Thinkin' bout rebuilding my own TH350....

[Arvizu9618]

My transmission saga continues, I got burned with a Craigslist special. Seller promised it was good, well it was for about 150 miles. Now i have two bad trannys.

Anybody here ever rebuilt their own? What especially do i look out for? Front pump gotchas?? Any reliable on-line sites?

Going to use a Autozone kit.

Having original tranny disasembled now for free.

Wish me luck.

[72MC]

I rebuilt a th350 for my El Camino project. I used a Hughes performance kit($300), Hughes Man/Auto Valve Body w/shift kit($200) and a new TCI streetfighter convertor ($??). I also have a very detailed rebuild book that help beyond what I could say in words. IMHO I think you should disassemble the trans yourself. It will help you familiarize yourself with the internals. Wasn't hard except for some bushing removals and at one point I needed a tool but fabed one myself and it worked. I can't recall what specific procedure it was. It wasn't hard, just TAKE YOUR TIME!!

[Ian]

I rebuilt one about 15 years ago in school, like 72MC said there are some good books out there, and there are only a few special tools you might need. The only tip I can give off the top of my head is to make sure everything is clean, and use lint free rags.

 

Ian

[Guest Evil Austin]

When putting check balls into the valve body, I used vasoline to hold them in place (working on the trans still installed) and it holds them in place.

 

-EA

[Andreas]

I rebuilt a TH350 a few years ago, it is still running great in a buddys hot rod. New friction plates, seals, shift kit, etc.

 

I used this book for step by step instructions.

 

TH 350 Book

 

The key is to work in a clean environment and keep the parts in the exact order that you removed them...

 

 

[wallaby]

I can't imagine putting it back together if I hadn't taken it apart. Maybe if I had done a bunch in the past, but for the first time? That seems like someone handing you a bunch of parts and saying it is a carburetor, and it's a good thing you're rebuilding it.

I rebuilt my TH400 and it wasn't as hard as I had psyched myself out it was going to be. A friend of mine suggested that I put the transmission in a garbage can with the tailshaft end down, and it worked very well at holding the trans in an upright position so all the parts were easy to insert into the case. It was pretty good at keeping the fluid contained also.

For my rebuild there was really only one critical step that could have messed things up, and if I had done it wrong it would only ruin a seal. The job was amazingly straight-forward.

[Arvizu9618]

Thank you all for the words of encouragement and the tips, you guys are the best, but hey, we are what we drive, "Unique, unap preciated, underestimated, misunderstood but classy"

I got the Haynes GM Auto trans overhaul techbook and the overhaul kit today at Autozone. So far I'm into it for ~$115.

Like i said, a shop already tore it down for me for free and I have the other Craigslist disaster to reference if I get stuck in putting it back together.

The original front pump is definitely toast, but I'll try to salvage the Craigslist pump, if not Dacco Detroit has a rebuilt one for $60 and they are local.

Is there any objection to soaking the valve body in a cleaning solvent just to make sure all the paths are cleaned?

 

thanks again,

 

ART

[kc8oye]

take the valvebody apart... just becarefull.. I took a LOT of pictures when I did it

 

all u need to do is gently push the roll pins out with a drift.