400 Transmission question

[Jus" Roach]

I found a replacement 390 for my '62 Cadillac / Superior combo
The guy sold me engine AND tranny.

My question: Were the trannys beefed up in the commercial chassis or were they all the same regardless of application?

[mr x]

As far as i know they are the same.

[travlinman]

They are already beefy, the light weight was the turbo 350.

[Mohawk Freak]

No, the CC trannys were a different thing. I'll ask my buddy who knows for sure and re-post, but I recall him showing me a tag on one that had a C on it and said that was a special code for the CC cars. If that is a 63 or earlier unit , it is not a Turbo 400. It is a 4 speed Jetaway. To the best of my knowledge the 400's were all the same, except series 75 had switch pitch convertors.

[Mohawk Freak]

I got the story from the factory book. The CC unit had a bigger oil pump. The tag will probably be orange instead of yellow. The regular unit will say "C62-1" the CC unit will say "CA62-1" The 62 is the year. On the drivers side of the engine, you will find a # stamped near the freeze plugs with a * on either side. It will say 62/a letter designating body style/6 digits matching VIN of car. The 62's are assuming the units are in fact 1962.

[Jus" Roach]

My lack of knowlege is showing....
I remember seeing something "Hydromatic" (not turbo-hydro)
What I DO know it does not have a PReNDeL.....it has a PeNDLeR (Reverse is all the way to the right)

[EternalCombustion]

My lack of knowlege is showing....
I remember seeing something "Hydromatic" (not turbo-hydro)
What I DO know it does not have a PReNDeL.....it has a PeNDLeR (Reverse is all the way to the right)

That gear pattern is for the powerglide transmission which is a 2 speed transmission. GM didn't start using the turbohydramatics until around '65. As far as the turbo 400, I believe there were a couple of different versions. I think technically they were called the turbo 400 and turbo 475. The turbo 475 was a HD tranny and was used mostly in trucks. But cadillac also used the turbo 475 in the commercial chassis cadillacs.

[Mohawk Freak]

I'll have to stand firm on that being a Jetaway. The 63 Coupe I had years ago had reverse to the far right and that's what it was. 63 was the last year for it. There is only 2 drive positions, but 4 forward gears. I'll double check the books, but I wanna say that was used from at least 59-up. Funny irony is the most common failure is that they only shift through 1-2 and you lose 3-4 so it feels like a Powerglide.

[EternalCombustion]

I'll have to stand firm on that being a Jetaway.

Yea, he is correct. I grew up a chevy I guy. I keep forgetting that Cadillac and Olds developed different trannys than Chevy. In any case I knew that it definitely was not a turbo 400.

[BIGEVIL]

What I DO know it does not have a PReNDeL.....it has a PeNDLeR (Reverse is all the way to the right)

That is the Jetaway.

Not the trans of choice.

[BIGEVIL]

In 1964 when the went to the larger 429 engine is when the upgraded to the TH400.

I do believe that TH400 will bolt up to a 390.

[Mohawk Freak]

My buddy has a bunch of 390/429 and Jetaway/400 units laying around. I'll make it a point to eyeball them and see if that is the case. That would be a worthwhile conversion if it was my car. Those first 400's were wierd ducks, the bellhousing was different from the BOP that came later. I'm more personally familiar with 68 and later stuff and only realized that recently.