Tom Carter

Hello all, I have been thinking about replacing the th400 with an over drive type transmission. Of course with that I plan on changing to 3:55 rear gears. I haven't heard enough research to make any kind of a decision so I was looking for input. The engine is a 350 with about 400 hp. I have talked a little at different shows and keep hearing different information. Because I have the th400 I was hoping not to modify the dive shaft. I was hoping to keep the th400 and drive shaft I am currently using. Is the 700r4 about the same size and the th400. I have heard the 200r4 is about the same size as the th350. That could be wishful thinking. If modifying the drive shaft is necessary I will probably just find a different one to modify. Is the 200r4 easier to install than the 700r4 or they about the same. Which unit is a better and easier to repair. I have done nothing to get this going other than ask people there opinion. Also what are the thoughts on the 3:55 gears. I do drive on the high way a lot so I don't want go to crazy. 4 1/2 hours down 81 to get to Carlisle Pa. As always appreciate the help and input.

Great. I will definitely give that a try. I do love Harbor Freight. Like a kid in a candy story. Never thought to look at them for a timing light. I would rather have one with the dial advance. Thank you. Appreciate the input.

How is the engine starting when at 12 degrees. It is starting fine at the moment but I'm open to trying other things. Just want to make sure I don't have a starting issue. I do have a high torque starter. Love that thing. So much better than the old bulky one.

I had an hei in the engine before. I can't say how old it is or if its gm or after market. I did do the job for the last 25 or so years. I want to get some timing tape for the balancer so I can check the total timing and such. I bought a different balancer that was indicated but the stub shaft was to long and it hurt my pully alignment. That is going to be my next step.

So last year I did a rebuild and upgrade on the 350. I was easy on it last year because I don't want to beat a just rebuilt engine until it has some break in miles on it. This spring I took the car out of the garage and found there is an oil leak on the passenger side of the engine. it was coming down the head and dripping on the header. I assumed it was an intake leak just because I could see any leaking from the valve cover. So the weather got a little colder and I didn't want to drive it with any possible salt on the road. I decided to pull the carb, distributor, and use an inspection mirror to try to find the leak. I could see it was around the distributor area. The back of the intake looked good so I left that alone. I decided to pull the passenger side valve cover and reseal it anyway just because I was there and it was an easy time to do it. I pulled the fitting for the oil gage and resealed that. I read in a thread somewhere that it is possible that because of an after market intake and an after market distributor there is a possibility that the shaft is a touch to long and bottoming out. Or the machine surfaces are not perfect. So I decided to replace the distributor with an Accel complete unit. Double gasketed the distributor shaft seal. Reassembled the rest of the engine. It sat for a few weeks while the weather improved. I did start it prior to yesterday just to see if the oil leak was cured. It did see to be. I took it out of the garage yesterday to test drive it. I let the engine warm up and adjusted the timing to about 10 degrees. When I took it up the road it felt like a different engine. I was very surprised at how much power it seem to have right off the bat. My question is, is it possible that a different distributor could make that much difference. The new distributor was complete meaning cap, rotor, and coil. The performance was much better and even the idle in gear was much better. I can't believe that my old distributor was a problem but I wish I changed it last year when I did the overhaul. Has anyone ran into this kind of thing before? I would love to hear you guys input on this one. Sorry for rambling.

Appreciate the heads up information. Did you use the speakers that came with the kick panels or did you purchase your own. I would hope they would accommodate for clearance issues but we all know how aftermarkets stuff can be.

That looks fantastic. I notice the speakers in the kick panels. How do you like that? I was thinking of doing the same thing. I noticed them at OPG

I have been and Edelbrock fan since the 90's I put the new AV2 on the engine last year. its a 650 instead of the 600. there is total throttle response. It drives like a throttle body fuel injected engine in my opinion. Edelbrock is much easier to jet up. You don't have to disassemble the carb to play with the jets. In fact, you don't have to remove the carb at all. I respect Holly but you seem to have more adjustments to maintain. I set up my AV2 and its good until I fool around with it because I want to. Not because I have to.

Well hope the camping weather is as nice as the nationals weekend was. Enjoy your trip.

So update. I was able to go to the Syracuse Nationals with the car (running). I am sorry to say I have only put about 70 miles on it since the rebuild. I actually drove it to work yesterday to try and get some miles put on it. The more the engine is ran the better is seems to run. I want to take the advice of MC1of80 and change the vacuum to ported and set the timing at 12 but at the moment the engine is running well. I haven't pushed if of course so I am trying to keep my foot out of the carburetor. Trying to keep the rpms under 2500 until the engine has properly run in. My wife asked me to take her out this Sunday and give it a spin. Weather permitting I am sure it's going to happen. As always I appreciate all the input and advise given. Hope all are having a good summer.

my light does not have the degree option. I need to update it. I tried to put a different harmonic balancer on but the shaft on the balancer was too long and it didn't line the pulleys right. I want to get some timing tape and put it on the original balancer. the cam is a summit cam SUM-1107.

