73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => 4 Wheel Drives => Topic started by: zmanabba on January 30, 2016, 03:20:46 PM
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Long time lurker first time poster. I used the search function and didn't find an answer to my problem. I have a 1977 K10 that a few years ago I swapped in a 454 in the place of the 400 small block. Recently the original turbo 350 gave up the ghost. I had the turbo 400 that came with the engine so I swapped out the out put shaft and bought all of the other parts to mate the 203 to it. It is now in the truck but as you know the 400 is longer and the transfer case shifter is hitting the cab floor and I cannot get it in to 2hi or 4hi. Let alone put the bolt on cover for the transfer case. I don't think that I can shorten the adjustment rods on the shifter to move the shifter in the center of the original hole. Is there a unique shifter for this? Google and Ebay didn't bring up any results. I realize that I would have to fabricate a different shifter mount to center it in the factory hole. I am not afraid to cut and weld sheet metal but I am not sure if the shifter would clear the bench seat if a shorter driver were to drive the truck so I would like to use factory parts if available. Has anyone else run in to this before? Thank you in advance. David
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cant help you with a yes or no. but i can tell you this the th400 is about 3" longer than the th350 with the adapter plate in place. so maybe someone with the th350/203 setup can measure how far away the shifter is from the seat when its all the way up and in 4 high lock. or someone could measure the th400/203 with the shifter in 4low lock.
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The TH400 is different. I converted TH350 shifter by removig the mounting plate from the shifter, cutting it and adding a section and welding it all back together.
adjused the rods accordingly. Works perfect for me.
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Thank you ATCSAWSW. I will try that method. I just wasn't sure if there was enough adjustment in the shift rods. Thank you also IRISH the case length is causing me more problems than I anticipated. When I upgraded from a turbo 350 to a 400 in my 67 Firebird I don't remember this much hassle. Of course that was 30 years ago lol. I will report back. But it will be awhile. I have to sneak weekends in to work on it.
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Okay as promised checking back in after shifter mods completed. To start I used 3 inch long pipe with 3/8 inside diameter to space the shifter assembly forward and welded some scrap metal to it to tie the pieces together. I then used all thread 7/16 fine thread to lengthen the shift rods. I joined them together with mag wheel nuts that I drilled out the ends on. If I can figure out how to re-size my pictures (the apparently are too large) I will post them.
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Here you go, there is a thread for this somewhere but here is the link for Pixresizer, open the picture in the program and shrink until a small enough file size.
http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm
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Thank you Big_Al273. Okay this first pic shows my shifter mount made from some 3/8 inside diameter pipe and a piece of scrap metal that I welded the two together to stiffen it. Yes I know my welds are crap lol.
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This pic shows where I drilled out the end of a mag wheel lug nut and used it as a union to join the original shift rod with some 7/16 fine thread all thread. Only one rod is hooked up in this picture.