The correct oring for the dipstick tube is a Danco #11. 3/4 x 9/16 x 3/32. The little brkt welded to the tube is to be attached to the tranny with one of the tranny mtg bolts. Torque Converters come with 2 different bolt threads; be sure to get the right one.... I think one is Metric and the other is not. I always use red Loctite on the torque converter bolts and be sure to torque them to the correct value. You will have to rotate the engine to get to the bolts.... I like to torque them to a lesser value first and them to the required value.
The Chevy TH350 converter bolts require nuts, they don't have threaded lugs in the converter. 5/8" long screws, I seem to recall...make sure they're not too long, nor too short. 3/8-24 UNF was the original thread.
Great! Time to study and learn something new. Take whack at it, we all had to start somewhere. Put down the game controller and get into the garage. It's just nuts and bolts.
no-one has mentioned you have to have the vacuum modulator hooked up unless you are running a manual valve body, which is beyond the scope of this thread. It wont shift 1-2 in drive without it
I'm a measure twice cute once kind of guy lately and this is the measuring. But this has been very helpful. Falcongeorge isn't that as simple as running a vacuum line from the intake manifold to the vacuum input on the side of the trans?
Good youtube video from monster transmission showing torque converter engagement and general trans to engine assembly, watch part 1 and 2. https://www.google.com/search?q=ins...bile&ie=UTF-8#q=install+torque+converter+curt
This has all been very helpful thanks. For the cooler - any aftermarket trans oil cooler will work, right? How it that best mounted? Flush to the radiator at the bottom or with a gap? Does it rely on the fan or is air from driving enough ? Lastly, should rubber hoses be avoided on the pressure side? They make about 30lb of pressure I think
I run the cooler lines, into the radiator, out of the radiator into the trans cooler, out of the trans cooler to the trans. You can run them directly to the trans cooler if you want, or if you radiator isn't set up for it. Quality rubber lines are used all the time, I prefer to run hard line as much as possible with a short rubber flex line into the cooler. Many of the trans coolers aren't set up for threaded lines, just hose and clamp. Mount the trans cooler in front of the radiator, space it out from the radiator if possible, the kits come with a barbed plastic spike that you can shove thru the cooler and radiator, these work. A separate mount for the trans cooler is a cleaner install and more efficient with an air gap between radiator and trans cooler. I've used a lot of these Hayden coolers, summit, jegs etc all offer a similar kit. http://www.northernautoparts.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductId=112
Use rubber hose that's sold for transmission cooler line, many coolers come with a length of it. Don't use fuel line. Don't space the cooler too far from the radiator, it is depending on the fan to pull air through it when you're not moving...but it's not very critical on a normal car. High stall racing type converters make a lot of heat, and transmissions in towing vehicles make a lot of heat, but normal mild engines in normal cars, it's not a big deal.
Ok cool. I can use fuel line for the hard section, correct? Then just flair at the ends and use 6" or so rubber prices to tie in the cooler
On a side note, I am going to try to fill the torque converter and the lines/cooler and have the pan full to the "full" line before I ever fire it up but I am sure much more will need to be added once it all cycles through and burps out any air and fully fills everything... There is no risk of damage from these few moments it's runs low? I will make sure its its at operating temp and at the perfect level (and has run on jack stands in all gears) before I jump on be road. I have drain/filled many Japanese transaxle in my mechanical adventures and know the basic procedure for getting the right level but I have never swapped or installed a new transmisison
I like to use the Heat Sink style cooler mounted in an area where there is airflow. I usually put it on the frame rail near the transmission. Do NOT put it near any exhaust. Kudos on the transmission line. I really like AN line but dedicated rubber line will likely work in your application. I have reservations on re-using a converter to which I have no history. Is a new converter outside the budget. It's cheap insurance considering it is what drives the car. Any debris is immediately pushed thru the pump and into the inner -workings of the trans. Also, do the math on the speedometer gear before install. There is a big gear accessed under the tail shaft and a small gear which plugs in the side. Much easier to deal with on the bench if hoist access is not readily available. Good luck.
when you put rubber line over metal tube, make sure there's a "bubble" at the end of the metal line, so the clamp has something to hold on to. On a TH350, I dump some fluid into the converter before putting it in the trans. Then when it's all installed, I dump 4 qts into the trans, then fire up the engine, then immediately add a couple more quarts, then check the level. get it up to the "add" mark when it's cold, and it will be pretty close when it warms up (after a test drive). If it's at the add mark when it's cold, it will have enough fluid to drive safely.
Thank you guys. Squirrel, a flare will do the job, right? Verno it's not that I couldn't swing a new converter but pennies are tight and this whole Trans is said to be good. Was pulled and sat in a garage with the torque converter on so I might as well trust the guy and rub it or just get the whole thing gone through. So what do you mean about the gear? My speedo is slow now cause my car came with 4.11:1 and I have 3.55:1. I figured I'd Run 3.36 or 3.08:1 and end up having to get a ratio adapter, but there is another way?
