I'm 90% through putting in a TH350 in my 82 T/A. I used the Hurst torque arm conversion kit, and parts from a 200C transmission T/A.

The tranny is all bolted up and I can't seem to figure out how to get the TH350 dipstick in! I got the tranny and the dipstick from a friend, and it won't fit past the tranny tunnel and firewall.

I still have the tube from the 200C and also a brand new TH350 tube (I told the GM guy it was for an 81 Camaro if that makes a difference). None of them look like they will work.

I searched the posts here, and maybe I just need to get out the hammer and start whacking it into shape, but I don't think it will bolt up properly if I do that. I hear about all these leaks from the tube...yikes.

Why is something so simple causing me so much grief!? Any advice from others who have done this swap? Is there a different tube that will fit and read the proper fluid level? THANKS!

 

did they make the 82 or 83 f-body with a TH350-C or TH250-C? Serious question, as I don't know. If so, check the PN against the one you bought for an 81 Camaro.

 

Is it a BOP tube? I run one on my car, but I had to modify the bracket that holds it to the bellhousing. Before anyone asks, the parts stores were out of standard tubes.

 

They did NOT make 82 or 83s with TH350's, The 82's and some 83's had 200C metrics. After that was the 700R4 that everyone else has.

I know the new tube I bought should be for a Chevy boltpattern as I pretended it was an 81 Camaro. The other tube I have from a friend is from an 83 Pontiac Parisienne, but it had my Chevy pattern TH350, so it can't be BOP either. Did you have to bend it funny to fit it past the firewall? How did you modify the BOP stick to fit your tranny?

Any other ideas? Do I need to break out the hammer? Anybody else done this swap?

 

The tube and stick are cool from the BOP set, its just the bracket that it bolts up with is wrong (to accomodate the bolt pattern). I just welded a flat peice of metal (same width and thickness as the bracket) to the bracket going the right way, and drilled a hole through it. It lines up like a champ. This is MUCH easier if the trans is out of the car.

 

Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. I should have put the tube on loosely when we bolted the tranny up to the engine. Now it's in and I don't want to dissassemble everything again to put this in.

 

Well, I'll leave you with this thought. When I threw a 700 into my 87, I used a third gen tube and it all worked out, but it was a pain in the *** to get in there. I ended up lowering the trans. a bit, stabbing the tube into the trans., then raising the tranny back up. Even with the "right" tube, it's not necessarily an easy part of the job.

-Matthew