Well, one fair night, on a very lightly traveled lonely road outside of town, I decided to clock my 0-60 time with an old stopwatch that I had refurbished. I have a 1969 Buick Wildcat with a st-400 transmission and positraction (first automatic car I've ever driven) and a 455 cubic inch engine. I remember reading in an old magazine that stock 0-60 time in '69 wildcat with a 430 was approx. 7 or so seconds, but I was unable to get my car to do below 8 & 3/5 of a second, and some of my 0-60 times were as bad as 10 seconds. I believe the reason why is because my transmission is somewhat hesitant to downshift. Occasionally my car will accelerate as I feel it should, and really bury you in the seat, and other times it just kind of lingers. Earlier in the week I checked for vacuum leaks (the previous owner had a set up where the air conditioning system, transmission (I'm not quite sure) and the carburetor all on one line despite there being three vacuum leads from the engine, which I corrected, and it helped a good deal, it seems). The transmission doesn't feel like it's slipping, it's just very moody concerning downshifting. Any suggestions? Should I use some kind of liquid transmission refurbisher? I plan on setting aside a weekend and replacing all the vacuum leads, as the hoses appear to be far too thin. -Thanks
If you are doing a 0 to 60, you would be at a stop and gassing it. there should be no downshifting? I don't understand?
also has your engine been swapped ????? as a 69 wildcat came a 430 if it has been swapped what year 455 do you have as the later years are low on HP scott
I'm with Houndogforever, what do you mean by downshifting when you are discussing 0-60 runs? o No: I'd be more concerned with premature upshifting in that case.
I guess I should've been more clear >.>. I had my suspicions that my transmission was giving me acceleration troubles. If i'd punch it at 50 or so the car would really linger. Well when we had the engine rebuilt, I was told we had 1970 455 heads put onto the block and that we had the 455 core. When we bought the Wildcat it came with a 455, I really don't know much about the vehicles history other than that the 2nd to previous owner was trying to hotrod his car, so I guess that could have meant that he swapped the engine. When going from a stop, and really putting my foot into it, it seemed to (sometimes) not shift as aggressively as I feel it should, which I guess would be premature up-shifting? Forgive me for my ignorance . The kick down switch you say? Again, very new to automatic transmissions. My Vin No. is 464399C105925 The ST No. on my body tag is 69-46439 The code on the engine is XF 307 ? I'm not quite sure, it was very hard to read. Even though all it really tells you is that it's a Buick Wildcat made in South Gate, maybe you guys could derive some sort of other meaning from that. I heard that the original owner was some car salesman in Arizona. It isn't possible that you could have ordered a Wildcat in 1969 with a GS-455 engine? They guy we bought it from said it could be a 1/2 year thing. The Mechanics said that when they took out the 455, it seemed as though it had been original, although I guess it could have just been swapped out a very long time ago.
1970 was the first year for the 455 in any Buick. The kickdown switch is a plastic looking switch under the dash at the top of the gas pedal. If you are looking under the dash and hit the gas pedal you'll see the switch the pedal hits. If the internal contacts are worn out it'll make contact intermittedly.
Well, after figuring out what is a kick-down switch, there does seem to be power going to the switch, and the resistance of the switch (not pulled) is about 17.00 Mega Ohms + or - .02 M ohms and 00.00 ohms (when pulled all the way down). The switch seems to be working, but I'll replace it anyways.
Well I took the Wildcat for a drive, with the kick-switch disconnected and connected, and I could not tell an appreciable difference in performance, so I definitely will replace the kick-switch setup. I went to Napa and they gave me the solenoid that they said was correct for my car, it appears to screw into the transmission? :3gears: one day...
If you want the 0-60 second times of a brand new car, you 'ave to rebuild it to 'new' conditions. After you do that, and it still doesn't work, ask away.
So I assume that'd mean rebuilding the transmission in addition to the engine? Is this part of the kick-switch setup as well? I'm not quite sure where this mounts. Forgive me for my artistic inability.
That's internal to the transmission, it's what the wires outside the transmission connect too. I wouldn't be convinced that is bad unless you hooked a different switch to the kickdown switch. I tested the one on my friends car by unhooking the kickdown switch and running some leads to the plug on the kick down with a toggle switch inbetween (a momentary one would be better..) and hit the switch when cruising at a different speeds. It pretty much resulted in a down shift everytime with the highway gears he has out back. Leaving it on kept the trans in low gear until high rpm.
That is the kickdown solenoid that goes inside the pan. If it was loose, I don't think it would upshift at all. With the car off and the throttle not depressed, push the kickdown switch all the way toward the firewall. If it works at all, the next time you floor it, it will trip passing gear. I'd try it from about 40MPH and see what happens.
Well, I did what you said, and there didn't seem to be a difference. I will be ordering the proper switch this time. -Thank you guys for your time.
