problems... help please!!

[bitchin85]

i got a few problems with my truck. i noticed when i bought it that the th350 slippeda little into third.well i just drove it as is and now its worse and it takes forever to go into gear from park to reverse or park to drive.. will new fluid and a filter fix my slipping problem or am i in for a rebuild...

also my truck has a fresh 355 with an edelbrock 600, single pane edelbrock intake with a 3 inth 4 hole spacer real mild cam, long tubes to 2.25 duals, 2:73 rear end, and 305 heads. i know its no race car but it has NO BALLS! my moms honda crv is faster.. it hesitates when i crack the throttle and it always smells like gas real strong when driving it and after. but no leaks. and the idle crews are 1.75 turns out. any suggestions? im open to anything at this point to wake this thing up.. its probly something stupid..

[menace121978]

dont change the fluid! start saving for a new/rebuilt tranny. in the mean time pour in a bottle of lucas trans treatment and try that for a few miles and it should feel better.

i have changed the fluid on 4 different th350's & 700's after there was a problem with no reverse or drive and it totally finished them off with the new fluid. the lucas stuff is awesome and it has really worked miracles in the past for me. good luck and keep us posted...

btw, you need new heads. the 305 heads are choking the heck out of the motor. but i'm sure you probably already knew that

[bitchin85]

thanks ill grab a bottle of that stuff tomorow. and i know the heads suck.. they came on it. i have a set of 194/150s sittin in my bench that need gone over. i cant wait to get em on. theyll make a diferance right? lol

[menace121978]

they will finish that tranny off for sure!

[bitchin85]

haha yea i figured. what kind of horsepower gain would i be looking at with those

[menace121978]

i duno buddy. ive found those types of questions get answered alot quicker in the drivetrain section... but ya never know someone might just chime in here with the answer any second.

[bitchin85]

that would be nice. i read a little on that lucas trans stuff and some people swear by it and some hate it. some say its a band-aid. i just dont want it to totally die on me till i can get another trans. also i forgot to mension i have this problem where my right foot is heavier then it should be so im a little rough on it lol

[KQQL IT]

Originally Posted by *****in85

that would be nice. i read a little on that lucas trans stuff and some people swear by it and some hate it. some say its a band-aid. i just dont want it to totally die on me till i can get another trans. also i forgot to mension i have this problem where my right foot is heavier then it should be so im a little rough on it lol

If you havnt the $$ for a trans rebuild a band aid might be the ticket for you

[bitchin85]

yea im gonna grab some of that tomorow. i hope it works for a couple weeks till i can find a rebuilt trans

[BigE77']

Hi, new to the site, *****in sounds like those new heads might do the trick, but your cam and and that 4 hole spacer arent helping out much either. Sounds like a couple easy tweeks and you'll wake that thing up. Good luck

[bitchin85]

well i ran it without the spacer and it ran like total crap. i dont know why exactally but it runs better with it on there.

[BigE77']

well then leave it on.... I had the same prob with my stock gm intake went to a nice dual plane and ditched the spacer so the fuel and air dont get choked up trying to push through little holes and it ran much much better

[bitchin85]

i have open use to a machine shop whenever i want. would it help if i cut out the conter seection where the four holes are and made it one big square opening? or would that hurt me

[BigE77']

I dont think it could hurt. It wont be a cure all but it should get things flowing in the right direction.

[bitchin85]

well i tweaked a few things and got it running strunger. i actually got pulled over for the first time yesterday in it! lol but i bought that trans fix stuff from lucas, and it didnt help at all. i drove it for about 50 miles and not a thing. should i get a filter for it? again i know close to nothing about transmissions..

[68 TT]

You need another transmission. You don't necessarily need to have a rebuilt trans just one that still works right. See if you have any you-pull-it type wrecking yards around you. Find a wrecked vehicle with a T-350. Don't pull a transmission out of a vehicle that hasn't been wrecked. There is a good chance it doesn't work and is the reason the car is there in the first place.

It shouldn't run you more than $75 and will come with some kind of guarantee that it works. At my local one a trans is $50 with converter and comes with a 30-day warranty.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by *****in85

also my truck has a fresh 355 with an edelbrock 600, single pane edelbrock intake with a 3 inth 4 hole spacer real mild cam, long tubes to 2.25 duals, 2:73 rear end, and 305 heads. i know its no race car but it has NO BALLS! my moms honda crv is faster.. it hesitates when i crack the throttle and it always smells like gas real strong when driving it and after. but no leaks. and the idle crews are 1.75 turns out. any suggestions? im open to anything at this point to wake this thing up.. its probly something stupid..

The parts combination is all wrong. No wonder it has no balls.

Lose the single plane intake and carb spacer. With a mild cam and small valve 305 heads you don't have the air flow to use them and they drastically kill bottom end power which you need in a truck. Get a base model Performer dual plane intake. I see them all the time for $50 used on CL. You could probably sell what is on yours for more $ to somebody who needs it.

Those 2.73 gears are killing you. You need better gears. Try to find a different rear end with 3.42's or 3.73's. Any more with a T-350 and you will be running pretty high RPM on the freeway. You will be amazed at how much of an improvement the gear change makes. Make sure you get posi, you will need it.

Get those 1.94/1.50 heads rebuilt and on there as soon as you can. The small valve, small chamber 305 heads are killing your air flow and jacking up your compression. You will be able to run more timing without detonation with the right heads on there and the motor will be able to breath. Right now it is sucking air through a coffee stir stick.

With a moderate cam (280 degrees duration and .480" lift) 1.94 heads, a Performer RPM intake, 750 cfm carb and headers with 2-1/2" dual exhaust I made 286 rear wheel HP which is about 330 to 340 HP at the crank.

With a little less cam and a smaller carb you will make about 300 hp at the crank with a 355.

[bitchin85]

i know my heads and gears suck.. thats how i bought the truck. the guy had it bored but put garbage heads on it with a tiny cam. im on a real tight budget but im trying to find out what itll cost to have those heads deckedand gone through. im goin to a junk yaard soon to finda rear end. woulda performer intake make much of a differance how my motor is now?

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by *****in85

i know my heads and gears suck.. thats how i bought the truck. the guy had it bored but put garbage heads on it with a tiny cam. im on a real tight budget but im trying to find out what itll cost to have those heads deckedand gone through. im goin to a junk yaard soon to finda rear end. woulda performer intake make much of a differance how my motor is now?

The Performer should make a pretty good improvement, even a stock intake would work better with the small cam & heads.

My machine shop charges $288 to completely recondition a set of heads with all new stainless steel valves and hardware as a point of reference for you.

A decent set of used heads could save you $200 here if you are on a really tight budget. I have found several sets of freshly rebuilt heads on rigs in the junk yard. Just look for heads that look cleaner than the short block.

Fit them with some nice silicone valve stem seals and you are good to go.

[bitchin85]

i know guys that work at machine shops and could probly get them redone for cheap but would it be worth it to spend a few extra bucks and get 202-160 heads? im on a tight budget here..

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by *****in85

i know guys that work at machine shops and could probly get them redone for cheap but would it be worth it to spend a few extra bucks and get 202-160 heads? im on a tight budget here..

Not unless you put in a bigger cam and exhaust to take advantage of them both. Then you will absolutely need gears and a stall converter. Pretty much blows your budget with all the other things you need to work with the 2.02 heads.

A mild cam upgrade (something like the Comp 12-234-2) is inexpensive and will work fantastic with a Performer intake and a set of 1.94 heads.

The gearing will still help a ton but isn't as critical as it would be with the bigger valve heads and the bigger cam.