Well guys heres the situation. I bought this tranny from a shop in Edmonton that was supposed to be rebuilt and upgraded to handle the 396.
This was back in 2008 when I was still assembling the powertrain. I partly installed a lockup kit(the stuff inside the pan) and bolted it up the the 396 using the original powerglide console shifter that I modifed slightly so it would hit all the shift selections points except 2nd and 1st. I figured having D and OD only would work for me in the kind of driving i was planning on doing plus it kept it looking totally stock.
I knew that the 6 month transmission warranty was going to be no good to me as the car probably wasn't going to be on the road till 2010. (Hah!) I only used it to run the car in and out of the garage, around the yard and occasionally up the driveway as I slowly assembled it. I never really got to a speed that needed more than second although I noticed it only shifted into second at around 2500 rpm which is too high so i figured I didn't have the cable set just right.
Now that I have driven it on the road some it just will not shift into anything higher than 2nd. The 1 to second shift still happens at about 2500-2800 and if I punch it to 100 klicks in second it really doesn't have any transmission braking. (Coasts freely but does downshift to first below about 20 klicks) I've checked the governer and it seems quite free and the cable has been rechecked by a mechanic.
The fluid smells fine. (Its Amsoil synthetic Dexron type) The whole unit might have 30 klicks on it since I got it.
My knowledge on these things is kind of limited so I'd appreciate some advice from guys who know.
Maybe I should have stuck with the Powerglide but a really wanted the overdrive and that low first gear!
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Sunday 4th of August 2013 11:41:07 PM
Thanks for the response. Thats the way I have had the cable since the beginning. I will be talking to the guy on Tuesday. I hope he's ethical. I remember that it's a small family owned shop, hes an older guy and he does own a few old cars so I'm hoping he will understand my situation.
Thats all great stuff guys. I'll try fiddling with the cable some more. I'm running a the stock quadrajet with an adapter from Classic industries (If i remember correctly) that hooks the 700 r4 to the carb.
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Monday 5th of August 2013 12:33:12 PM
I tried the full throttle adjustment and it was nowhere near correct. If you have a Holley you are supposed to use a special bracket for proper geometry, in my case it didn't help?!? I read some of the above links when I did mine then took it out the highway to see how it was. If it wasn't right, adjust and try again! Think I spent at least 1/2 hour of adjust down the road, adjust do it over before I got it to where it seemed to work ok.
__________________
John
1972 Pontiac Lemans (daughter's car) 2005 Pontiac Grand Am 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Thats what I've been leaning to as well. Thanks for the good tech advice. I don't have those manuals.
Hopefully we can get the pan and valve body off without having to pull the tranny. I took it for a cruise after playing with the cable adjustment and it seems to shift into second at around 1800 2000 rpm depending on where I have the throttle so that is actually looking good. I must say I sure does go well in the first two gears. Can't wait until I have all four!
