Hot Rods TH350 with a Chevy 250

Well its been a few months since I posted an update on the ****** install. It's finally in, but I have to admit, it was a pain. I had to remove my crossmember to get it to fit. I just ordered the Waltons tubular crossmember. Tonight however I couldn't bolt the torque converter to flex plate because the bolts are just a little bit too thick. I bought the 7/16 20 because that's what I was told. Which size should it be?

 

3/8-24. with matching nuts. No longer than they need to be to p*** through. Don't let them bottom out on the converter body. IIRC, that's 5/8" long.

 

5/8" is a good length for those. And it takes some trouble to find them.

Who told you they were 7/16? The flexplate to flywheel bolts are 7/16", the flexplate to converter bolts are 3/8"

 

Depending on the car I have had to message the tunnel a bit when going from a standard to a T-350, I have even done a couple going from T 350 to T400 that I have had to open the hump up a little bit. I am one of those really high tech guys, I use a 4 pound hammer and smack the offending surface. LOL

 

I figured it was 3/8. Thank you guys. Ace here I come.

 

You won't find the correct length bolt at Ace. But you can get a longer bolt, and cut it off.

 

Do the also need to be torqued down?

 

Like any other bolt, they do need to be sufficiently tight. I also use loc***e on the bolts for the flexplate (both at the crank flange and at the converter)

 

Another question is, how much room should there be in the hole for the bolt? The 3/8 fits pretty easy with just a bit of space around it. Does it needs to be very snug going in?

 

If the flexplate has the larger holes, then you probably want bolts with a washer head, as was used by Chevy. They changed the hole size in the 70s (I think) to make it easier to align the converter. One hole is oblong towards the center, the other two are oblong in the direction of rotation. If you put the bolt in the odd hole first, and tighten it, then you can insert the next two without having to align them.

Kind of hard to explain...but the older flexplates worked ok with normal head bolts, the later ones like to have a washer head bolt.

 

That's this look okay to you guys? I got the 3/8 24, 1 inch long cause as you guys mentioned, the 5/8's are hard to find. But I did cut one to try. It touches the torque converter and that's with barely any thread coming out of the nut. Can't go any shorter.

 

More pics.

 

I think I just realize I put the washer on the wrong end? Maybe?

 

Yup but even with the washer you'll need to cut 1/4"-3/8ths off. My ex mother-in-law had a 67 chevelle with a 230/automatic. I had to re-torque the converter bolts several times and finally used red loc-***e on the threads...no more problems.

 

I will use loc-tire for sure. So the washer should definitely be on the bolt side? The picture shown is the bolt already cut. I just need to know if the nut being that close to the torque converter is okay.

 

Hard to say, because the converter is not drawn up tight yet.

 

I will be trying to install the remaining bolts today.

 

So after cutting the bolts for the flexplate they fit perfectly. Now I'm just waiting for my crossmember from Waltons. In the meantime I guess I need to figure out how to attach the kick down cable. I probably should post pics and hopefully someone can tell me how I can do it. I'm running a single barrel carburetor on a 250 inline six.

 

Does anyone have pics of a Chevy 250 motor with a TH350 transmission and the kick down cable hooked up? I'm not sure how to adapt it to my 1bbl carb.

 

I guess what my intake needs is a bracket like this one I found on Google for both the throttle and kick down cables? Anyone knows where I can find one to buy?

 

Did you get the bolts tight and get rid of the gap that shows in one of your pics?

 

Which gap are you referring to?

 

Post 102 left pic.

 

I believe the gap between the converter and flywheel should not be there.

Your bolts are too long, and hitting the converter. But you should still be able to draw this down tight, is there anything holding these apart, is there another flat area that is hitting first? Sometimes the flyweels habe raised areas where the converter aligns. Is the flywheel flipped?

 

The raised areas should be where the converter bolts, if its flipped you may get a gap.

Without seeing your parts dis***embled, Im taking guesses on what they look like.

Everyone else, since this was a stick car going to auto, is there a pilot bushing or anything in the way that may be preventing the trans or converter from engaging, Ive had a few straight six but never swapped parts around on them.

 

Hi. We are finishing up today on my 46 Chevy style master coupe. Part of this project was installing a T 350 and a 57 Chevy pickup rear end & open drive shaft. What we had to do was cut the center foot +- a bit out of the ****** cross member so ****** could go in or out from the bottom. ****** cleared floorboard quite well but was just to long to slip in with original cross member in place. After bolting up the ****** to engine and got it leveled out we made some drop mounts for a new center cross member section to bolt in and install new rubber ****** support to it. Worked great. We installed a new Lokar floor shifter with solid linkage hookup instead of adapting original 3 on the tree.
We have driven it short distances a couple of times lately and are finishing a couple of minor issues not ****** related and when that gets done put 75 - 100 miles on it hopefully later this afternoon.
Jimmie

 

You have any pics of the lokar set up?

 

I'm checking that tonight, thank you.

 

I checked my bolts and I have them on the correct side. That picture was taking before I tighten up the bolts. Thanks for noticing.

 

Okay guys, here's a quick update on my project. The crossmember from Waltons was well worth the wait. It worked very nice. I had a friend welded one of my shifting arms so I can still use my stock column. I just need a safety switch now. So now everything is going in nicely. My question is where should I hook up the hose from the ****** va***m modulator? To the base of the carburetor or the intake? This is on a 250 motor with 1bbl carb. The intake does have two spots. One I'm using to go to the valve cover. I was thinking of using the other side.