turbo 400 swap in a 69 nova

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434 nova
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turbo 400 swap in a 69 nova

#1 Post by 434 nova » Fri Dec 28, 2007 7:21 pm

Hi guys i need some help with my swap my car has a sbc with a turbo 350 trans and now my car has a 434 sbc with a turbo 400 what do i need to change or do for me to put this tranny in. Will i need to change my crossmember ,drveshaft, and what tail on the trans will i need long or short. thanks for any help

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ytnova
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#2 Post by ytnova » Fri Dec 28, 2007 8:27 pm

Short shaft 400. You can either go to your local gm dealer or gm supplier and buy a new crossmember for a 69 bbc/th400 camaro, believe it or not, they still have them, and it should be under a hundred bucks. I will say that when I bought my factory th400 gm crossmember, the mount was welded about @one inch to the pass side of center, so the trans was not straight in the tunnel. I cut it off and moved it to the center, I think all factory camaro/nova bbc cars, the engine was moved a inch to the pass side for exhaust manifold clearance with the steering box, but I centered mine when going from a sbc to a bbc, so I had to move the trans mount. You can also do a search on here and there was somone making them out of chrome-moly tubing, which would be lighter and probably give you some more exhaust room, not that 4" should fit without a problem. For the driveshaft, I have used the original 350 driveshaft and found a old small cross section th400 yoke and it worked fine. You could also use a 1350 cross section yoke and just go down to you local parts house and find a conversion u-joint. Either one will get you going, but if you are making any serious power or the car hooks good, I would be heading down and just get a new driveshaft made with all 1350 series u-joints on both ends and some good quality yokes to match, it would probably be cheaper in the long run.

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#3 Post by John_Heard » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:21 am

I got everything you need... I'm in the middle of switching to a glide on my car. I have a OEM style crossmember for a 400 that has been modified to put the mount in the center (small block motor mounts) TH400 yoke and a 53" center to center Moly Driveshaft w/1350 ujoints

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a1elec
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#4 Post by a1elec » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:05 pm

john do you know the length of your new drive shaft yet? john

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sunsation540
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#5 Post by sunsation540 » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:15 pm

john pray tell a glide?
make a plan and stick to it !!

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#6 Post by John_Heard » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:41 pm

Not sure how long I'll need the new driveshaft to be yet, I'm going to wait till I have the transmission and rear end back in the car and measure.
sunsation540 wrote:john pray tell a glide?
Yup, time to try a different setup.

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#7 Post by sunsation540 » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:49 am

out goes the last 400 in RS??
make a plan and stick to it !!

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#8 Post by John_Heard » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:11 am

sunsation540 wrote:out goes the last 400 in RS??
Not yet. Chris Fletcher and Marty Chance both run 400's. I'm hoping both will come run with us next year.

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#9 Post by dadnova » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:59 pm

I used the origanal crossover as well, I put the engine and trans in and with a jack placed it where I wanted it. In my case all we had to do was weld 1/4 plate to the bottom of the frame sticking out an inch, marked and drilled the holes and installed good bolts. Cut the ends off the crossmember and welded it up solid.
Gotta plan, spend it before she can, and go as fast as you can.

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