I have a 72 skylark custom with a 350 trans. Normally my car does'nt go on long journeys, i drove 200 miles to Santa pod. Put her down the strip twice and drove her home. On the way home i was driving at about 55 - 60 mph , when i notice the revs where getting higher buy my speed was dropping? If I planted the throttle this would cure it temporarily, and it would slowly creep back . So i pulled over at the services and checked the fluid levels and they were fine ( it did'nt look fine though ) It was more brown than red ATF?? So after a short break i continued home without any repercussions from earlier. Any thoughts?? I obviuosly need an oil change!!
Does it have a burned odor to the transmission fluid? That is a sure sign it has been overheated. Heat kills transmissions. I hope a fluid (and hopefully a filter) cures it. You will know more when the transmission pan comes off.
Fluid and filter change are usually just a band-aid for more serious problems. Like Greg said before, get the pan off that thing and see whats in the pan.
i will ad one more thing if it does need repairs swap it out for a 2004r you will never do the 55 mph shuffle again and it will get at least 5 mpg on the highway better .... feels good to be on the highway in the fast lane keeping up with all that new iron i think anyone that has done this would agree that it is by far the single best upgrade for a driver that you could make jmo
I bet you have headers and failed to relocate the transmission cooling lines to the radiator (don't ask me how I know)... I actually knew I was supposed to move them, but never got around to it. Two years later or so, I was reminded when it quit.ou:
you know dan i did my exhaust gaskets to day and did notice even my manifolds are very close even to the manifolds so close i had to use a wrench on the middle lower bolt as i was doing it saying those lines are to close and must get the heat put to them bad after you posting i am going to wrap them with some header wrap sooner than later
No headers on the car, what kind of bits would should i look for? metal shavings? or chunks? The oil was brown and looked like old engine oil, i'll have to sniff it later for burning smell? Did'nt smell of burning when i dipped her in the services. When i first serviced the trans a grey/ black liquid came out with the old oil. When she was totally drained there was no filings in there, nothing sparkling in the fluid? Any idea what that black liquid was????
There is always some clutch dust (normal wear) but when it gets so the fluid is turned black its time for a transmission rebuild. Your drive from Wales to Santa Pod (plus making some trips down the track) probably was the final chapter before a rebuild.
A 200r4 is a good swap but your not in the states where 200r4's are dime a dozen and access to other items you might need are available like over here. The 200r4 came in "G" body cars such as Monte Carlo SS, Buick "T" types/Grand Nationals (the best 200r4's) but your not going to be able to go to a breakers yard and find them laying around unless things have changed since I lived over there.
No, the 200R4 can actually be built stronger than the 700R4. The 200 has a universal bolt pattern, the 700, Chevy only. The 700 has a deep 1st gear (3.06), but there is a big jump to second (1.62). The 200 has 2.74/1.57. The 700 has a .70 overdrive, the 200 has a .67
being a new car dealer tech and a grand national owner when i bought my car the trans had no second gear i had a trans from a gn with 60 k on it. did a little reading pulled the car in at 8pm and drove it out at 930 yes guys the swap took 1 1/2 hrs trans crossmember get moved back to the t400 holes the drive shaft is the correct lenght the stock trans lines are about 1 inch off a little wiggling and straighten out a few bends they bolt right up. the kick down cable i routed right into the car were the t350 cable hooks to the gas pedel made a little brkt and it was hooked up i did not use the lock up at that time ..... my car sat for 10 years after that i just started working on this car about 1 month ago i bought a kit from b@m part # 70244 lock up control my tcc locks up in third and 4th gear at any speed above 38 and i may move it even lower to 32. i love this car more than any other old car i have ever had and i have had quit a few nice cars but none that could cruise in the fast lane ...75 mph is a dream and the motor thanks me if you see a old muticolored red skylark conv in or around boston ma to northern maine and its flying up the hwy that would be me in the old girl she may not be that fast right now but she can cruise at speeds very well this the help of a 200r4 sorry for going on but i am sure you can tell how excited i am to be cruising with the top down :TU:
Ive been told that my car could benefit from having the BANDS adjusted in the box. I have no idea what this guy was talking about??? ( he has'nt even seen the car!) What do the BANDS DO?o No:
Jase- When McIntosh tore into Misty's tranny before the Nationals this year he found several things that needed attention....granted you arent making 600 HP, but...have someone who knows trannys that you TRUST and have SEEN THEIR WORK look it over. An old school quick fix (usually before selling the car) was to flush the tranny, change the filter....flush it again and put another new filter in. Sometimes this will suffice until you can get the money together for a complete rebuild. You love that car as much as I love mine....and parts are alot harder to get ahold of over there so be careful. I will e-mail you Chris' info so you can shoot him some e-mails and ask BEFORE you let someone loose with your car.
When a transmission band applies, it prevents a drum from turning, simultaneously allowing something else to turn (sometimes in a direction opposite of engine rotation). The bands in most TH350's and TH400's are not adjustable. Some early 80's light duty TH350's known as a TH250 did use an adjustable intermediate band. Later model GM overdrive trans use a selective pin to adjust band clearance.
The only problem i got is there is one guy who does transmissions by me and he didnt know what a th350 was?? "Is that a Chevy thing??":spank: He was super keen for me to bring my car down. Ive finally had the time to drain her and take the plate off. There was a fair amount of ( grey mucky), sludge in the tray, no metal fillings though. The oil was red-er than it originally looked when dipped on the side of the road. Weird thing was there was gunk on the outside of the filter not on the inside??