I have good vacuum while running. not great at idle. not a problem but I feel like the brake pedal is stiffer than it should be. It seems to start good at 8 degrees but was sluggish. I bumped the timing to 10 degrees and the performance increase but the idle isn't great. not bad just not great. I will be there Thursday...with the car.

OK. I drove my car home from the garage I work in last night. I am pleased to say it ran well. Ran into a few small problems before my first test drive but they were very minor. I found the engine runs good if I have the timing set at about 10 degrees. I did adjust the carb before I took it out. I set the vacuum advance on the ported side of the carb. I keep reading that I should be using the manifold vacuum vs the ported side. I was using the ported side before but the new cam and heads may require more. I am using an hei system distributor. I planned on retiming and trying the manifold side tonight when I get home. I was wondering what the group opinion is. I trust you guys a hell of alot more than some of the other things I read.

???WHATS GOING ON WITH THE ARM. that's not good. sorry to hear your having a concern.

The instructions I read stated to install the new lifters dry of oil and use assembly lube on the lifter bottoms and such. Just touch the push rod to be the bottom of the rocker and then do the half turn to set the preload. Any time I replaced lifters I always soaked over night. I did do some research prior and I did find other article's stating the same thing. I am kicking myself for not doing that this time. I can say I will soak the new set over night and pump them up on the bench to make sure they are not junk. after all that when I disassembled the block I did find three lifters that never really pumped up. I am confident I will make this right. just killing part of the season. I have a turbo 400 tranny now. What did you do to modify that?

So I spoke with the machine shop. His theory is that because I didn't preload the lifters (soak in oil over night and pump up) some lifters pumped up partly. I heard lifter noise when I did the cam break in procedure. I loosened and reset all the lifters and then took it for the test drive. that is when all the problems happened. if the lifters pumped up completely it would be too tight and then destroy the cam...

ok...update. I did change the filter and spin the oil pump. To my surprise I got oil pressure restored. So I drained the oil and found a lot of metal in the oil. That did not make me happy of course. The decision was already made to pull the engine for further inspection. I am very glad I did. I pulled the oil pan and one of the crank caps. The crank bearings really didn't look to bad but were scored. I removed the remaining caps and found the crank was scored. Replacement of the crank and connecting rod bearings isn't really an question in my eyes. I had the crank sent to a machine shop for inspection and they told me the crank needs to be ground down and over sized bearings used. I elected to by a new crank instead. New crank, new crank bearings, new connecting rod bearings. The block is at a machine shop now getting dipped and new cam bearings replaced. At this time it is now an over haul. The good news is Summit is standing behind there products. The sent me new cam and lifters. Sent me the overhaul gasket kit. They didn't charge me for that. The did charge me for the other parts needed but gave me a discount. So far the situation sucks but with the fuel prices the way they are if I was going to pick a year to be doing this I imagine this is the year to do it. Get pissed though

Either way the fathers day show is out...shooting to make sure I have it ready for the Syracuse Nationals.

I have my car out to the shop in Marietta. I wont be back until Saturday afternoon. I noticed the oil pan is leaking anyway so I am going to yank it out and get a good look at it. I haven't put much running time on it so I want to make sure there isn't any long term damage I need to address before its too late. My plan is to pull it, drain the oil and pull the oil pan. I need to reseal it anyway. That way I can get a look if there are any metal partials in the oil or pan. I am also thinking I may have a new lifter problem. I adjusted the rockers a few times and could not get rid of some noise in the valve train. The kit I got gave me three different sets of intake gaskets for some reason. They look to be similar so its not like they all have different thickness. no sure..Anyway, I want to play it safe so I don't do any damage. I am hoping the assembly lube in the filter is the problem. Hope for the best and expect the worst.

I absolutely used assembly lube. I would love it if your theory was correct. I doesn't cost much to just dump the oil and change the filter.

I have not. That would be great if its just that easy. Haven't put but a few miles on it since fire up.

Well...not great new. I took the car for a test drive last weekend and now I have very poor oil pressure and (not a surprise) the oil pan is leaking. I am sorry to say I am going to pull the engine out and remove the oil pan and intake. Hopefully the answer will present itself. The good news is I didn't drive it far before I noticed the problem so hopefully the damage is not heavy. Not cool. I did do the cam break in for about a half hour when I first fired it up. I wonder if one of the lifters failed. not sure why that would hurt the oil pressure though. I suspect more of a failure than that. Trying to be optimistic.

the air cleaner is actually a pep boys special. Chrome with a spacer so it goes over my Edelbrock av2 carb. I haven't put the good on yet but the top of the air cleaner is below the top of the firewall.

IT'S ALIVE. Fired the engine for the first time since the modifications. Broke in the new cam. Couldn't take it for a test drove though because I still have the front clip off. Seems to run like a camp in the garage. Should have the fenders and such back on next Sunday...Going to be a long week. Again, thank you to all who helped giving information.

WELL...that's not a bad idea at all...