DualQuadDave. It reached out to him with PM that soon led to a discussion on the topic of nailhead intakes, and transmissions.

When I told Dave of my plan to run a vintage switchpitch, he threw his .02 in. But I liked what he had to say, which is basically this: the 200R4 with the right parts is a great choice particularly in cars that need all the interior room you can get.

Here was Dave's logic about running a 200R4 using Russ Martin's adaptor. With my 9" rear's gears and rear tire diameter in mind (3.50/29.6'') , Dave felt that the 200R4 would be a great choice based on the following criteria:

A numerically lower first gear of 2.40, combined with the overdrive forth would give me the best of both world's as and much floorboard space as possible. And any 200R4 built well would do the trick. Granted, the tranny would cost more than the switch pitch I've been thinking about and there is the expense of the trans adaptor. Nonetheless, Dave made a pretty compelling case for spending m6 money with someone else.

Of course, we also talked about Dave's upgraded pushrods and springs for the nailhead so I'm not off the hook yet. Dave explained that hardened push rods and better springs make all the difference in performance so I've resigned myself to give it some real thought.

On the subject of induction, Dave is a big fan of dual exhaust set-ups and felt Russ Martin's manifolds were my best bet. But he was also a huge fan of 2X6 intakes, but strongly recommended getting the car running as phase one, and going with multiple carbs as phase two. 

And so there you have it. More to think about. Thanks for all the great info, Dave. 

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 a which requires some modicompact transmission. 

 tranny and wo