The Dorman brand you get at the auto parts store is a joke. The first one we bought broke before we even could install it, and now the second one seems to have gotten tighter over time. So I'm wondering what everyone is using for there shifter cables. Or is it just luck of the draw when it comes to these things?

 

I think most of that dorman stuff is just china/taiwan
knock-off stuff...
As far as the stiff cable with a 700R4,i recon GM made
a bit of a design error with the 700R4 instalation in that
they have the cable bent into kind of an"s" curve under
the car,causing the cable to bind-way back when i
swapped my turbo 350 for a 700R4 i used the same
cable i had been using with the th350(original th200c
cable that worked fine with the 350)after the 700r4 was
in i noticed the shifter was much stiffer because the
700r4's shift lever was farther back than the 350's
putting the cable into a bind-someday i am going to
rework the linkage to cure the problem

 

I used a B&M cable for the initial BBC swap and it worked pretty decent, I later just went to the stealer and picked up a GM replacement.