Willidog

Went to hook up my transmission tonight and found that the cable and bracket that bolts to the bottom of the pan would not match up. Background information is I got the car and it had a th400 transmission in it with no shifter, just the cable and brackets (the one that bolted to the bottom of the pan and the one that connects to the shift selector shaft. I kept the brackets and cable and sold the transmission. I have the th350 transmission that I dropped in the car and when I went to bolt on the bracket that goes to the bottom of the pan the bolts didn't line up and the cable would not work, it was either too long or too short depending on which bolts I had the bracket bolted to on the transmission (I bent the bracket to get it to line up with the 350 pan bolts.) The question is does the 350 use the same brackets as the th400 (I don't see how they could since I had to bend this one to get it to line up, but it did have some welding on it like someone had cut it in the past and rewelded it in a different spot) and is the shift cable the same length for each one or do I need to buy new brackets and cable? If so, where can I get them? Thanks. I forgot to mention the year and model. It's a 69 Cutlass 2 door hardtop with the Rocket 350 and a th350 tranny.

joe_padavano

TH350 and TH400 use different shift cable brackets.

Willidog

I got the correct bracket for the 350 transmission and it still doesn't connect properly. I have some pictures of the brackets that I have. The bracket that hooks onto the shifter shaft out of the transmission may be the problem but I would like to know for sure.

Here are pictures of the bracket that hooks to the shift shaft and the shift cable hooks up to, is it a bracket for the 400 or is it the same as a 350 bracket? When trying to hook up the cable it is about 1/4 inch to short so I have to put the transmission in reverse to hook up the cable, then the shifter only takes the transmission from reverse to low 2 (I think it's low 2, the first notch after drive).

Willidog

Here is the new bracket that hooks to the transmission pan and holds the shift cable.

cruznn

My bracket is compleatly different than yours. I also have the 350 trans. Mine also hooks up to the backdrive linkage to the steering column at the same time as being hooked up to the cable also. Your pan bracket looks the same as mine. Also make sure you have the correct cable for the 350 trans. I am not sure they are different, but they may be. Also you can adjust the pin on the bracket where the cable hooks on by loosing the nut on the other side of the pin. Not alot of adjustment, but maybe enuf to make it work. Just my 00.2 cents worth of ideas. Hope it helps.
Mike

Willidog

Does your bracket look like this??

cruznn

Yes it looks the same. The way I installed mine was to put the car in park, swap out the bracket for the one in the pic. Make sure you block the wheels on your car first before switching brackets. I thought I had mine blocked good, but when I took the old bracket off I accidently shifted into reverse causing the car to roll over my arm. The pin is adjustable, but not by much. It is the only place to adjust from. The other bracket goes on the last two trans pan bolts closest towards the interior section of your car I Think? I can try and take pics of mine, but not untill thurs or fri
Mike

Oldsguy

Are you ok? Jeesh I would have dirtied myself I think.

Jamesbo

Ouch, second only to a fire extinguisher, a good set of chocks belong in every garage,

Hope you're Ok

cruznn

Thanks for the kind words. Yes I am ok, no broken bones, but it did rip a bunch of skin off and a little bit of bleeding and a whole lot of hurt! Like a true car nut I wiped it off as best I could and wrapped a towel around it and got back under the car to finish the job. This time I put my other car up against the back bumper to keep it from rolling backwards, front wheels were blocked as well. Can never be to carefull. Take it from me, take the extra time to be safe before starting your work!!!!
Thanks again guys!
Mike

Willidog

I got the correct brackets and the cable still doesn't fit!!

I E-MAILED BAP and asked them what the length of the cable is that they sell and they told me it was 31 and 1/4 inch eye to eye and 32 inches long overall. My cable is 30 inches long end to end (2 inches shorter than the one BAP sells for the turbo 350.) I know of course what really matters is the distance from where the cable hooks into the bracket to the transmission shifter, but with a different length cable I am wondering if the cable I have may have come off of a two speed transmission.

Cutlass69S

I replaced my 2 speed with a 3 speed and used the original 2 speed cable and everything worked, I just couldn't Manually shift down to 1st. hmmm......