Small Block Chevy 350 into Dakar / Range Rover

Rebuilding the Automatic Gearbox

I was originally planning on getting hold of another TH350 autobox, namely becuase my one had a broken case around the rear mounting flange and the shaft was VERY short (TH350's come in different varients, Long shaft or Short shaft or 4WD) - mine was a 4WD version as it came from a 79 Blazer. The only way to change the shaft is to completely strip the box down, given that the box was broken i thought it would be easier to get another one,but my Dad reckoned he might be able to weld the box if it was stripped down, plus my mate paul had the correct shaft handy (after he attemped a re-build and gave up, leaving a big box of bits in the garage!), I had studied a book for a few days and undaunted i decided to strip the box down one sunday afternoon.

Hey, id stripped down motorbike gearboxes when I was nine years old, how hard could it be?. I took the methodical approach of removing each bit and laying it out, this quickly consumed massive amounts of space in the shed!, but it was intresting and at least I know understand how these things work!

This picture shows the three clutch packs. The long shaft is called the stator shaft, thats what the torque convertor attaches to. All the bearings in these things are simple white metal bushes, they were all replaced along with all the oil seals and clutch plates.

This is the beginings of the re-build after my dad successfully welded the casing up for me. The box itself is bolted to the work bench, plus i drilled a 1" hole into the bench to allow the new "long" output shaft to hang below. The worm-like channels in the casing are the "brains" of the 'box, very clever. The primary and secondary clutches are in the vice.

At this stage, the "core" is all re-built. I'm now installing the B&M transpak shift kit. This particular one allows you to select 1st gear, even if youre going too fast. This allows you to select 1st when going down a steep incline. The 'long' shaft is sticking out the back, this is about 10" longer than the short shaft. I'm just about to fit the valve body.