New transmission arrived today.

[1970pelle]

Now its time to get to work. TCI sure packs there trannys good, it took two of us to open the box. They even sprayed the foam filler into the box to keep everything still. The unit i bought was the Street Fighter Turbo 400 with a 2500 stall converter. So lets hope I can round up all the little items I need to have this truck going by the weekend.

Ken

[Shugalou]

Nice! Gotta love shiny new parts.

Do you have more details so a transmission newb can appreciate this more.

I'm not familiar with stall converters and their ratings...I'm still getting familiar with the brake system before I move onto the next item.

How much power can it hold?

[Jrgunn5150]

The last TCI trans I bought was just strapped to a pallet lol. But, I did pick it up at Summit.

You'll enjoy it for sure, it's a nice, solid combo.

Shugalou, 2500 rpm is about 800 higher than stock, it will provide a nice boost in acceleration and throttle response. A Streetfighter should be good to around 450 hp

[Shugalou]

Thanks for the info Jrgunn - I'll have to file a mental note on this tranny if (hopefully not for a while) I need a new one.

[1970pelle]

The TCI Street Fight will handle up to 725 HP on pump gas the details say. Its a very pretty unit, I'm going to clear it before I installing to help keep it cleaner and looking good for a longer period of time.

TCI Street Fighter details, I was able to get a better price on the trans with converter than what's shown on there add page.

http://www.tciauto.com/tc/streetfigh...lock-chevyhtml

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by 1970pelle

The TCI Street Fight will handle up to 725 HP on pump gas the details say. Its a very pretty unit, I'm going to clear it before I installing to help keep it cleaner and looking good for a longer period of time.

TCI Street Fighter details, I was able to get a better price on the trans with converter than what's shown on there add page.

http://www.tciauto.com/tc/streetfigh...lock-chevyhtml

Ooh you got the TH400, my reading comprehension failed me there!

[Jake Wade]

[1970pelle]

After many delay's, honey do's the Turbo 400 is in the truck finally. Next was drive shaft. After exhausting all the searching I could possibly do on the internet. Checking E-bay, searching Craigslist nation wide, no front drive shaft for a turbo 400 to be had. So off to Drive Line Service of Jacksonville Fl. its been a good 25 years since I have needed any custom driveshaft work. What a surprise I was in for, to have my front shaft remade about 3 inches longer. Replace the three U-joints and carrier bearing. Then balance the two shafts.
Almost $500.00 I'll get change back to go out for dinner for one.
I'll post pictures tomorrow when I pick it up, its suppose to be ready.

Ken

[Valarius_Starchaser]

Originally Posted by 1970pelle

Now its time to get to work. TCI sure packs there trannys good, it took two of us to open the box. They even sprayed the foam filler into the box to keep everything still. The unit i bought was the Street Fighter Turbo 400 with a 2500 stall converter. So lets hope I can round up all the little items I need to have this truck going by the weekend.

Ken

Nice! I saw your 700r4 backwards valve issue (I think that was you anyways) glad to see it didn't slow you down keep us posted!

[Houston Ben]

Sound like a nice trans! I feel your pain on the drive-shaft. I had a new DS built and the guy did tell me to make sure to grease the u-joints but I never did and just had to replace them yesterday...It started to have a very bad vibrations at around 65-70 and just got worse from there.

[Valarius_Starchaser]

kind of odd that if he says it happens often that they wouldn't change the instructions but at least you got it figured out

[1970pelle]

Been dragging my feet on this truck build. The weather has been nice and the bike bug has bitten me. Bike Week is coming quick, I always have a bike ready for a couple of the shows. So its been bike stuff lately.
But as far as my C20 goes, the turbo 400 is installed and buttoned up. Driveshaft issues out of the way. Looks good underneath the truck with all the new parts and fresh paint.
I decided to up grade the Summit HEI dist. I had bought first thing when I picked this truck up. At that time I just dropped it in and got the truck driveable. So I had picked up a higher powered coil, a MSD cap,rotor, set of spark plug wires and a dist curve kit. I decided to install the cure kit and other parts tonight. I found out right away, the MSD curve kit weights,and center plate do not fit my Summit Dist. No way No How!
So I take the weights from the kit and get my shipping scale and weigh the weights from the kit first. Then the stock weights. Then I take the stock weights and drill 3 small holes in each weight, reweigh. I'm almost there, redrill the three holes a size larger and reweigh. A bit closer, after the third time and some buffing on the belt sander. I have my matched set of weights.
I install everything and use the middle set of springs. I also cleaned up all the edges on the weights and center piece, making the three pieces move much smoother than before. Also adding a small amount of super slick grease that doesn't fad away quickly. I'll now more tomorrow after my test drives.

