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TH350C question

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Old Aug 8, 2023 | 03:45 PM
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From: Buckeye Lake, OH
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Howdy,

My 1980 transmission (TH350C) has a front seal leak, as evidenced by the large puddle(s) of fluid under the bellhousing. Looking for a 'beefed-up' rebuild, and have been hitting a wall. I can find TH350s (Non-lockup) 6-ways-to-Sunday, but the TH350C (Lockup)? Not a peep so far. Anyone know of a re-builder that handles the "-C" version? The ONLY shop around me that anyone recommends estimates "$2500 - $3000" to do a rebuild on it, but for that I can buy a rebuilt unit, eat the core charge, still have my "-C" to sell.

Why is the "-C" treated like the lesser step-child to the non-lockup version?

What is involved with going "Non-lockup" in a "Lockup" car?
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Old Aug 8, 2023 | 07:45 PM
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The non lockup unit will be a bolt in swap as long as you use a matching converter, probably lose a little bit of fuel milage along the way. The lock up just isn't popular for performance use.
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Old Aug 9, 2023 | 09:16 AM
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I have (had) one of those 350C transmissions in my '80 but the lockup part of the transmission never worked. It was like that when I got the car around 1990 and I never worried much about it. The shift points were a little too soon just cruising around but WOT was fine.

A regular TH350 will work in there. There is some minimal wiring no longer required. No computer to worry about. If you want to run an upgraded TH350, the non- lockup version to start with is probably a better choice.

I decided to convert to the TKX 5 speed overdrive as fixing the TH350C was half way to the cost of the SST manual conversion kit. If you like the stick shift option, it is well worth the cost and effort.
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