Hey guys yesterday I bought my buddy old 84 trans am with a 5.0 and a 700r4 transmission. Well as usual the car needs a bit of work and I'm look in to do it myself seeing as it doesn't seem too hard. Anyway to point the transmission needs a bit of work, the transmission mount needs replaced, rear transmission casing needs replaced (its leaking fluid) and the kickdown cable needs hooked up. I've always been more of a crab guy so as expected iv never messed with a transmission before so I'm just looking for a few tips that might help me along the way.

 

If the car was driven without the cable being hooked up then the trans is most likely smoked.

 

The trans works fine. Little rough on the shifting with the rear casing leaking fluid but other than that I haven't noticed any outstanding issues

 

A little leaking fluid won't cause rough shifts... i would absolutely not drive that car until that cable is hooked up AND set properly, I've heard stories of the trans cooking itself in 15 mi without that cable hooked up...

 

You should not drive a 700R4 without the tv cable hooked. The kickdown cable not only controls kickdown shifts but also controls the line pressure in the transmission. Without it adjusted correctly you're getting the same line pressure or less than what you would get at idle. As the throttle opens the line pulls towards the motor pulling a valve opens to increase the pressure inside the transmission. So 1/2 throttle has more pressure than idle, WOT has more pressure than 1/2 throttle and etc. Which makes since when you think about the power being transfered into the transmission going up as the throttle increases.

Not having the correct pressure can affect shift points and a variety of other critical things in the transmission.

You can easily hurt the transmission if you do not have the proper line pressure. You wouldn't drive a motor or transmission with quarts of oil/fluid missing and you shouldn't drive a 700R4 with a cable not properly adjusted.

Good site for some quick info: http://www.tvmadeez.com/article/index.php

 

Thanks guys, especially fireturd350 for linking a helpful site.

 

Quick update, followed the instructions from that link and the old girl shifts like a dream

 

Congrats! Also know proper geometry of the bracket on throttle linkage side is important too. Having the cable hooked up is only part of the battle. Both Holley and Edelbrock make specific brackets for cable mounting and another for linkage correction. Another site you might like is Probuilt automatics. They build very nice High end 700r4s. Like ones made to take 700 HP at the flexplate.

 

Well my only question at this point is that when I went to set the cable as described I put it into the farthest back position as instructed but when the carb was opened to the fully open position the plunger didn't ratchet out at all. So I was wondering maybe I have a bit of slack?

 

Open the carb to wot and down press lightly on the cable. Is it tight? There should little deflection to none in it at wot. If it has slack you might try taking the cable out of the mounting bracket and pressing the button. Sometimes carbs are a bitch due to the cable button mounting downward making it hard to press. If it still doesn't work the cable may be defective.

Normally you should hear clicking as the cable extends to take out the slack as you roll it to wot after pressing the button.

 

.... Your TV cable may not be hooked to the link in the transmission ...

 

Good point. That's easily enough to check. If you unhook the line from the carb and pull on it gently there should be some tension and spring pressure that retracts the line back. If it's not hooked up or broken cable it will pull all the way out or forward acouple of inches with no pressure until the the metal clamp on the end of the cable transmission side hits the inside of the black plastic cable housing.

There isn't much room in the transmission for the line to come unhooked while it's bolted in place on the transmission since it has a spring pulling on it too. I doubt it slipped off the metal clip but worth a try. It could have never been installed properly who knows.

 

I did check that actually it's got plenty of tension when pulled on. Fireturd I did sent you a pm regarding the matter more if you wouldn't mind getting back to me that way.