Question on Driveshaft for 700r4 swap

You may be able to find one in a yard, may take some time tho'. There are a few different sizes of U-joints so you will have to measure the width of joint and diameter of caps. Your car probably has a 1310 or 1330 U-joint. Stock ones have plastic that needs to be heated to soften it then pressed out.
http://www.tciauto.com/Products/SlipYokes/

will i need to get the shaft balanced if I go to a yard and piece one together? Also about how much does it cost to have a drive shaft shortened?

You can have the driveshaft you have now shortened. You can measuer it and then call around to sme bearing suppliers and see if they shorten and balance drivshafts. Some do and will likely carry the u joints you need and will put them in for you. I recently had mine shortened and balanced for $75 plus the cost of 2 new u joints ihstalled, about $27 apiece. You can get joints for almost any conversion.
Go to Dennys drivshaft for a print out of one way to measure. It is very detailed. Measure 20 times and know what you are talking about when you tell the shop what you want. They should be within a 1/4 inch..
Driveshaft shops will want about $350 for a new balanced one.

http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/how_to_measure.html

zildjian4life218 said:

will i need to get the shaft balanced if I go to a yard and piece one together? Also about how much does it cost to have a drive shaft shortened?

Click to expand...

No need to rebalance. Shortening a driveshaft costs about $80 to $100 here, prices vary from place to place. There are also adapter Ujoints to go from one size to another. Make sure you measure it first, rather than just cut 3". push the front yoke in all the way, pull out one inch, and measure it there with the rear axle having the weight on it. Center to center of the Ujoint caps is where you measure.

That chassis came with that trans, so chances are good you can get one in a salvage yard.

80-88 G-bodies came with 3-speed 200C, 4-speed 2004R & 3-speed 350C only. All 3 had lockup TCC/TorqueConverterClutch.
350 to 700R4 swap Info. > http://www.angelfire.com/80s/monte/transmis.htm

Other swap Info. > http://www.maliburacing.com/transmission_swaps.html

wow thanks for all the replies and info. I will probably look to have mine shortened and balanced. $100 bucks ain't a bad deal. I was told around $350-$400 which seemed ridiculous because that's what a new one costs. The car originally came with a v6 and some three speed auto (not a th350). I put in the TH350 a while back when i put in the sbc and ordered a new crossmember for it, and now i am putting in a 700R4 for the OD.

as mentioned the 700 trans was not in these cars..

I think GM never had the trans emission certified for that body since they knew the chassis was to be canceled - deleted - dropped from production.

the trans will fit , I have installed 700's into them

My mistake, I read that as 200R4, not 700R4, should have been wearing my glasses.

It might be less of a headache to just shorten and balance your existing shaft. Look for a Driveline shop that has a balancer. It should cost around 80 to 100.