The detent cables are for 4 barrel carb linkage & my pedal hole is too big to hold the end of the other cable. I bought a new pedal. It will have one shortly
sorry to confuse you but most of the 69-75 cars i seen have the factory detent go to the gas pedal no matter what carb is on it or engine size so its hard to picture what went wrong on your car unless it was originally a 400 or powerglide. my 72 has it right to gas pedal and i have never messed with it since trans was put in, i have had 350 2 barrel/350 4 barrel/455 4 barrel 430 4 barrel in it without ever having a problem and my 75 had a 231 odd fire 2 barrel then swaped in 350 4 barrel never had a problem with detent . so i just dont see the mix up i understand you know your car but im just gauging it to compare to what should be there. but since you have a different pedal i hope that solves it.
So what im startin to sense is that someone wanted my old transmission? And took the detent with it?? LOL Did i get ripped? i know my old trans was a BOP th350 3 speed and it had a detent cable not a switch. What i don't seem to get is if the old one worked why can't it work with this one? I'm stumped too... I'm getting one put on I'm just wondering if they tried rippin me or just don't like them personally. o No: He was acting as if my shift kit doesn't need it. What's a powerglide? I just don't like having to downshift on the colum, If it was the console i wouldn't care. :3gears:
OK, let's go back to square one, becuse I am confused... Your car is a 69 Skylark 350 2bbl. It came from the factory with a TH 350 trans and a cable from the transmission, through the firewall, to the gas pedal. Do you have ANY cable now? You mention a cable that doesn't fit. Is it a factory cable, or a BM cable? The factory hole in the firewall is about 1/2" square. It is just below and outboard of the throttle cable hole. Is it intact? Is it boogered up? If you have no cable you have a big hole, or a block-off plate, in the transmission, on the pass side, just above the pan rail. It sounds like you have an aftermarket valve body. Most aftermarket valve bodies I am familiar with are fully manual, ie., in "L1" they are in first gear, in "L2" they are in second gear, and in "D" they are in third gear. They do not shift in "Drive" like a regular transmission. Maybe there are TH 350 aftermarket valve bodies that actually "work" in "D..." Between the communication issues, and the other confusion, it is almost impossible to figure out what your problem is... A Powerglide is a 2-speed Chevy automatic transmission. Never used in a Buick (at least not one with a V-8. May have been used with a Chevy straight 6, not sure there...) Nick
i have no tv or detent cable at all.. and i do have an after market valve body its a b&m stage 2 shift kit. yes there is a hole in the firewall and a former hole on the gas pedal where it used to connect to in my old "bop" tranny. no this engine and trans were from 1971 installed at dealer. the car is a 69 he replaced my transmission [both were th-350's] and [the torque convertor twice] my car now doesn't have any detent or tv cable.. He initially said my hole in my pedal is cracked and won't hold one. My shift kit allows [so he says] for full auto in "D" it just doesn't down shift automatically for passing. I have to do it manually. he said he can attatch a detent if i want one but it will rob my my shift kit's performance. He said that if im planning on installing a console shifter to wait till then or get a new pedal to attatch the detent for kickdowns. The car drives fine and dandy and shifts hard and firm. I just am not sure i like the lack of kickdown when stomping on the pedal.. Especially if you're on the cell phone or something. You have to manually downshift to get the kickdown . My first question : Is this normal for this type of shift kit?? 2nd question : Is he lying to me? P.s. I noticed the valve area for the kickdown cable has silicone filling in the hole.. The tranny was just purchased and installed 2 weeks ago and already the torque converter popped and they had to replace that last monday.. I was wondering if the lack of detent.tv.kickdown would've caused this.. Like if i was scammed or something..
Most B&M kits I've seen offer three stages of installation, Stage1 Heavy Duty/RV, Stage2 Street/Strip, and Stage3 Competition. The Competition install is for Race only and also eliminates the vacuum modulator. You should have a detent cable hooked up and working. The trans will not shift correctly without it. The valvebody gets input on the throttle position from the cable, it gets engine load input from the modulator, and speed info from the governor. It then adjusts shift point and feel. The detent cable also controls downshifts. Everything needs to be hooked up. I never heard of leaving off the cable. Most instructions specify that it be hooked up as normal.
Now a full race kit [stage 3] wouldn't have a detent or TV cable and will also do away with the vacum modulator as well .correct?
