kc8oye

the tricky part are getting the clutches apart and back together. a pair of c-clamps works well for most of them. the low&reverse clutch at the bottom of case can be a real pain. a piece of 3" pvc pipe with a notch cut out of the side of it (4" might work too, it's been a while) works well. place that on the piston. then you need two 1/4" thick steel bars wide enough to span the case at the back, and span the pvc pipe. you will need a hole drilled thru both of them. run a long bolt, or all thread thru the two and simply tighten.. then you can reach in thru the notch in the PVC to undo the snap ring.

a 700r4 is a direct bolt-in swap.. don't have to modify anything except your kickdown cable bracket... :> oh yeah and getting the driveshaft shortened ~

if you can rebuild a chevy small block, you can definately rebuild a TH350 trans. I think the 400's are about as easy.. never actully done one. a 700r4 takes some patience and care. took me 3 or 4 tries to get a 700r4 right.

unless you have a 4x4 monte.. I don't think you have a transfer case *chuckle*

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.

your front pump is going bad. That's exactly what mine was doing after I wiped the front pump out. it would slip out of gear if the idle speed dropped too low. and once the revs come up, it can maintain pressure.

kinda what I had in mind sam.. but thanks for the tip on not butt-welding it.

yeah.. i have 3.55's.. I think they're a little bit too much for the street IMHO.. I think a 3.3x would have been a better choice. (I stepped up to 3.55 from a 2.73)

What's that sam? ouch.. that lokar ain't cheap!!! I was seriously considering just sectioning the tube. cut about 6-8" out of the straight part where it sticks out over the valve cover, and the cut the same ammount from the stick itself...

For those of you with 700r4's.. what dipstick tubes are you using? I'd kinda like to get a chrome one, but it doesn't have to be. right now, I'm using the tube that came with my trans, it seems to be out of a van or somthing as it nearly rubs the underside the hood.. (Very ugly)... would like to have somthing in hand so when I take it to the trans shop to have it rebuilt I can say 'here. put this in when you put the trans back in'

I run the Dynomax UltraFlow Welded's on my monte. 3" headers into 2.5" pipe, NO crossover, and 2.25" pipes over the axle out under the back bumper. Totally dead quiet on the freeway.. at least, I can't hear them over the wind & tire noise. they sound a LITTLE glass-pack like when I'm really on it.. (got worse with the higher compression) but I think they sound really nice when I'm on it. just wish I could get the headers to quit leaking

I don't run an Xpipe. just reducers to 2-1/2" off the back of the headers, to my ultraFlow welded, 2-1/4" tail pipes over the axle and out under the bumper.

don't know if you ever got around to it, but I run twin dynomax ultra flows with my 350. it's not a real radical engine, but with full tail pipes out under the rear bumper, the exhaust is totally silent on the freeway.. and has a nice sound when I'm 'on it'

on a TH350, no.. you can leave the kickdown cable totally disconnected. it does nothing but control shift points. (WOT and 'detent' downshifts) on a TH350 the vacuum modulator controls shift firmness.. and by nature of it's design, if it's disconnected, the trans goes to 'wot' mode all the time.. VERY hard, VERY late shifts (ask me how I know) on a 700r4 with a "TV Cable" (not kickdown) yes, not having it adjusted right can quickly wipe the clutches out from too little line pressure. a 700r4 does not use a vacuum modulator.

The slot in the cable is designed to SLIDE back and forth on the stud on the carb arm. the idea being that you release the lock on the cable, pull it all the way back, then grab the throttle and pull it full open, and it will adjust the cable into position. That's how it supposed to work in theory.. I've f ound I always needed to pull the cable a bit tighther by hand to get it where I wanted it.

i having a lot of issues right now that are stopping from turning any good numbers at the strip.. trans is acting stupid.. refuses to make a full throttle 2-3 upshift until i either lift right off.. or wind it out to 6500 rpm.. and I really don't like the second option. as for hooking up.. I just don't have things setup right yet I have an insanely low stall torque converter, so when I first get on it.. I have no torque to speak of.. as the revs come up, I can feel it trying to break the tires loose... time for bigger tires I guess ~

Terry, I hear ya man. Time is a commodity :> You will like that posi Iknow I LOVE mine. the extra gearing doesn't hurt either when I lay it to the floor in 1st gear.... oh *WOW* heh. .between the 3.06 1st gear, and the 3.55 in the back, and the posi.. it just bites in and goes like HE!! :> I'm problaby about 325ish hp.. right now that's plenty

one last note.. "Posi" short for "PosiTraction" is GM's trade-name for limited-slip differentials.. I might have this backwards, but I think ford calls theirs "TrueTrack" and chysler calls theirs "SureTrack" or something along those lines.. they all do the same thing I think you might have been getting the term posi confused with a 'spool' which is NO differential action at all. (drags tires or hops and jerks around corners, but great for the strip)

I've got the power to make them spin.. in fact.. that's the new problem.. way too much power.... or way to little tire... depending on how you want to look at it.. LOL i had my car hangin in the air on leo's hoist and with the trans in park, I could torque the wheel nuts down with the 4-way w/o the wheels turning... (also a basicly brand new posi unit)

oh believe me.. I CAN complain leo.. LOL... but I'm not complaining.. just trying to figure the malfunction out. I'm not to worried about it now.. i just let the trans do what it wants most of the time, and when I wanna do what I want.. I just manually shift it

posi IS limited slip. if you can turn one wheel with drag, that would suggest a WORN posi unit. I just put a basicly new posi axle in my car and there's no way I can turn just one wheel.

yeah it's a 700r4 phil. And that's basicly the conclusion I came up with. i'm just going to let it be until I can get it rebuilt. it's not too bad while i'm just rolling, but if I want to really get on it, I have to shift myself.

nothing yet leo ~ the trans still refuses to shift correctly on its own. stuck valve or whatever.. when it's cold, it shifts hard & late, as it warms up, it reverts to really early shifts and the famous GM Slush'o'matic... but it's totally driveable.. and I love it tho hitting OverDRive at 35mph is a bit streneous on the engine

It's the energy suspension trans mount. They're too thick. and no, you can't leave that plate out. we used one on a 70 SS car that we put a 502/th400 combo in at leo's, and while the ujoint wasn't hitting, the balance ring on the driveshaft did. but man, if your ujoint is hitting the floor, you have a major problem... are you using the energy suspension engine mounts too? it sounds like the tail of the trans is sitting too high.

check all your grounds. particulary the body ground to the battery. (small 12ga wire from the neg post to the fender) also make sure the rad support grounds are good. then finally, a ground strap from the body to the block would be a good idea.