Tranny rebuild advice

Hey guys, I'm going to try my hand at rebuilding a th350 soon.Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.:whacked:


Adam

Best bet, www.transmissioncenter.net and Summit racing both have DVD's available 2 hours long. Every picture tells a story1;)

Thanks bud, I'll give that a try. I've heard all you need is a set of snap-ring pliers and a good shop manual. Shouldn't be too hard.

Might want to have a magnafying glass also. Watch where the BB's fall when you open up the valve body. There is your preverbial needle in a hay stack:3dSMILE:

If you run a shift kit, not all the check balls will be reinstalled. You'll need a clutch spring compressor to redo the seals on the internals and be very cautious upon putting the seals in place. The lip seals will definitey try your patience if you've not done a tranny as of yet. Check the wear on all thrust washers and replace if necessary. And the clutches will like life better if assembled a tad on the loose side. Not a lot loose and be sure to use your feeler gauges to check the clearances to make sure you are on spec according to the instructions I hope you're going to be using.

a roll of stiff thin plastic will make the lip seals eaiser to put in.. a small stack of rims make a good quick stand for assembly..i built many spring compessor's outta flat pulley's drilled and long bolts and nuts. with a piece of allthread for the center to do the compressing..just be slow and kinnda twisty for the lip seals on the rear clutch pack piston..and dont be afraid to use lots of fluid for lube. have fun!~ ive built hundreds of 350's through the years and can do one blind folded now..let us know how it goes

opps almost forgot..on the forward clutch find a pulley that will just fit inside and drill for bolts above the spring collar (it good if you can weld the nuts to the pully but dont have to) then use the snap ring to hold it and turn the bolts to release the pressure and remove the ring with a hook ..i made a bent at a 90 flat screwdriver sharpened to remove most of the snaprings..good luck

i also am contemplating a 350 rebuild. I have plenty mech. ability and exp. but not on engines or trannies. and am very afriad of screwing it up. hope u have good luck.

The bad is, you loose some time and money, and still have to have it rebuilt, the good, it turns out good and you do more and show some one else how to do it!
I have shown several people how to rebuild t350's, I tell each one to show some one else how to do it. It is not hard, you just need to think (follow a manual) and keep it clean, no lint!
I didn't have a manual the 1st time I did one (I had text, no pic's), and no one to help, and it turned out right, that was the '70's, I have done many different makes since.
Go for it!

My .02 worth!

Pat