Since the TH350 in the car was a junker and my parent's basement was fresh out of serviceable transmissions, I picked up the phone and called our pals at TCI. After explaining the situation to them, giving them the cam specs I'd be running in the engine and talking about the power levels I'd be working to achieve down the road, we decided that one of their TCI Streetfighter 700R4 transmission packages would be the best way to go. This is a package that includes the torque converter, fluid, transmission cooler, dip stick, and TV cable. Basically, everything you'll need to get the transmission into the car and working. The transmission arrived all boxed up and on a pallet.

Here's the contents of the big package. The box on the left contains a TCI universal TV cable, the long snake like appendage in the front there is a dip stick, the transmission cooler is in the rear and one of the three jugs of TCI Max Shift transmission fluid is there on the right. The Streetfighter transmission we chose is good for up to 525hp. The converter comes installed on the transmission. The entire package has a retail price of $2559.00 from Summit Racing Equipment.

Here's what you can expect when you pop the lid open on your freshly arrived transmission. The expanding foam does a nice job of keeping everything tightly packed in the box.

TCI includes all of the necessary instructions to install the transmission and a couple of options on wiring the torque converter lockup. We STRONGLY recommend that you read all of the documentation with the transmission. TCI sends along a test sheet from after it was assembled as well.

TCI equips the StreetFighter transmissions with their Constant Pressure Valve Body which helps to ensure firm application of clutches and bands, the line pressure if beefed up for firmer shifting, a robust deep pan, and a universal wiring kit for the torque converter lockup.

When we talked to the guys at TCI about which transmission and converter would be the best for Buford, they were interested in the specs of the cam we'd be running. I provided them the info on the cam card and they suggested we go with a Breakaway series lockup converter. The stall speed is 2400 RPM and this matches the recommendation COMP gives for the Extreme Energy grind we are running. We get the performance benefits of a looser converter down low and the efficiency of a lock up unit for cruising. That's a cool scenario! The cost of the converter was figured into the package price of the trans.

As this work was completed in early December, it was colder than hell outside and working in my driveway again wasn't sounding all that appealing at this time of the year. I called Jon Sandahl and openly begged to use his shop and lift to do the work and he consented. I rumbled down with my father in law on a Sunday morning.

Doing the work on the lift with the right tools was sure a quicker operation than the previous swap in my driveway. We started by draining all of the speckled red fluid out of the old transmission. We then unbolted it and took it out after loosening the header bolts to gain enough room for the drop.

Just looking at the condition of the pan on the old transmission gives you a bit of an idea of just how hard that thing's life has been. At least it died with its boots on.

This photo was taken before we loosened up the header bolts to lower the transmission out. We were happy to find that the headers didn't have to come all the way out. It saved us some time.

Here's the dead player. The damage is not as extreme as we saw on the first transmission but it does show that basically two of the bolts on that side of the bell were doing nothing. The other bolts were very loose and I think that looseness contributed to what you see here. I've checked the bolts in the new transmission about a dozen times since installing it.

Here's a little closer look at the newly "customized" bell housing. Fail.

Bolting the TCI StreetFighter in was a very straightforward affair. Because the torque converter comes installed on the transmission, the only things we had to do were to swap the speedo gear, bolt the TV cable into place and then line 'er up. I should mention that we took a while closely inspecting the flexplate for any cracks or issues before bolting the new transmission up. All was good.

The transmission jack is God's gift to man. Being able to roll the thing into place and lift it vertically without fear of being crushed, it makes your day a whole lot more fun.

We made short work of bolting the converter and bell housing up. My father in law worked on hooking up the lines to the transmission cooler (which we'll document installing in an upcoming story) and I set to the wiring of the vacuum lockup switch that TCI equips these transmission with. There are a couple of options for wiring this up. The first is to simply run 12V switched power to the red wire, which will allow the switch to function automatically when it gets 8-10 inches of vacuum from the manifold in overdrive. The other option is to use the green wire and install a manual switch on the dash which would allow you to control the lockup manually. While the switch idea is appealing, it comes with some risk. Forgetting to flip that switch on while the transmission is in OD will result in damage after just a few miles. Because I occasionally have to remind myself to breathe on time, I linked the red wire to a 12V switched source and have been very happy.

The final step in the process is to correctly adjust the TV cable. As I'm using a customized factory bracket, I clipped the cable in and followed TCI's instructions, making sure the cable was snug at rest and very taught at full throttle. Driving with the TV cable mis-adjusted will cause damage to the trans in very short fashion. If the shifts are soft, happening rapidly, and "stacking" on one another, your cable it too loose and you're going to wreck the transmission. I was satisfied with the firm and crisp part throttle shifts of the transmission and the hard gear changes at full throttle. I can't wait to get this thing back on the drag strip with the right number of gears and more HP! Since I installed the transmission, I have put a couple hundred miles on the car and have no issues or complaints to report. The gas mileage is a hell of a lot better on the highway with OD and a lockup converter. That is for sure!