Race only, full manual valvebody. I sincerely doubt that is what you have. Get this guy to connect a detent cable, you need it. BTW, a detent cable and TV cable are 2 different things. The THM350 uses a detent cable. There are aftermarket cables available.
I know a detent and a throttle valve cable are not the same. I wasn't sure which one my tranny used. What im wondering is if he just didnt hook one up or there isn't any detent asssembly inside altogether.. Something just isn't sitting right by me with how it was explained to me. Now if the detent isn't attatched at all does that make the tranny think its always at wideopen throttle? I understand it regulates the vacum mod pressure for throttle position along with the govenor.. Is there a way to tell if its just a non attatched detent posing as a shift kit??.. I heard about people in the 70's and some shops still today are thinking they could adjust or remove thier detent and make it slam gears and say its a shift kit... and its harsh.... Initially i thought it was shifting way too early...and it does shift fast. Although it seems to hit proper shift points in the region where I would shift using a manual. I do have full manual control and the capability of 1st gear at any speed. Wouldn't that be a full race valve body>? Is it possible he gave me a full race valve body and just rigged the modulator for full auto in drive?? I know detent cables are easy to install .. first i dont wanna go ripping off silly puddy to not find a detent then have to take it back looking like an a$$ "hey dude i didnt believe you and need more silly puddy" LOL and 2nd i don't wanna mess anything up if i do have a valve body as such if i'm not supposed to use the detent if it is there .. now if its not there and supposed to be there then i scoped the problem and have the proper knowledge to mince with theese guys.. In otherwords I'm tryin to avoid pissing people off by crying fire when there isn't even any smoke to complain about yet.. Thats all.. and kinda curious if im being scammed. Hell i bought theese guys beer and hung out with them for a substantial ammount of time..They seem very personable and trustworthy..but ya never know.w/ some people,especially on the east coast.. Either way its gona be fixed i'm just tryin to pick your brains.. This is my first shift kit/ valve body.. He did correct me at first when i called it a kit... He said its better than a kit..its a valvebody. o No: verbatum. I do recall him saying that. If i knew the workings of trannys i'd pull it apart to inspect but my hand & tools are what got me here[in this perdicament] to begin with. either way i don't like not having a detent cable.. My girl was driving it tonight and it was a tad wet she kinda got on it with center of grav offf to the passenger side [peglegged side] and when it hit 2nd gear the ass broke lose and just about made her have an anyrism..She's not to keen on driving it for a long while until its ready and proper for a tiny lil 105 pound 5 foot blonde. :TU: I appreciate any and all extensive knowledge you guys have.. Now staged valve bodies are not shift kits. They are something completely different. I never knew that. If thats the case then i'm almost positive its a modified valve body. [according to my best recolection of what he said] Wondering if my improper terminology is what's confusing people?? But this is how my car drives, @ WOT in D [automatic] each gear winds out pretty well and chirps hard in the rpm region where i would shift by listening to the revs. on light throttle is shifts very quick but very smooth as well. almost as if it can't wait to get to 3rd gear.. i just have no kickdown unless my car slows down it wont downshift. It has to be done manually. My car will also respond instantly at any rpm to manual upshifts. He also said something about it auto upshifting at a max rpm regardless of what gear im in. 5000 rpm i think he said. he said not to test that feature. Also said that everything is set up to accept a little over 500 horsepower. Now i know how a th-350 operates without using a vacum mod. it will only manually upshift if the proper rpms have been reached. you lose all auto when ya lose the v/m.. Now with a perfectly operational th-350 without any detent applied, How should it operate? and.......... The way my car operates without a detent wouldn't the detent have had to of been modified somehow? I mean to keep my shift points from engaging tooo early @ WOT?? or could all of that have been hidden with some govenor mod/adjustments? I know i have alot of what if' questions. .. sorry I should have elaborated some more earlier on. My bad! Maybe I'll call B&M too to get a rundown on their valve bodies also before i start makin any waves.