Ken

[Oldriginal86]

Just an observation of the nice new parts. With a 2 piece drive shaft, the slip yoke is on the rear shaft just past the carrier bearing. The forward most u-joint should be to a bolt on yoke at the trans. Shouldn't have 2points of fore/aft movement in the driveline. The carrier bearing rubber won't last long. Only time a slip yoke at the trans is used is with a single piece driveline. The yoke that you have, will it accept u bolts or straps? Does it have a hole in the end to put a bolt through to the output shaft of the trans?

Sorry, late to the party. Glad to hear all is well.

[1970pelle]

Why would the turbo 400 be that much different than the 700R4? The only difference is 2 inches.
I'm quite sure that TCI who built the transmission, knew the set up I was running. Would have said something if there was a issue of a weakness in the driveshaft set up. After a number of phone call on the issue.
And Drive line Service of Jacksonville, which is a very large company with more than 30 years experience. Would have question what I was doing, and not built a drive shaft that would fail.

Not trying to start anything, just saying. I have gone to great lengths to make sure everything was do right. Plus there are square trucks that came out of the box like this.

Ken

[cadillac_al]

Originally Posted by Oldriginal86

Just an observation of the nice new parts. With a 2 piece drive shaft, the slip yoke is on the rear shaft just past the carrier bearing. The forward most u-joint should be to a bolt on yoke at the trans. Shouldn't have 2points of fore/aft movement in the driveline. The carrier bearing rubber won't last long. Only time a slip yoke at the trans is used is with a single piece driveline. The yoke that you have, will it accept u bolts or straps? Does it have a hole in the end to put a bolt through to the output shaft of the trans?

Sorry, late to the party. Glad to hear all is well.

Good catch. I work on cars so much I was assuming this was a one piece driveshaft even though both of my C10's are two piece. Did GM go to one piece driveshafts by 86?

[1970pelle]

I don't know for sure, but after owning a number of 1981-87 trucks. And a few of the next generation which had one piece drive shafts. But that doesn't make it fact, just a guess on my part.

Ken

[GRADYS Performance]

The 2 piece drive shaft should use a bolt on yoke. Not the fault of TCI they provided the correct transmission.

[1970pelle]

TCI didn't have any idea what the trans was going in, till I talked with them after the fact.

Ken

[slotard]

Did the converter box have a label on it? Insurance?

[1970pelle]

Originally Posted by slotard

Did the converter box have a label on it? Insurance?

Oh yea It was tagged. Had a print out from TCI attached to the box, plus a Fedex tag with paper work inside it. It will turn up, somebody just wasn't paying attention.

[1970pelle]

Its been a while since my TCI trans failure. And I still don't have a replacement. I have called several times after being told no worries there sending a replacement. I waited about 10 days and called again, left a message as always. They finally call me back, there communication skills need work. That's something I had chose to with hold till now, I'm getting frustrated with them.
So I get a E-mail from the rep from TCI telling me they repaired my old transmission. And have not shipped it yet, after telling me they where going to replace the unit with another one. And ship it. What has change?
Back to the Torque Converter issue, where is the converter. It was missing in action. The shipping company did track it down and its back in Jacksonville, waiting to be shipped to TCI.

That's where we are at. I wish I had bought a trans local.

Ken

[cadillac_al]

I went through the same thing many years ago. I bought some heavy duty stage 2 th 350 and it lasted about a week. I would have had to pay to ship it back. I didn't want to spend any more good money after bad so I now have a $700 hunk of steel and aluminum to sit in the garage. I have had good luck with used trannys since then but if I needed a rebuild I would get it done locally or tackle it myself.

I hope they didn't just throw a pump in your trans and called it good. It doesn't sound too promising especially with the weak customer service and communication.

[1970pelle]

My trans showed up Friday. They fixed the unit I sent back, which is something they said they would not do. They did not include anything telling me what was done to the trans, ref. repair or placed parts. They did repaint the outer case, poorly I will add.
I'm a bit leery of the trans, because of the lack of communication from TCI during this whole warranty process. It was like pulling something from a small child, to get any information on what was happening or not happening.
I would like to voice my dissatisfaction, but I don't know who to do that with?
Comp Cams ?

The torque converter issue, FedEx did local the lost converter and returned it. Hard to believe it went where it did, with all the marking on the box. The box sure took a beating. I did contact TCI that the converter was located and there reply was, it is to late there warranty claim was closed.

I have been taking pictures of my every move with this trans. I just don't like this. We'll see.

[Front Range]

Might consider not accepting it as is. If they stated in writing they would not return the same transmission you should be able to fight it or deny a credit card charge. Don't know if it's worth the hassle to you or not. I'd be concerned that they are stating the claim is closed, how can that be when you have no idea whether or not the replacement works correctly or whether the lost converter has been damaged in transit? If you can't get a TCI rep on the phone to get it straightened out then denying them payment should get their attention.

When this is all done, consider posting a review in the Vendor section so other people can weigh it before making a purchase. I've read less than stellar reviews about TCI in the past an it's good to have another persons experience to draw on.

[Jake Wade]

So, you don't have a converter?