Ouch, transmission on my Shop Truck

[Joe Pelonio]

My '72 El Camino is up on the rack at the transmission shop. It (TH350)was skipping 2nd and going from 1st to third with a long delay with the rpms going way up. If I drove like an old granny it seemed more like normal but still went 1st-3rd. I stopped by this morning and the boss wasn't in yet but the mechanic showed me the pan, lots of bits of metal in it. Something broke and it looks like it will take a rebuild to get all the metal bits out. With the gas at over $3 now I was thinking about selling it, darned thing must have heard me.

[Chris Damm]

You could always put a 700R4 in stead of rebuilding that tired old 350. That's what I'm going to do to my '72 El Camino SS396.

[Joe Pelonio]

I'll talk to him about it. There's also a 2004R overdrive, do you know anything about those? Either way I should be able to pick up a good
increase in gas mileage. Good to know someone else has a '72! What
do you have now, a TH400?

[Jerry Clark]

The 200R4 is not a very good transmission-- had a lot of trouble with them. The 700 will be a good combination-- I put one in my truck and used it to pull a 27 foot trailer--- will I used to until the gas went wild.

[Joe Pelonio]

I guess it's a matter of cost now, and I'm pretty sure I'll be selling it soon. There is a "tang" that holds the 2nd gear clutches in place that broke. He says he's seen it happen before but it's not common. Upon inspection the rest of it including the clutches are still in great shape, and not in need of a rebuild. By totally dismantling it, cleaning out any debris and putting it back together it should be fine and it will cost me $400-500 so I gave him the OK. I'm going to eventually look for a '64-'67 with a 283 or 327 and 4 speed.