Thread: 350 turbohydro

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Well, I'm not an automatic transmission guy at all...much prefer the 5 speeds but I'm building the 'maro for resale and going to be using a big block probably built to the 450-500 horse level....

My question is this, can I get away with using a TCI or Hughes street/strip type 350 in the car if I keep the gross weight of the car below 3,000 pounds??? I suppose I would be better off with a 400 hydro, but they are so big and heavy I would much prefer the smaller and lighter 350 if I can get away with it.....

Wondering what you guys thought....

PS--Oh yeah, it's gonna have a big block for an engine....

i am running a small block 350 with my th350. my title says that i weigh 3488 lbs. with my th350 and a b & m shift kit i have no problem catching 1st and 2nd. If that is any help?

i have a customer that runs one in a 3700 car with a big block runs 11 flat and carrys the front end out of the hole he is on his second one .but the 400 is a stronger trans the 350 should hold up but will not take as much of the dumb stuff

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

i have a customer that runs one in a 3700 car with a big block runs 11 flat and carrys the front end out of the hole he is on his second one .but the 400 is a stronger trans the 350 should hold up but will not take as much of the dumb stuff

Any idea what the actual difference in weight is Pat????

In my opinion, yes. I know TCI builds their Streetfighter TH350 series to withstand up to something like 400 or 450 horses. They use upgraded clutches/bands and such. This is the tranny I put behing my crate ZZ4 motor. So long as you're not thrashing on it daily, i think it would hold up well.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Any idea what the actual difference in weight is Pat????

hard for me to say try not to pick them up any more 30-40 pounds????

That's about what I figured it would be.....thought 50 pounds difference would be the max.....

from the info i have found through other forums they say that the th350 weighs about 170 lbs and tthe th400 weighs around 200 to 220 lbs.

Wow!! that's a bunch... Thanks Barb... I've had the 'maro on a weight reduction plan since I started on it...Hate to throw away a lot of the pounds I've cut out of the car by using a big heavy transmission......

454 mildly built, held up great, soaks up less hp too than the t400. Coming out this spring with total rebuild 30 over full roller and had the t350 built to handle the extra trorque. Running 3200 stall from trans specialities, was trying to run bm holeshot 3k but it runed out to be junk from the factory. Car runs 3.73 with ladder bars and I put many miles on the old t350. Never down the track but drive it like hell regularly.

Thanks Jon! I'll probably run a bit more cubes but to compensate I believe the 'maro will be quite a bit lighter then your Elky.... so the pounding on the tranny would be about the same..... I'm fabbing up a triangulated 4 link for the car, but with street tires it will probably never hook up good enough to do much tranny damage.... Appreciate the input.

Did some more reading @ TCI and Hughes on the 350's. Think one of them will be just fine behind a big block...

By the chart Denny put up, the 350's are also about 6" shorter which is a consideration. Everything is really getting tight underneath the car, too.... Thanks for the chart!

Really working on getting weight off the car, found another 28 pounds of ugly fat to take off it today.... Don't really know why, just kind of turning into some sort of meaningless quest now, as I'll probably have the car up for sale soon as it's able to move under it's own power!!!!!

Really getting anxious now to get the suspension put together and get the car sitting on all 4 so I can put it on the scales and see where it's at on the weight..... Anybody care to make a guess????

Oh yeah, on a BBC, with aluminum heads, intake, and water pump, how much lighter would the engine be then the published weight of the engine???? Going to go get the engine this week if it warms up enough that I can stand to be outside...and weigh the monster before I bring it home.....

the big deal is from front to back the 350 trans has no center support this helps keep all the parts and main shaft from flexing and the back of the 350 is weak to much line psi can break out the back part of the 350 i still have them same 400s trans i started with that have seen every big block that i have built that s from 468 thru 632 .i have not used any 350.i have welded the bells on them .but i have allways use the 400 i make so much power that i realy do not care about mass if i did i would run a power glide .i have customer that do run the 350 .i have busted more then one 400 but they were in back of hi hp engines .i have smoke up more stalls then any thing

you build that big block right you may not be so quick to sell it .that rat may bite you in your ford buttiron big block with alum heads 570 that was a tall deck bow tie block cid 573 the all alum block 460 thats intake to oil pan that with alum water pumps less starter

guy hes has been building t-350's for about 25+ years he build t-350's for 9 second cars with brakes' has a very good record with them and not to badly priced.