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Does anybody know if the big chain parts stores stock transmissions?

Lee_in_KC

Active Member
I ask because I think I'm losing my Turbo 350 and I'm leaving for the Springfield Nats in a week... not enough time to get my TCI Streetfighter warranteed and replaced. My idea is to drive it 'til it dies, then throw in a cheap rebuild if I need to.
 
I just did a quick search at a few chain parts houses. Looks like Auto Zone lists them. Price was about $750 if you don't have a core. Don't know if it comes with a converter.

Mike
 
Lee, so you had trouble with your TCI Streetfighter too? My Son bought one and also their torque converter from Summit and it fried after only 200 miles. The front pump went out and chewed up both the tranny and torque converter. TCI "graciously" agreed (?) to fix or replace them even though they were 9 months old (warranty is 90 days but it took a year to build the car) However, we had to pay freight both ways ($ 200). We also had to pull the engine and transmission, build a crate, and do the shipping.....all work that they did not cover.

They did send a new torque converter and a replacement transmission, but we will never do business with TCI again. I have seen post after post on various forums where people had multiple transmissions from them go out. We thought we bought a quality product and didn't cut corners, so it is very discouraging to end up with a crap transmission.

If you have to deal with TCI, talk to Andre' up there, he was the go to guy we dealt with.

Since you are under the gun, I would go to the local pick and pull wrecking yard and get one, usually about $ 150 or so.

Don
 
just my opinion but I would go to a TH400 with that blower. I know a TH350 will work, but why did Chevy go to a TH400 in a big block instead of the TH350? I like my TH400 and I like it even better with a full manual valvebody and 3500 stall converter.
 
My tranny only has about 800 miles on it, but I've had it for three years. A couple hundred miles ago it started making a strange sound only in 3rd. I described the sound in a post on the Hotrodders.com tranny board, where I knew there were a couple of regulars who ran transmission shops. They concluded that the sound was probably the drive shell rubbing against the case because it only happened in 3rd gear. They suggested I check to see if it was making metal, which I did and it wasn't. I called TCI and they said the only way they could diagnose it was for me to ship it to them. Since it was the middle of the hot-rodding season, I chose to keep driving it to see what happened. It didn't seem to get any worse and last time I checked (last winter) it still wasn't making metal. Well, now on my last couple of drives it has started making a random clicking sound in addition to the rubbing sound, still only in 3rd. I need to take the T out to my hangar to get it up on stands to check for metal in the pan, so I don't know whether it's making metal now.

I thought about picking up a salvage yard tranny and taking it with me to Springfield, but it seems a little risky to rely on an un-tested box.
 

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