Hello everyone in el camino land. Here's the problem I have. I have a 1976, 350, Th 350. When I bought the car I was told the tranny was out, no problem. Last night I was tinkerin with the camino and got it running. I got curious checked the trans. fluid and guess what? Thats right there was no trans fluid on the stick. So after 3qts it was full. I dropped it into reverse and lo and behold it went into gear, feels pretty dang strong to. The problem is there is no forward gears. Now for all the automatic gurus out there what could be some of the simple things to check before I pull the trans. Thank You. Rich :mad:

Unfortunately I'm out on the road right now and don't have my book with me to help diagnose your problem, but if it won't go forward it is not a simple problem. I strongly suggest that you buy this book CLICK HERE (http://www.amazon.com/Turbo-Hydra-350-Hp511-Sessions/dp/0895860511/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-2047096-7544930?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173060557&sr=8-1) , this is the best info available on TH-350s, bar none. Even if you don't do a rebuild it is a great help understanding the operation and maintenance of these transmissions.

There is a seal in the center section of the trans that has gone out. It is allowing pressure to leak past. The transmission needs to be rebuilt.

You may be able to add some conditioners to the tranny and get it to go forward but if it does then it's going to only do that for at best a few hours.

Good Luck.

Mama, and Pete thank you for the replies. Mama how much of a bear is it to rebuild the trans by yourself. Could someone with moderate mechanical skills accomplish it without doing great bodily harm to themselves or others?
Thanks Rich

It is not hard to do really. You just need to pay attention to how it comes apart. Its not as complicated as some think if you can rebuild an engine you can rebuild a transmission.

You will need a slide hammer with a 3/8X16 end on it(get the front pump out), a good set of feeler gauges(used to get the seal lips in) and a press rigged up to depress the springs in the clutch packs to get them apart and back together.

I just rebuilt my TH-350, myself, it wasn't that hard. Get that book I mentioned (and put a link to) and read it well, I also got a DVD video to watch so I could see how it's done. You don't need a slide hammer to get the pump out, you can easily pry it out from a hole underneath just in front of the valve body. You will need a spring compressor (about $40.00) for the reverse/low clutch pack and two or three 5" clamps to disassemble and reassemble the other 2 clutch packs. You could buy a spring compressor to do all the clutch packs for about $100. I modified mine to hold the maximum number of frictions and steels, went with a 36 element sprag(a little pricey) and hardened race (relatively inexpensive) , replaced the anti-clunk spring with a case saver (85 cents) and shimmed the intermediate piston ( an old reverse/low friction with the material scraped off and slit so I could put it on the backside of the pump). I also went with a 2.75:1 low gear (also pricey) and doubled up the sun gear bushings. Buy the little wire type lip seal installer tool (about $20), it's worth it. I did the feeler guage trick and ended up cutting the one lip seal on my direct piston. I had to order a whole seal kit, just for that one lip seal, no one sells them seperate. A couple places said they could special order it, but it would cost almost as much as a whole kit. Also keep in mind that you might need to install some heli-coils. I have 2 pump bolt holes that pulled the threads while torqueing them. I didn't have them even close to full torque when I felt the threads pull. GM uses some ugly castings on their trannys, but they work fine.

I've got the eqivulent of a TCI Super Street Fighter as far as power and torque capacity, but I also have the 2.75:1 low. A Street Fighter with the 2.75 is $1800.
But before you do anything, GET THE BOOK!!!

Mama, thanks for the replies I believe I am going to give it the good ol' college try. I will probably e-mail you later to get some specifics on parts and procedures. Again thank you to everyone who replied.
Rich :-)

Your welcome, but have some patience when trying to get answers from me as when hubby and I are out on the truck I don't get on the net every day, sometimes it can be a few days.