Which transmission??

[Sgt Art]

I'm buying a 1977, Buick Electra with 403 Olds engine VIN: 4X37K7Hxxxxxx Which transmission does this car have? TH350?

[NTX5467]

Along about this time, GM started using "sales codes" in the order guides instead of the prior option codes to denote transmissions. Where the earlier window stickers would have had "M38 3-Speed Automatic Transmission", for example, they would have had something like "MX0 Automatic Transmission. The generic "MX0" decoded to a 3-speed automatic trans of some sort--could have been a Turbo350 or Turbo200, depending on the vehicle and such. Unfortunately, the best way to determine what's under there would be to check the shape of the pan gasket.

We sold lots of new '77 Caprices with 305 4bbls. People bought them and then their neighbors/friends came out and bought one. The first owner's car had a T350, for example, and it shifted as you would expect it to. Then his friend came out and got his car, but it didn't shift as smoothly--which generated "Check for proper operation" service complaint. The difference was that the first one had a T350 and the second one had a T200--same car, same engine, different trans. Back then, these couples usually went places together so if one car did something differently, you can see those scenarios building . . .

The T350 had the normal 2.52/1.52/1.00 gearing and had the vacuum modulator to smooth the shifts. The T200 was something like 2.72/1.72/1.00 so there was a little more gap in the gear spacing, plus some other things that made the shifts a little less smoothly-transitioned.

Enjoy!

NTX5467