"...when you put rubber line over metal tube, make sure there's a "bubble" at the end of the metal line, so the clamp has something to hold on to." Very important tip. I use a flaring tool and do about 1/2 of the first step of a double flare. The clamp then only has to be tight enough to prevent the rubber hose stretching over the bump, which is how the factory does it. It is important to get a couple of quarts of fluid into a lockup converter to avoid glazing on first startup. A regular converter, not so much. Back in the day when I was doing automatics for a living I used to get as much oil as possible into the trans before first startup. Best way to make sure everything inside, especially friction materials is pre-oiled. Most common 3 speeds could take a complete fill, around 11-14 quarts depending on converter diameter. Don't try that on a C4, however.
1/2 of the double flair step makes quite a "bubble." That's perfect. Better than a single flair. The speedo thing... Dos that assume all Speedometers have the same ratio inside and it is intact the Trans side gears that affect it? I'd love mine to be accurate with this build without the risky business of an adapter
1000 revolutions per mile. You can get the right speedo gears for the tire size and rearend gear ratio, and put them in the trans before you install it in the car, and it'll be pretty close. tci transmissions has a web page where they sell the gears and help you figure out which ones you need.
btw the Chevy TH350 uses small driven gears, the BOP 350 and all 400s and 700s use large gears. It can be confusing. You need to use a drive gear with 7 to 10 teeth, and a driven with 18 to 22 teeth. with your tire size and gear ratio, that would be 8 drive (black), 20 driven (blue).
I have a 120kph metric speedo in my truck, I am thinking about making it read in mph, but with my rear gear, I need an auxiliary gear box, and I am having a tough time finding a combination of internal gear and gear box that will read right.
Just read what Jim wrote three times through and do what he said to do. You can trust him to tell you how to do it right and not feed/you any nonsense or wild assed guesses. Most of the other guys gave pretty good info this time around too. On getting the speedometer to read right. If you have a smart phone there are number of speedometer apps that work with GPS in the phone and are free. Down load one and when you get the car on the road drive down the road and compare the car's speedometer reading to the reading on the speedometer on the phone and remember the readings and when you get back home or to the shop figure out the percentage of difference up or down. that is the percentage you need to change in the drive and driven gears in the speedometer drive to get the speedometer to read right. I used to use my handheld gps to do that but now you don't have to run out and find one of those to do it. Beats the hell out of driving mile post to mile post at 60 and watching the second hand on your watch. This is a great go to link for figuring out exactly what gears you need http://www.transmissioncenter.net/speedometer_calibration_______va.htm
According to that, I need a 49 tooth gear which no one makes, and a 37.5 gear box. I could use a 45 tooth gear, and do a slightly different ratio in the box to compensate,assuming I can get a box with the ratio I need.
I collected the SW speedo adapter boxes over the years, and eventually took them all apart, pressed the gears off the shafts, and figured out how many teeth the gear sets have, and made a spread sheet to calculate the reduction using different combinations of the gears I had. I put a couple of them back together, set up so I could use them with rearend gear swaps, mostly in my 55. I set up the transmission speedo gears to work with 2.75 gears, and then made an adapter to work with 3.70 gears, and another to work with 3.25s. then when I swapped rearend gears, I just had to add the right adapter box. I also made one up to work with the Chevy II, when I took it on drag week I swapped in the 4.11s and added the adapter box, and the speedo was dead on. But it's still best to do the calculations and set up the gears in the trans to work with the tire size and rearend gears you have, and if it ends up being accurate within 5%, you're doing good. If it's off more than that, then get the appropriate driven gear to correct it. But make sure you set it up ahead of time so the driven gear is in the middle of the range, so you can go up or down as needed. If you start out with the driven gear with the most teeth, then you have no where to go if you need to add a tooth..you'll have to pull the driveshaft and tailhousing, and replace the drive gear.
So just calculating this in my head in the middle of a. noisy New Years party, I think I need a 42% box. It would probably be wise to double check that tomorrow at home. They make a 50% box, but I am not going to try to figure out what gears I would need in the trans to make that work. That may be the best way. If my wife figures out I am being so quiet because I am on the Hamb right now, she'll kick my ass.
Another mine grenade for me.... How can you change one gear, and not the other, without changing the distance they are apart? If you have a 20 tooth gear and an 8, the 8 can't be swapped for a 10 without Moving its axis slightly farther away to compensate for the changed circumference because of more teeth. I have to see this to understand. I'm glad it came up, though. I learned something cool Maybe I'll just hold off on this all together until I know if I am running 3.36 Or 3.08 or something else. But it's interesting info. Falcon George that's pretty funny. My wife catches me ok Chevy talk (she doesn't know about the hamb yet) all the time and I get into some trouble haha.
sometimes my wife looks up what I'm posting on the hamb (and on bangshift, and on the secret FB DW page, etc). She doesn't get mad at me, because it's mostly free. It's the credit card bills she gets mad at
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