84 Trans Am drivetrain into 68 Camaro

[Loves302Chevy]

A friend of mine has a 68 Camaro. The car's rear differential needs work and his Turbo 350 transmission must have over 100K miles. Money is tight for him and he just wants to get this car back on the road now and just drive it. In his lifetime, the car will never be a show car or get anything close to being a meticulously restored, numbers matching muscle car. It's just going to be a driver. As it sits, the engine is a rebuilt short block SBC 350 with new take-off heads that I found on eBay and the Edelbrock Performer package (cam, intake, carb). The car has only gone around the block a few times since we put the new engine in, so essentially there are no miles on it.

I still have the original drivetrain from my 84 Trans Am (Turbo 700R4 transmission and converter, driveshaft, and differential with gears) and I am willing to give them to him to transplant into the Camaro, if these parts will work without major surgery. There are still a lot of miles left in my parts. I pulled them out when the car hit 100K and still working fine. They were always well maintained. Now they just sit on the shelf.

1) Will my differential fit into his rear axle?
2) Will the 700R4 trans fit without altering the trans tunnel?
3) Anything else I haven't thought of?

If these parts can easily swap, then he will gain overdrive. It should make a nice driver.

 

[GLHS60]

No on the diff, the 1968 would be 8.2" or 12 bolt. The 1984 would be 7.5" or even sometimes a 9 bolt.

I think the tunnel is no problem but the drive shaft needs to be shortened and the trans crossmember modified.

Shifter, cable and lockup converter will need to be addressed and most importantly the TV, or kickdown cable.

700 are very sensitive on cable adjustment as it also controls trans. line pressure and are known to burn up right away if the cable isn't adjusted correctly.
Edelbrock will have a kit to make the carb 700 compatable.

Also need to confirm his flexplate will accept the 700 converter. Speedo cable should fit but speedo gears will need to be confirmed.

Thanks
Randy

 

[Loves302Chevy]

Thanks. Those are all the things I didn't remember about.
If he does rebuild the rear end, then he can go to lower gears if he adds the overdrive transmission.
One other item is a vacuum switch circuit to lock the torque converter.

 

[Indycars]

I have not had much luck with the vacuum switch as a controller by itself. I installed
a manual switch that locks up the TCC anytime except 1st gear.

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-transmission-project.7230/page-15#post-34332

Check out the links below....

http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/LockupTCCWiring.htm
http://www.rowand.net/shop/tech/automaticoverdrivetransmissionswap.htm

You will notice in the last link that the TH350 and the TH200-4R are essentially
the same length and output spline. Therefore the driveshaft does not need
modification, only the trans mount is modified. Something to consider if the
700R4 doesn't work out.

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