OK...Time to replace my crappy trany.

I've already got the TH350 (short tail), and all the adapters and kits to put it in...what I need is a driveshaft.

I have heard that it should come from a 200c (or should it be 200-4r?) What years have this tranny, and how can I tell?

Thanks in advance!!

Tom

It's "TH200C".

Or a 4-speed.

Or take yours to a drivetrain shop and have them make one 3" longer.

what about those late 80's GM trucks with the 700's. Don't they also have the 10-bolt rearend. Even if I found one longer, I could shorten it right?

Probably. Shop here doesn't charge enough more for the tube to make it worth going out to get another shaft.

Hey, I'm doing the same thing and i have the short shaft in the TH350, and my existing transmission is the v6 2004r er whatever... What do I need to make my stock shaft work? Thanks in advance!

You need the D/S from a 82 or 83 with the 200C or 4-speed tranny. They are the correct length and require no mods.

Do you have a jegs catalog? I found these conversion kits for like $80 that make it so you can use the stock shaft, If you have the latest Catalog its on page 145

The conversion kits use the stock crossmember and torque arm, but it does nothing for the short-shaft TH350's. And the Feb 04 mag doesn't have conversion kits on page 145. They're on 148, and those kits don't include the driveshaft. (I wish they did for that price.)


OK...the 200C. How can I tell which car has it? I thought there were 3-speeds in 82, and the 700 in 83?

What engine did these cars have? That would probably make it the easiest.

Tom

Dude... I have the latest jegs catalog and the conversion kits are on 146 and theres nothing even remotely close on 148. These kits specifically say "Now you can replace the TH-2004r or the TH-700r4 in your 82 and later camaro or firebird with a stronger TH-350. Uses stock 1982 TH-2004r driveshaft and is engineered with vibration free isolation mounting hardware." I'm confused tho.... Why buy this kit if I still need a different shaft? And it says 82 2004r shaft but wont mine be the same anyway if its an 85 v6 trans? Thanks.

We all know catalogs are competely technically error free...

"Trust the Board, Luke."

LOL

If you already have a nice th350, have you thought of doin a 700r4 conversion on it. You can have the output shaft and tailshaft switched from a 700 into a 350 with a kit. This way you have no worries about torque arm or anything. The kit cost around 100 dollars. I have one now. i can post a pic of it if you want to see it.

oh yeah, by the way, no speedo worries or anything with the 700 conversion. All you will have to replace is your detent cable.

Straight out of the kit instructions. You post the instructions, and then ask if you need the shaft if you use the kit.... that doesn't make alot of sense.

You can't use your stock 700 drive shaft with a short-shaft 350, period; there's no "kit" that either lengthens the drive shaft or the trans. What the kit does, is to provide a mounting system for the torque arm, which is something that must be dealt with in this swap, since the 350 doesn't have the torque arm mount.

But if you don't have one, go take yours to a drive shaft shop and get it shortened. It's cheap. Usually $50-75. Probably less than half the cost of a used drive shaft, of a kind that everybody is looking for.

as far as the speedo, I've got a BOP tranny with the larger speedo hole. My 700 speedo and gears already fit.

Please post that 700R conversion kit though. I would definately like to see about doing that to avoid the driveshaft.

One more time:

The use of the kit doesn't eliminate the need to change the drive shaft. The kit does not stretch either the trans or the drive shaft to make them meet. You still have to get the correct length drive shaft, one way or another. All the kit does, is to take care of mounting the torque arm.

Once again the use of a kit DOES eliminate the need to change driveshafts. If you buy the kit to mount your 700 tailshaft and output shaft to the 350 you will not need to change your driveshaft at all. nor will you have any worries about mounts or crossmembers. It is the EXACT same tailshaft off of the 700.

I forgot, this isnt a bracket kit, it is an adapter kit. I can find out where they can be purchased, if you are interested.

One more time, yet again:

Ignore the idea that the torque arm bracket mounting kit contains anything that will stretch either your drive shaft, or your transmission. It is a bracket kit, designed to mount the stock torque arm to the crossmember instead of the transmission, thereby allowing you to use a non-thirdgen transmission such as a short-shaft T350 in your thirdgen. It does not, repeat does not, alter the need for coming up with the correct length drive shaft. Any assertions to the contrary are WRONG even if that's what you want to hear somebody tell you.

Please ignore any erroneous comments that would indicate that this kit will make a short-shaft 350 and a stock 700 drive shaft work in one of these cars. It DDES NOT do this. You still MUST come up with the right length drive shaft.

Please ignore the uninformed post about this kit including the magical drive shaft stretching compound. It is NOT TRUE. That's why the instructions say and not "Uses atock 700R4 drive shaft".

