Hey guys! I want to put a 350 turbo tranny in my 66 chev c10 it has the stock three speed and stock 327 motor. I want to start looking for a tranny. What years should bolt up easiest? What is the difference between a short shaft and long shaft and which do I need?
All sbc tranny's except 99 and up are direct bolt on. The diffrence between a short shaft and long shaft is the legth of the tail housing. When swapping out a powerglide a short tail shaft tranny will bolt on with no change to the drive shaft. I don't know if this is the case for you. Since you don't already have the TH350 you might want to look into a 700R4 swap. It is well worth the extra money. You will see quite a fuel savings and low RPM's at highway speed. Check out www.bowtieoverdrives.com
A turbo 350 will bolt right on in your garage. I will say that a 700R4 needs a little more TLC to get the kickdown cable exact but they are well worth the extra money.
options You can stay with manual setup and install a New Process 3 spd overdrive. This unit came in early 80's Chevy pickups, I am putting one in my truck now. Or if you go auto, I would go as suggested with a 700R4 overdrive for the fuel mileage. If you go this route, several things to be careful of. The kickdown cable is actually a fluid pressure adjustment cable and correct adjustment is easy but crucial to avoid burning up the tranny. You should run an external cooler too. This is also crucial. And if you do you MUST use a stacked plate design to maintain correct fluid pressure. Do NOT use a run-of-the-mill round tube cooler. Third thing.......you will have to wire the lockup so that it works. You could run without but for the fuel mileage you'll want it. 12v power from the fuse box to one wire and a switch to the other wire to ground the solenoid and lockup it up. I did a custom switch right in my steering wheel with an indicator light to remind me to turn it off when slowing down for a stop. This was on a 200R trans but as far as I know it would be the same on the 700. More thoughts to follow. Another great help to me has been the guys at level10 transmission. www.levelten.com
more info Thanks Billybones I also found some great installation info and accessories at bowtieoverdrives.com