The cable operates the detent pressure regulator valve. There is a fine wire link that hooks to the cable. The detent system exerts a downshifting force counter to governor pressure. It delays the 1-2, and 2-3 shift at WOT. Normally, if the cable is not installed, the trans will short shift. I'd just be guessing about what kind of valvebody you have. I think you should try to find out exactly which B&M valvebody was installed. See if you can get a model/part# If you remove the pan, you can take a look and see if there is any link in proximity of the plugged cable hole. That is all I can suggest. If it was my trans, I would want the detent operational. When a trans is set up right, it makes the car alot more fun to drive, plus it will shift where it is supposed to at all throttle openings. I spent alot of time working on my governor to get the upshift RPMs that I wanted at WOT. I think this not only makes the car faster, but more consistent. I can't understand why anyone would want to shift their automatic on the street. No human being can outshift an automatic set up right You can't be as precise as a machine. If you want to shift at a specific RPM, you'll never hit it exactly with the stock shifter, all the time. Everytime you shift, it will be at a different RPM. If the car is used in bracket racing, it will never be consistent. Just my .02
i understand that completely Larry your $.02 is worth its wieght in gold buddy.. Please keep tossing those pennies my way....I'd be lost without ya dude... Those pennnies are gold bullion in my eyes.. Seriously!! Thnx... So when i approach theese guys [ tranny still under warranty] Just ask for a detent system and all should be well.... If it gets tooo far involved over a simple detent installlation then its safe to say something was fishy from the getgo... Ill be honest i prefered the way my old tranny worked better even without a shift kit/valvebody or whatever the hell they did to this transmission..lol If you can think of anything else your experience may happen to pop open and fresh for you please post them here.. I'm all ears.. Tomorrow is the big day to take it back to them.. :shock:
i negotiated them to install a Detent/kick down cable free of charge... I will be doing the Wizard's Rain/Fruitful harvest dance shortly.. now just need some vanity plates that say... "IHVDTNT" LMFAO!! Thnx Larry. :TU:
thats good . you will be much happier but you wont get gas mileage as you will be stomping on it alot.
My detent has been installed!!! to the pedal baby!! :TU: :TU: And Thank you once again Larry the "Wizard".. and Alec & everyone else. The transmission vacum tube was given its own manifold port for max vac The pcv valve was replaced[old one was a T style pcv that shared a vacum with the transmisson mod] along with some new tubes...and the gromet Initial 1500 mile service .. He didn't have a dwell meter but he had a dialback & gave me 2 new springs under my cap n rotor to give me 35* all in at 2500rpm!! HOLY SHeeeot Batman!!! is an understatement...
yah just got back!! Lets see i poked a lil fun with a fox body and a ricer lancer.. didnt have enough room to get nasty but i got the jump on both of them lol for about 500 feet before we had to slow down..hahah Summit sent my header gaskets yesterday . I should have those replaced this weekend to be almost perfect on the overall sound of the car.. Tick tick tick tick tick drivin me nuts.......LOL p.s. As it seems they didnt really know what to do .. One guy stated he's so used to working on chevy'sand fords and this being a BOP design the oil passages are different he said... o No: Anyways longstory short he called B&M to get the scoop and they told him it needs a detent.. Theese guys just weren't familiar and were just trying to wing as best as they could.. LOL AS it kind of seems to me..Tried bs'in me to some degree as to not sound un-professional only having a puter nerd come tell them what the dealio is.. See how important this medium is and just crucial it is for people like you guys to not hessitate on sharing "trade" secrets to the part-time hobbyists. Thanx guys im really impressed with how this once old clunker dinosaur performs.. I've watched this site for a long while without the need to ever register and make posts.. finally when the time came and needed some direct help . The prayers were answered.... :beer :beer I need to find a good buick[musclecar] mechanic in baltimore area.. Touche~
now im back to the trans experts for a 3rd time to get my newly installed new trans again... its leaking trans fluid same spot as last time from under the flex plate. something keeps blowing some seal or something and causing it to leak.. last time i took it to them he said something about if it happens again i may have a bent crank. im ezxpecting theese guys to play that card.. im hoping its just bad trans work at this point..lol never thought id hear myself say that.. but its true :af:
now im back to the trans experts for a 3rd time to get my newly installed new trans worked on again... its leaking trans fluid same spot as last time from under the flex plate. something keeps blowing some seal or something and causing it to leak.. last time i took it to them he said something about if it happens again i may have a bent crank. im ezxpecting theese guys to play that card.. im hoping its just bad trans work at this point..lol never thought id hear myself say that.. but its true :af:
Ok, i know I'm late with this but I got tired of reading after about the 20th response so I'll throw in my 2 cents for a little more peace of mind. The kit you have (stage 2) requires a detent (kickdown) cable. It allows you to run full automatic or manual shift but the cable is absolutley required. The stage 3 is full manual so no detent cable is required, only your precise shifting ability. :3gears: Basically, they screwed up! There, that was no help but hopefully you are extra confident now with what you have.