It is possible that if you come up with the rare medium-shaft 350 that your stock 700 drive shaft will work; however, NOT WITH THE SHORT-SHAFT T350.

I think I have this thing sized right, I guess that we will find out. This is the 700r4 conversion. It used the original (or a original) 700r4 tailshaft. A 700 output shaft is installed in the th350. THis allows you to retain the torque arm mount and speed cable, crossmember, etc. THe only thing that will need to be changed is the detent cable and a dipstick tube. It is a hell of a lot cheaper than having a driveshaft made, or even buying the bracket kit and another driveshaft. It doesnt matter V6 or V8 either, the tailshaft is the same.

here is another view of it. THis does in fact change the length of the transmisson. If you still dont believe that there is a kit that lengthens things and allows this to workm then I dont know what to tell you, here is another picture of the kit that doesnt exist.

send along a post if you want any info on the 700 conversion kit.

oopps looks like somone was wrong where can i get one and how much????

gee looks familiar dont it ljnowell...we have both worked on these type transmissions that use this kit its just amazing how some people will argue a point they have no idea about .......LOL......i know they exist too ive seen em on a th350 in my own garage and you have too ......LOL....oh well .......

Since I will be doing a swap from 700 to TH350, I have one of 2 options now...swap in the TH350 as it, and get a longer driveshaft, or do the 700 tailshaft conversion, which brings me to my original question...

How can I tell if it has the 200C in it?

New question, where can I get the 700 tailshaft conversion kit?

I will probably be redoing my 350 in my garage, and would rather keep the 700 in until I swap so I can keep driving. But it is a good option to consider.

Tom

I apologize for making a mistake, I guess if it can hapen to the best of em, it can surely happen to me too. I was not aware of any such thing. The only one I've seen is the one that allows the torque arm mount to be faked when using a trans that's not equipped with it. And I've seen reports that a 700 ext housing could be installed on the medium-shaft 350 to come up with the right thing; but never anything for a short-shaft one.

I'd be interested in seeing the internal parts of it too; obviously it would require a yoke to slip onto the trans main shaft splines, and a section of main shaft splines for the drive shaft yoke to go onto.... I'd like to see what they used to accomplish that.

Well, I'll have to talk to the transmission guy about it. As able as I am with the internal combustion engine, I just dont like transmissions. Anywho, I do know that I saw the tranny before they installed my tailshaft, and it looks just like a regular shaft coming out of the tranny. Its a pretty slick item. They just use the spacer block that has mount holes and everything on the bottom of it.

yeah this kit is a dream for the third gen camaro really it extends the tail shaft by 2 inches and takes alot of headaches away and makes your swap alot easier...

Does that use a long tailshaft TH350 to start with? Even if the tailshaft housing is extened, the outputshaft will be the wrong length. If you put a longer tailshaft housing on a short tail TH350, it will be recessed 3" inside the tranny, and you will be unable you put your drivedshaft on it.

read the post, it uses a 700r4 output and tailshaft. it fits just fine, as a matter of fact, it is in the car now and hooked up. Now if I could just figure out that alternator and distributor wiring, ahhh...........

Thats cool, i never knew they made anything like that. Or why they ever would. How much does it cost? I bet it costs more then a new proper length drive shaft.

This kit cost me 100 installed. The entire transmission cost around 600. That is a complete rebuild with all B&M parts, shift kit, and stall converter. Probably one of the best deals I've ever gotten! I think the kit sells for right under 100 bucks. If you can do it yourself you could save some money, but auto trans isnt my best subject. It cost roughly the same as getting the shaft cut, it just saves having to buy the bracket. The really nice part was being able to just hook everything back up like stock (speedo, transmount, crossmember, torque arm, etc.)

Please post more info on this "kit".
IIRC, the "kit" has to be installed internally.
where the output shaft is replaced with a longer one from a long shaft T-350, then a spacer/adapter block is added to mount the torque arm.

hey we got another one that knows what this is....lol...

Instead of posting that useless steaming pile of dung, you could have re-read my post and realized I said "If I Remember Correctly".

So why continue with the "I'm right-You're wrong" mentality and actually post some information on the "kit". Such as... contents of kit? manufacturers website? installation pics? pics of pieces?

Useless streaming pile of dung?

This kit looks rather interesting, but since I have already built my tranny (and don't want to disassemble it again) I decided to go with the B&M bracket kit. I picked up a driveshaft from a junk yard for $35, and now I am looking for a way to convert the mech speedo gear to electronic - have found a few sensors that look like they would do the trick.

