I would go ahead and drop it in, and run the Powerglide. The drive shaft should work between a short shaft turbo 350 and a powerglide. I would only recomend using the glide if its for in town use. You will eventually miss the extra gears. One other thing I cant see a mild engine tearing up a turbo 350 unless something was not built right, or misused. If your running a glide look for the 1.76 they tend to be a little tougher. You might have to move the mount a little to make everything work though.

Good luck.