Why do you love your TH350?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Snoots

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Posts
8,158
Reaction score
15,957
Location
Georgia
First Name
Roger
Truck Year
1973
Truck Model
Jimmy Sierra
Engine Size
350
My 350 with a TH350, NP203 and 31" tires can spin. I know because I had to do it out of curiosity.

I don't tho because I'd rather be crossing the finish line while the other guy is spinning.
 

Goldie Driver

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Posts
3,925
Reaction score
6,375
Location
Houston, Texas
First Name
Britt
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
GMC K1500 Suburban
Engine Size
350
My 350 with a TH350, NP203 and 31" tires can spin. I know because I had to do it out of curiosity.

I don't tho because I'd rather be crossing the finish line while the other guy is spinning.

LOL- Goldie ? Spin tires ?:insane:

I don't think that 77 with the 400 and full time 4wd would either, but it made for fun launches.

However, I don't really expect a 4wd Suburban to do burnouts, at least not with the OEM 175 HP motor.

As far as the TH350 tranny, I think they are pretty stout. I don't remember having tranny problems with any of the old GM trucks or cars I had- well, other than leaks ...

:hahano:
 

SquareRoot

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Posts
3,657
Reaction score
6,596
Location
Arizona
First Name
Mike
Truck Year
85
Truck Model
K20
Engine Size
350
When you get 4 bald 35" tires for $10 at a swap meet its hard not to use them for burnouts lol

When you smash your bedside wheelwell sheetmetal because you were using dry rotted $10 swap meet tires that shed it's tread, you just hope nobody was watching. Lol
 

TubeTruck

I'm from Boston. Deal with it.
Joined
Sep 4, 2019
Posts
1,417
Reaction score
2,135
Location
East TN
First Name
Denis
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
Suburban K10
Engine Size
LQ9
When you smash your bedside wheelwell sheetmetal because you were using dry rotted $10 swap meet tires that shed it's tread, you just hope nobody was watching. Lol

Actually that was at a burn out contest. There were hundreds of people watching and I put the truck on the rims :favorites37:
 

Snoots

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Posts
8,158
Reaction score
15,957
Location
Georgia
First Name
Roger
Truck Year
1973
Truck Model
Jimmy Sierra
Engine Size
350
LOL- Goldie ? Spin tires ?:insane:

I don't think that 77 with the 400 and full time 4wd would either, but it made for fun launches.

However, I don't really expect a 4wd Suburban to do burnouts, at least not with the OEM 175 HP motor.

As far as the TH350 tranny, I think they are pretty stout. I don't remember having tranny problems with any of the old GM trucks or cars I had- well, other than leaks ...

:hahano:

Got to admit tho, it would be nice to see Goldie light 'em up!
 

K5_489

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Posts
41
Reaction score
25
Location
Arizona, USA
First Name
Eric
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K5
Engine Size
489 BBC
could blaze the tires until I put a set of Dick Cepeks on it. They just stuck to the ground.

Tires can make a world of difference one way or the other. My Caddy is a 320HP car, which would vaporize the stock Goodyear rears at will from a standstill...I really had to pay attention not to stand on it too hard without traction control turned on because it was so easy to spin the tires, even on dry pavement. Then I put a set of Nitto NT555 tires on it, and it became difficult to even brake torque the thing on dry pavement in the summer. Once temps dropped below around 55*F, it became much easier...I was shocked at how well those cheap tires hooked up. Lifespan was dismal though...

Worn tires also tend to lose traction the more they wear. The BFG Comp T/As I was running on the Z28 because useless as tires once they got below about 40% tread. It was like the tire had two compounds in the tread, and at around 40% I got into a super hard compound, which meant little traction. Same thing as the Caddy...was almost undriveable because the rear end let loose so easily. So if the old truck always had old, cheap tires on it, and you now have newer, good tires on it..that could make a big difference.

