My truck is primarily going to be a street/track, with some weekend cruising, the truck is starting to experience some slippage of the tranny IMO it costs too damn much for these things to rebuilt and stalled for racing, but i do have a th350 longtail that i used in my nova, witha 3500 10 inch converter, if the 468 didnt hurt it with a 150 shot, this 5.3 wont either. So i have some questions on the swap...

1. My stock driveshaft will work with this tranny?

2. I know the speedometer is not going to work, and I'm going to use a floorshifter (B&M), if I put my stock shifter arm in the park or neutral position, and remove it, can i still crank my truck after the swap?

3. Tuning for this...Do you have your tuner remove all transmission files from the computer?

4. I found a flywheel that allows you to bolt up older trans to the ls engines, I'm guessing the converter I have will bolt directly to this?

5. Trans cooling lines, are they the same? or run new ones to a new cooler?

6. Trans mount and crossmember, what modifications?

7. i should gain something from the 14.0 i run now?

Sorry for being long, trying to get all my ducks in a row, thanks guys

 

1. the stock drive shaft will be fine as long as its a long tailshaft 350.
2. you will have to leave the park/neutral safety switch in the park or neutral position-it would be nice to swap to a 5spd column and cluster.
3. not sure about the tuning. but the th350 will shift with just vaccum to the modulator.
4. i have used the 4l80 flexplate and adapter that comes stock on lq4s and it will work great as long as your converter has the large bolt pattern (alot of aftermarket converters come with dual patterns for the 350s and 400s)
5. you should be able to adapt the stock lines very easily
6. build an adapter plate to move the transmission mount back to meet the crossmember just make sure it is sturdy
7. not sure what you will gain as far as quarter mile times but the 4l60e has a lower first gear and has overdrive so your fuel economy will suffer with the three speed.

if it were me i would save my pennies and get the 4l60e rebuilt or purchase one from a pt.net sponsor and save the headaches... i hope this helps with either direction you choose to go

 

To the OP, I like the way you think. I was talking to some of the "faster" guys today and the question came up, when are we gonna quit spending $1000.00'sssssss on the 80e's and just get a turbo 400? Nobody said anything................You just went ***** deap and said im putting a 350 in this rig and YOU will like it! Done!

 

i would go with a th400. its pretty much like an 80e without overdrive

 

If you have BiG plans for a lot more power I'd go with a 400 but running 14s and keeping it nice to drive on the street, get a properly built 60E and be happy... Pretty amount of people running them into the 11s and even 10s these days...

 

im going to cam it, and spray it....and i dont want to have to worry about spraying through the shifts with a 60e. spraying, cammed, th350 with converter, and i should be 12's no problem with the peace of mind knowing the 60 isnt going to dump on me, plus a $900 stall is rediculous

 

No reason you can't do that with a 60E... But hey, it's your dime. Do something different... For the record, I've always been of the mindset that spraying through shifts is better than disengaging then re-engaging the nitrous. Less shock to the hard parts and the frictions don't have to hold the power at the shift, then hold it again when the spray hits... Build it to hold whatever you have planned and run it... Simple is better... And FWIW. It doesn't take a high dollar converter to go 12s... The Circle-D 278mm 3200 has done it more than once on DD overdrive setups