toocheaptosmoke
Dollar Save Club
Not a whole lot of updates on this yet, still trying to decide on a build plan.
Alternator had grenaded a bearing, so replaced that with some new pulleys and a belt, accessory drive is much happier now. Runs and drives half decent, brakes even work, limited slip maybe sort of works? Has a fuel leak in return line and the rad is now leaking, but the major overhaul will wait until after winter.
Also pulled up the wet carpets to find some hidden rust from salty boots.
From what I have found reading online thus far, I think that the current np241 case behind the th400 should be able to work behind either an sm465 or an nv4500.
The nv4500 is maybe an inch or two shorter than the th400, probably still enough to require driveshafts? I have this trans in other trucks, and it's alright, gear splits aren't the greatest, but OD is nice. Seems to be getting harder to find, junkyards asking up to 2k for something that will likely need gone through.
And rebuild parts aren't exactly cheap either...
I was kind of leaning towards the 4 speed option, should be much cheaper to get a trans, but the cost of new bellhousing, pedals, and driveshafts will still be significant. Would hopefully be more stout as well. Does the 350 TBI have enough grunt to handle OD ratio? 3.73's with 31s or 33's would be the plan, may have a trailer behind it a fair bit. Not sure how much I will hate life with no OD, or if the fuel mileage will be that much worse.
Rear axle is going to get replaced, the 9.5" SF has a ton of miles, and the leaf springs have some heavy wear. Need to read up on the 14b bible and figure out the right combo of donor truck to start looking for. Allegedly the 10.5" FF pinion is very slightly shorter than the 9.5" SF, so in combo with a nv4500 the rear driveshaft may be a required change anyways.
Alternator had grenaded a bearing, so replaced that with some new pulleys and a belt, accessory drive is much happier now. Runs and drives half decent, brakes even work, limited slip maybe sort of works? Has a fuel leak in return line and the rad is now leaking, but the major overhaul will wait until after winter.
Also pulled up the wet carpets to find some hidden rust from salty boots.
From what I have found reading online thus far, I think that the current np241 case behind the th400 should be able to work behind either an sm465 or an nv4500.
The nv4500 is maybe an inch or two shorter than the th400, probably still enough to require driveshafts? I have this trans in other trucks, and it's alright, gear splits aren't the greatest, but OD is nice. Seems to be getting harder to find, junkyards asking up to 2k for something that will likely need gone through.
And rebuild parts aren't exactly cheap either...I was kind of leaning towards the 4 speed option, should be much cheaper to get a trans, but the cost of new bellhousing, pedals, and driveshafts will still be significant. Would hopefully be more stout as well. Does the 350 TBI have enough grunt to handle OD ratio? 3.73's with 31s or 33's would be the plan, may have a trailer behind it a fair bit. Not sure how much I will hate life with no OD, or if the fuel mileage will be that much worse.
Rear axle is going to get replaced, the 9.5" SF has a ton of miles, and the leaf springs have some heavy wear. Need to read up on the 14b bible and figure out the right combo of donor truck to start looking for. Allegedly the 10.5" FF pinion is very slightly shorter than the 9.5" SF, so in combo with a nv4500 the rear driveshaft may be a required change anyways.
The parts axle donated the calipers for the core charge, those ones were really rusted out.
Wow is that thing heavy. 
Sounds like pretty close to what I'd be looking for, even if I had to pull a leaf from the 52's I could add it to the rear pack to help out there. Was hoping to just get some used stuff cheap and make bastard packs.