But there are so many variables tied into whether a vehicle can easily spin tires or not...the old TBI 350 long block (basically stock TBI truck motor, with a RV cam, long tube headers, open exhaust, Weiand dual plane intake, and Edelbrock 1406 carb) that was in my K5 prior was a fairly strong motor too, but wouldn't break the 33s loose even with a 700R4 & 3.73 gears. On the other hand, the 489 in there now has zero issue roasting those same 33s with a 4L80 2.48 1st gear by just rolling into the throttle. You're only talking roughly a 20% difference between 1st gear ratios between a TH350 and TH700R4 trans. Not insignificant, but replacing a 350 with a 700 isn't going to instantly change a slug of a truck into a tire vaporizing machine either.

As others said, if you've got full time 4WD in the truck, you're not likely to get those tires spinning with anything short of a lot of additional HP. Even with part time 4WD, going from something like a 3.73 gear to a 3.08 gear is likely going to cause it to MUCH more difficult to get tires spinning. If you went from low grade, small diameter street tires to a larger off road tire, that too will make a big difference. That was the case on my old Jeeps...went from the stock 28" street tires that were easy to spin with a brake torque with the stock 4.0L I6 and 3.73 gears, to 33" mud tires turned those things into a slug that was barely capable of chirping the tires. Changing out the gearing to something like 4.56 or 4.88 was needed to bring the the perceived power loss back.
 

Matt69olds

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Posts
2,338
Reaction score
3,569
Location
Central Indiana
First Name
Matt
Truck Year
81
Truck Model
GMC 1/2 ton
Engine Size
455 Olds
A TH350 in good condition can take some abuse. If the fluid is red to a dark brown with no burnt smell, drain the fluid, change the filter, and install a shift kit. TransGo is probably the best all around shift kit, it’s more “civilized” daily driving. Meaning, as you apply more throttle, the shifts get firmer. Because it’s more civilized, it’s more involved to install, and more expensive to buy. If you don’t mind the firm shifts, the B&M kits are also good. They are more of a “bang-screech” type shift. If you have a aftermarket torque converter with a little more stall speed that takes a lot of the part throttle shift feel away.

Either shift kit does basically the same thing, raises line pressure, gets rid of the smooth slide-into gear upshift that GM so carefully designed into the transmission, and raised the torque capacity of the transmission.
 

MikeB

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Posts
1,745
Reaction score
935
Location
Justin, TX
First Name
Mike
Truck Year
1969
Truck Model
C10
Engine Size
355
Spinning tires is more a function of low RPM torque, axle ratio, and torque converter stall speed. Even with 29" tires and a 3.08 axle, a 2000-2200 RPM converter (like a Hughes GM20) will let you do some serious tire spinning in 1st gear, and even chirp the tires going into 2nd. And a mild 383 or big block will do more than that!
 

82sbshortbed

Fuckemall!!
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Posts
14,646
Reaction score
48,561
Location
SE Texas
First Name
Doug
Truck Year
1982, 1984
Truck Model
1500 shortbed, 1500 longbed
Engine Size
454, 305
Idk about all this gear ratio and **** but, I have a wore out 305 with new intake, carb and new dizzy 29 inch tires 295/60/r15 with 10 bolt rear end( don't know the gears in it)on a 2wd short bed. Cleaned it up a little getting it ready for the BBC swap. Pulling it back up the driveway both back tires broke loose and started swerve to the SS so had to let off. I will admit it was a bit fun too. Lol

You must be registered for see images attach

Wet pavement seemed to help some too.

After the BBC swap I don't think I'll need wet pavement to break them loose. Lol

I'll be sure to show y'all the difference after the swap. :driver:

Ps. We need a tire smoking emoji!!:headbang:
 

nickdaddydollar

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2019
Posts
10
Reaction score
14
Location
Knoxville tn
First Name
Nick
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
K10
Engine Size
350
Spinning tires is more a function of low RPM torque, axle ratio, and torque converter stall speed. Even with 29" tires and a 3.08 axle, a 2000-2200 RPM converter (like a Hughes GM20) will let you do some serious tire spinning in 1st gear, and even chirp the tires going into 2nd. And a mild 383 or big block will do more than that!

Sounds pretty technical MikeB. Thank you for the response. How do I remedy low RPM torque, and torque converter stall speed. It's not so much spinning the tires that I'm after, I guess I was just expecting a little more get up and go than what I actually have!
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
41,851
Posts
903,501
Members
33,365
Latest member
rossivey
Top