Fuel Injection or New tranny?? on a 350 small block
 

Hey guys,
as you all can tell I'm new here, I just got the rims and tires I wanted and now I am looking to save a little more in gas, I have a 350 Turbo Tranny in right now, ****ty only 3 gears. I'm looking for I believe its a 700R with Overdrive, or my buddy just fuel injected his old camaro and said it helped his gas and power a ton! Which should I go with?

RE: Fuel Injection or New tranny?? on a 350 small block
 

wow They will both help lots but a new tranny I think becuase you really don't want more power till you get a fourth gear. It all depened too on what you use your truck for. Is it a work truck or like a weekend truck. My point is do you drive it alot in highways and fast cuase if you do then yeah to the tranny again but if you just use it for fun and offroading then the fuel injection.

RE: Fuel Injection or New tranny?? on a 350 small block
 

Well, it all depends on what you want.

When I get some time later today, I'll give you the pros/cons of each (tranny/EFI).

RE: Fuel Injection or New tranny?? on a 350 small block
 

Well, I had my drive in to work to think about this. Here goes...

The transmissions only downside really is the price. If you are even remotely thinking that you are going to hop up the motor anytime in the future, get a built transmission that can handle the power that you are expecting or craving. Those aren't all that cheap. Now the good sides of a 3spd auto to 4spd auto conversion. #1 is the extra gear. Typically, the 700-R4s have a 0.70 over-drive ratio where your th350 has a 1.00 ratio. #2 is the gearing of the transmission overall. Your th350 has 1st = 2.52, 2nd = 1.52, 3rd = 1.00, whereas a 700-R4 has 1st = 3.06, 2nd = 1.62, 3rd = 1.00, 4th = 0.70. The higher the ratio the better the acceleration, all other things being equal. Now if you were to go all the way up to a 4L60 (not -E which stands for electronic), I believe you would get a lock up torque converter which would save you even more on fuel, but don't quote me on that. Monster Transmissions - 700R4 Heavy Duty - $1295 + torque converter and whatever extras you want to add. This was just one of many that I found when doing a search. I'm sure that others can recommend ones from first hand experience (Hanr3 where are you?).

Now, pros/cons of the EFI. Pro is that it is supposed to give the right amount of fuel for all operating conditions of the vehicle. Con is that this is HIGHLY dependant on it being tuned properly and many companies send a pretty decent tune already on the PCMs that come with the kit, but for optimum performance and efficiency, it should be tuned to your engine. Pro adapts to changes in temperature and altitude with NO adjustments. Con $$$ - I would recommend the Edelbrock Performance RPM Pro-Flo EFI system #3500 - prices right around $2400.

Now for what I would do. I would do a cam over EFI, but I like carbs. Something about being able to lean them out to get better fuel mileage with only a screw driver, not a laptop! I would definitely go with a 700R4 tranny. Be aware that the case of the 700R4 is mostlikely longer than that of the th350. It may require different front and rear drive shafts. I'm sure that they are available premade online somewhere though and you probably could get the information on case length online as well to know for sure.

*EDIT* - fixed some typo's that I missed.

RE: Fuel Injection or New tranny?? on a 350 small block
 

hey thanks guys, I think I am going to go with the tranny. My buddy has one he pulled off of his truck and I could save lots rebuilding it myself(well with him and another friend)I owe you guys thanks