Question-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
My son recently purchased a 1976 corvette and is going to do a street class rebuild of the engine and paint and drive train. This particular vette was the L48 which only acheived 180 HP from the factory. We plan to have the transmission, the TH350, rebuilt by a professional and we will either rebuild the motor or have it done so that it has a substantial increase in HP, possibly 280 -300 HP. Is there reason to believe that hte TH350 can stand up to this increase in HP? We may rebuild the engine ourselves, any advice is welcome.
Thanks
Tony
Answer -
Hea Tony
I think that is GREAT that you are going to re-build the vette. I think that that tranny will do just fine.
The engine, If you are going to keep it for street use,
should be not that hard to do, if you are not going to use
it for a hot rod, You can do most all yourself if you have done it in the past if not you will have to have someone that has done engine rebuilding, or you can go with a re-biult engine as there are so many places now that rebuild and at low prices, all you have to do is do a serch under chevy rebuilt engines and you will find out all kinds of things that will even help you with information. ok
GOOD LUCK
Hi Roger,
Thanks for the quick response. So, your saying that although the original engine was only 180 HP, our rebuilt, 280 - 300 HP engine will not hurt this transmission?
I and my son have experience rebuilding engines, even though that s not or regular jobs. The whole idea is to take a whimperng smog burner and turn it into a street machine that only gets taken out on weekends for cruising around and when we press the accelerator, it actually feels and sounds like it has a heart. We are getting a 2000 - 2500 RPM stall for the tranny and if we want, we can show that there is a power plant under there, you know what I mean?
My second question is about ignitions: We want this car to have to have aa more modern ignition and we wanrt to fit an MSD 6 sparker with a mallory mag pickup distributor. Problem is most suppliers put in their description " fits chevy 350 from '70 to '79 except Covette". What's up with that. Seems like they would offer one for 'vettes in he 350 class. Instead, the 'vette one costs twice as much (around $600). Why?
Answer Hea Tony;
As far as the tranny , I do not think you should have any trouble with it, if you are worried you can allways get a heavy duty one. I think as long as you are not going to go crazy with the engine as far as pistons .060 over and a big solid cam, etc. etc, it should be fine. I think that the reason they say the dist. will not fit vettes is due to height reasons, that is the only thing I can think of.I had a mallory duel pt. in my 63 vette but I had a L88 hood scoop on it as it was a 327.it ran real good 327 w/400+ H.P.
I will say it again to make you feel a bit better, if it was me doing what you are going to do , if I was not going to put in a 4-speed & clutch , I would do the same as you are doing with that tranny as if you do not go over 300 h.p. it should be just fine , again I would use it.OK.
As far as the distb. all I can think of is the height ? as far as the cam gear,all the same as far as I know. There must be something out there, try a serch, look at this also
(www.sallee-chevrolet.com )I can also understand what you say about a smog burner I hate the sound of a pig motor. good luck let me know how you do OK Roger
