Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and have just bought a 72 Skylark after drooling over 66-72 Skylarks for the last 25 years. I am planning on putting a 455 that I have in the skylark and wonder if the turbo 350 will take the torque of the big block if it is built right. I like the thought of the lower first gear ratio compared to the 400. Comparing the driveshaft yoke on the two trannys, I wonder if the 350 driveshaft setup is even strong enough? Any advice from someone who runs this combination would be appreciated. Thank you
TH350 will work fine behind the 455 if properly built. It MUST have dual fed direct clutches, I prefer to do this during a rebuild internally but it can also be accomplished with most aftermarket vavle body kits. If you use a VB kit I recommend the TransGo Reprogramming kit. I would suggest using a 5 clutch direct setup. You machine the stock direct apply piston down ~.150" to add one friction and one steel plate. I would use at a minimum a hardened intermediate sprag race, and if this combo will see any drag racing duty or later power upgrades, I would use a 36 element sprag and drum setup. Like this: Double up the sun gear bushings, use a wide direct drum bushing, install all new bushings thoughout, and be sure everything is in good shape. You will be set. I have TH350's in street/strip cars at 650+ RWTQ without issue.
i prefer the 350 trans,have one behind my 430 car last rebuild was 90 and trans still lays lots o rubber thru the gears with 3.42 gears my 430 spins up like a small block but the torque of the big block i would say the 350 will hold up to 450 hp without much major work but more than that you will want special instructions like above
I appreciate the reassurance. I have done stock rebuilds on Turbo 350's without issues and was planning on doing a well built 350 for this until I saw the driveshaft yokes sitting side by side. The 400 yoke looks much stronger. Is there different sizes of output shafts / yokes on the 350's? Thanks again.
the yoke is larger on the 400 you can get a moser 350 or 400 yoke i think they have billet ones 350 yoke is the same as 4 speed yokes as far as i know
