dschallock

Hello,

(1969 Cutlass S)
So I have the rebuilt 350 motor in. Installed a new holley 600 cfm carb on it. TH350 tranny.
One thing I noticed while driving this weekend was that I couldn't get the transmission to kickdown. I was driving roughly 50 miles an hour and flooring it and it would not downshift to 2nd.
I took an alligator clip and attached it to the cable that runs through the firewall to my accelerator pedal. I used the clip as a temporary spacer to pull the cable out a little more. I went back out to test drive it again with the spacer and this time it did downshift. Further tests had mixed results.
How should I fix this?
Should this cable be re-routed to the carb? or does it just need adjusting?
Is there a spring that makes this cable travel back? Sometimes when I look under the dash the cable is not fully seated back to to clip position. I push on it a little and snaps back into position.
I also noticed under the car where to cable goes into the tranny that there is about an inch of shiny cable going into the tranny. The plastic shielding is about an inch away from the tranny. Not sure if that has any bearing on anything or not.

How should I proceed?

Thanks,
Dan

InfoJunkie

It sounds like your cable is broken and you need a new one. The sheathing is attached to both plastic mounting brackets. The attached photo is not of the one you need but shows the intact cable.

dschallock

If it is broken at the transmission could that account for some fluid leaking or is that not a place that it could leak fluid from?

Also, Can that cable be changed without dropping the tranny?

And lastly, should I replace the cable as is or is it considered beneficial to change to a cable mounted to the carb?

Thank you for the help!
Dan

InfoJunkie

Yes it could.

Yes it can but I belive it to be tight quarters to work in. Disconnect from the pedal first and don't let the spring pop back into the case when you do the trans side.

If you can find the proper cable replace as is. Changing to carb mount requires the proper carb and different brackets or fabing to fit.

Olds luvr

Mine leaked from the kick down cable and needed a better o ring. As stated can be done in the car just a little tight. There are cable clamps that can adjust the tension at the pedal. It slides over the cable and has a screw to tighten it to the cable so it does not slide off. As long as the cable is not broke you can use one of those and be good.

JimMorrisonFan67

I have searched this site but could not find what I was looking for...is there a way to lower the accelerator pedal. It is positioned to high or if you prefer too far forward. It is very uncomfortable position to drive for longer periods as we have long legs and the seat is back as far as it will go. The gas pedal is higher or farther forward than the break pedal and would like to move it closer to the floor.
thanks