Hey people, love this web site! Very useful. Excuse my laymen terms. Anyways, I bought a 84 Trans Am that sat for 2 years and has had extensive shade tree mechanicing looks like. There is a cable my mechanic told me comes off the automatic tranny and is suposed to hook up to the carb. Needless to say it doesnt. Yet the transmission still shifts and such. My question is what is the cable for? Does it need to be connected? Why would it be disconnected? If needed I will post pictures and maybe someone can give me some more technical terms. Thanks!

 

He's right, that's the kickdown (or passing) cable, i.e. it's what makes the car downshift whenever you punch the gas to get around somebody.

It will drive just fine without it, it's more of a luxury really. I don't have mine connected, but I also have a very not stock engine so there isn't a "need" to downshift going up a hill haha. But I still plan to hook it up eventually.

 

I think his term was "Make the *** wiggle" lol. Still though, what are the benefits of having it disconnected vs connected?

 

Hahaha.

There really aren't any benefits of having it disconnected, except for not having to take the time to adjust it (since it's not connected, haha).

Personally now that I have some other things taken care of it's next on my to-do list.

I'd get it hooked up, it'll help you with your day to day driving (but having it not hooked up won't keep you from driving, if that makes sense).

 

*Make the @$$ ***** was the quote actually

 

Well, if you have the HP it definitely will. Currently my car can break loose when it hits second, so I can only imagine what it'll do when the passing gear is hooked up.