Dave
1988 Trans Am (Space Ghost)
prepping for 350 Carbed/TH350 swap
www.davemclelland.com/ghost

thats cool hey either way are good ways just depends on what you have to start with ya know..

cost to me for a new drive shaft with my yokes welded on and balanced + new u-joints $100(heay duty u-joints) and no adapter to screw with and 700R4 slip yoke is same spline as TH350 for factoid !!

700r4 is not the always the same as the th350, there are some that are different. So, you paid 100 dollars for that, and how did you mount your torque arm? Personally, I wouldnt trust anyone that cuts a driveshaft for any less than 150. Probably sub standard work.

been twistin on drive shaft for better than two years now not a problem my place does truck driveshafts so I think you'd better shop around for a better price dude ( some places don't stick the shaft to ya for great work ) , did away with the week *** torque arm and went with lift bars they are so much better and not gonna buckle under high torque load !

I dont know man, around where i live you wont get that driveshaft done by a reputeable shop, and get heavy duty u joints to go with it. As for the lift bars, the point of this kit is to save money, so no matter how cheap your driveshaft was to cut, you completely missed the point with the lift bars. the whole point of the kit was to make it affordable without haveing to worry about all the other stock componants working without a headache ...instead of having to run around and have drive shafts cut and order parts from catalogs all day long all i did was pull the old transmission and take it to the shop and then 2 weeks later when i needed it i went and picked it up and it all fit together like a glove without a single headache............

ordered parts in 1 hour,while waiting for my driveshaft to get done and had it all together in 2 days ! my point on the torque arm replacement was for more power than it could handle so it had to be replaced for the simple fact that it is easier to get out when not bent to all get out ( for those whom will be having enough torque to possibly create a problem ) 2 days versus all the time wasted being cheap about it and possibly do it over again or worse was the point !! And I only have reputable shops fab or fix my parts ! point said ?

sorry man, you're better than everyone else, our fault, enjoy your lift bars.

and still as i said before the point of this kit is to make it so you dont have to change anything else under the car to make a th350 tranny work ..........point said??......

no just not willing to be cheap when it comes to my *** in the car so if that makes me better so be it ! POINT SAID !!! I value my rear alot I guess ? So my guess is give it up ? Ignorance need not apply !!!!!!!!!

you're pathetic man. I'm not gonna get in a flame war you, it isnt hardly worth my trouble. You posted some crap which wasnt even about the topic, and thegeneral called you on it. Deal with it. You dont have to be a smartass, its not impressing anyone. Actually, most people probably laugh at you and think its funny. If you have a reasnable contribution to the topic (making a th350 a bolt in swap utilizing all stock components) then by all means jump right in, but if you are looking to argue about who is right and who is better, go somewhere else. ****ing high school troll.
POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID!
POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID!
POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID! POINT SAID!

duhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I guess yous so smarter than me ? I did post some usefull info for those whom would race their car to know that if they have enough torque that replacing the torque arm might be a SMART approach to think about and to get into an argument over something so trivial as that is childish at the least ! Passing on some info that might save someones life is hardly a point not to be overlooked ? Might not be as smart but do think safety is an inportant issue ? JUST ME I GUESS

to the general, I'm not doubting what's said I started with the B-n-M tranny swap kit quite a usefull kit do not remember if I used a long or short shaft tranny ? all that was require after the kit was to lengthen the drive shaft a few but had a mostly new one made minus the yoke ends which would have been rather expensive (mine checked o.k. to be reused) Do not intend to press any buttons but when mine get pressed I get a little carried away ? Apologize for that . tranny kit and drive shaft and some math to try to get speedo close to accurate is all that was needed first time . cheap asit got for me at least ?

thats why the transmission spacer kit is so nice you use the factory speedo cable and gear since your using the factory 700r4 tailshaft every thing works great for just gettin a th350 to work in one of our cars without having to buy all the extras to make it work and have machine work done .on a driveshaft.....its not a cheap patch or cheap fix i know of quite a few guys that run these in there race only camoro and birds around my area im not sayin that cuttin a driveshaft isnt a good thing ..but id rather not go thru with it if i dont have to ....lol.....ive had some bad experiences with it in the past and thats my opinion just like you have an opinion and so does everyone on the board here one is not nececarily better than another but we all need to realize what the initial question was it wasnt how to install traction bars and race stuff man it was how to make his 350 tranny work and the kit i recomended works awsome....and ive heard of many folks using the other method your speakin of too and it works great too .......now i know alot of people have gotten hot under the collar so to speak about this thread so lets try and respect that not everyone has the perfect thought on this and other peoples ideas do work too...........