Heckeng

I agree with Sam. . .And Bill! I think the 9" is the way to go if you're serious about power and getting in the 9's-10's. With either style axle you should have the 9" style ends, not C-clip eliminators or anything like that. If you are ever going to pay for a housing though, go ahead and get the 9" If you currently have a 12 bolt and want to get by for the time being, have some ford housing ends welded on, and get some larger splined axles put in it and it will be good for a lot of power. Take my advice for what it's worth though (not much), I'm a guy who is still trying to make a th350 last behind a BBC!

I've been told by a local driveshaft guy when I had mine shortened that it should be good to around 500 hp or so. But, I think Bill's right, you need a safety loop with how much power your car has, and I'd get some good u-joints at least!

I've heard that BS before too, about electric fans only being rated up to 150 hp, or 250 hp, etc. Whatever. . . Electric fans move WAY more air than a mechanical fan, so if a mechanical fan can cool it, then a good electric fan can do it too.

Isn't it wierd how that works Bill! You add those guages to feel better about your car, and then worry more! I've been through the same thing!

Here is an interesting article from a "Yahoo" site, obviously not the expert on transmissions, but it appears to have been written by somebody knowledgable. They claim the normal operating temp is 175 degrees, and for every 20 degrees above that temp, you decrease the life of the tranny by half. They also state that anything above 250 degrees starts irreversably affecting the seals and should be avoided. I agree, too cold can be an issue too, I think you and I have talked about it before actually Wallaby, my transmission doesn't seem to stall correctly until I get the temp up around 130-150 degrees or so. Another aspect to my configuration is that I completely bypass the radiator, so the engine coolant temp does not act to warm up my transmission which I think is part of the original design. With a 7" x 11" B&M stacked plate cooler only, my transmission runs at 160 degrees on the highway, and in town has gotten up to 175-180 when the converter is heating up in stop and go traffic. Transmission Article

Hey Bill, I believe a good range to shoot for would be 150 deg F. to 180 deg F. Many of the automatic coolers with fans have automatic temperature switches to turn on the fans between 170 and 180. Generally, the hotter the transmission fluid, the shorter the life of the internal clutches and seals.

Pretty Sweet Sam, I look forward to seeing the engine in it more than the cage though!

It could just be that you are hearing the cones turn against eachother, which is how that unit works. I say find a parking lot and do some short figure eights and listen to it. Might be normal.

I LOVE how that car looks! The diesel didn't really impress me, but it looks cool. I think he needs higher gears, it seems like it ran out of rpm too fast, of course he might have just wanted to avoid hitting that wall too! Take that same car, and stick a 454 in it and I'd like it alot more! Love that mini-tub job.

Yup, it soulds like you need to shim up your starter a little. If the rattle you are talking about is noticable at the end of the video, I heard it. At the beginning of the video, I think the exhaust sounds pretty good! Nice noticable lope to the cam. Sounds good.

Interesting. That is the weak spot though! If you put a 350 back in it, get a hardened intermediate race at least, or you can get a 36 element sprag/drum assy from somebody like ATI. I think it costs around $250 and dramatically increases the strength of the tranny. How'd the rest of the transmission look? I still run the stock roller clutch, but a hardened race. I have broken one of the hardened races too though.

That is about the worst luck of anybody I've heard of Jaylene! That WILL keep me from getting a B&M transmission!

Hey Bill, next time you get your car up in the air, I'd love to see a pic of where those pipes are actually routed. I'd like to extend my exhaust out the back, but I'm afraid it would interfere with where my fuel lines and battery cable now run. Also, those are 3.5" aren't they?

Do you know what part broke?

When you think about it, all of the torque applied by the rear end is directed to points (control arm mounting points )on the frame in FRONT of where you would be weakening the frame. That section of the frame really only has to support the rear body if I'm thinking correctly. I don't think you'd have any problem at all with changing it up!

I think it would be a little weaker cut away and reboxed because it was boxed at that point to begin with but the cross sectional area has now been cut in half. You might try to throw in some additional bracing, and/or box the rest of the frame to make up for that section. I think you can gain around 2 inches or so from the frame, but you will also need to move the inner wheel well on our cars.

If somebody changed rear end gears and tried to get the spedometer reading correctly, they might have swapped out the chevy tailhousing for a BOP one because of the different speedo gears available. You can get a BOP/Chevy transmission that bolts up to either block, but they look a little different since they have extra bolt holes on the bell housing. My guess is just that somebody changed out the tailhousing.

BRG, I have a th350 in my car, here is a pic of the shifter too.

Easiest to do with the transmission out unfortunately, but you can probably do it with it in too. I have a B&M quick silver shifter and love it. All you have to do is drill a hole in the floor for the shift cable to go through, and 4 holes to mount the shifter. If you have a bench seat, make sure you put the shifter far enough to the front of the car that your seat can move far enough forward for you.

In that case, I say just get some 2.73 gears or lower if you can find them! You don't need to spend mucho money on a transmission if you're just driving to shows!

If you ever rebuild it, definitely put in a hardened intermediate sprag race, it's not expensive, and it's the most common part that breaks.

You'll be fine. Especially on street tires. They will slip before you have any transmission problems unless your tranny is on it's last leg already! I also have run a 350 behind my 454. I usually rebuilt it every 3-5 years, just to be sure, and they have always looked perfect inside with the exception of one sprag race that I'd broken. I would estimate my hp around 450 and torque around 550

Those fans should be great, but stick in a 180 stat as well!

Too sweet. Please let us know about the mileage! I think you'll like it, I know I would.

If you only have mild upgrades and probably around 400 hp or so, the 700r4 would be fine, but if you push it higher, you should probably look at a gear vendors because by the time you put enough parts in the 700r4 to make it strong enough, you could have had the GV anyway, and it's way stronger. Bill (502) runs one and really likes it, you might PM him.