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Stock Blue 202 | Trimatic vs Turbo 700

Acarzia

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Hi there,

I'm restoring a 1978 Bedford van, its going to have a blue 202 in it.

I have 2 gearbox options, the Trimatic or Turbo 700. The vans original came out with the Trimatic. I've read that the Turbo 700 might be sluggish as it is allot heavier than the Trimatic. Is that true?

What gearbox would you guys put in?
 

Brettly-2008

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Hi there,

I'm restoring a 1978 Bedford van, its going to have a blue 202 in it.

I have 2 gearbox options, the Trimatic or Turbo 700. The vans original came out with the Trimatic. I've read that the Turbo 700 might be sluggish as it is allot heavier than the Trimatic. Is that true?

What gearbox would you guys put in?

I'd go 4-speed overdrive any day over trimatic. Shorter first gear will give you better acceleration and overdrive gives nicer highway cruisability. Having said that, The T700 won't bolt straight up to a 202 blue, so that needs to be taken into account.
 

_R_J_K_

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I've read that the Turbo 700 might be sluggish as it is allot heavier than the Trimatic. Is that true?
As a percentage of the car the difference in weight would be barely anything, the TH700 would have to weight hundreds of kilos to make a difference like that.
 

gtrboyy

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Keep it simple & stick with the trimatic
 

Sandman

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Depends on what you want to do with the car, if you just want to keep it simple go the trimatic. But If you want it to drive nicer and not feel so sluggish the T700 would allow you to put a shorter set of gears into it depending on whats in it already. The trade off is you will have to get a bellhousing adaptor and a bit more effort to make it all work.
 

losh1971

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I have an idea the old vans had fairly low gearing anyway, to help with load carrying.
 

Acarzia

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Depends on what you want to do with the car, if you just want to keep it simple go the trimatic. But If you want it to drive nicer and not feel so sluggish the T700 would allow you to put a shorter set of gears into it depending on whats in it already. The trade off is you will have to get a bellhousing adaptor and a bit more effort to make it all work.
Do you know where I can buy a bell housing adapter
 

Sandman

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Port city engines on ebay do them. Otherwise any decent speed shop should either have or be able to get you one.
 

_R_J_K_

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Castlemaine Rod Shop do them. Highly likely you will need a tailshaft made to suit too.
 

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