D Appeldorn

I have a th400 OF (th400 behind a 350)

and i can shift between D and S 1969 88 delta.

I read in the owners manual i can use S til 75 miles'h

If i want to drag, can i use S and shift under 75 m/h to D

How can i use S safely with my 455 engine in it now.
This becouse i have a full size, and competing fellow friend's with much lighter musclecars is hard.

And i'm only a little bit faster as a 70ies ford torino with a 302 4bll, headers, edelbrock intake,etc.
This in Drive gear.

So if i can use the S than i can more easely compete his lower gears and weight. without loosing my fun for cruising.

So how can i safely use the S gear mode.

72442clone

I have a 72 442 clone with a 400 behind a 455. I can drive just fine with the trans in drive, but if I want to race I start in low, shift to second, and then shift to drive. This is a console shifter so it makes shifting easy. It takes a lot to mess up a 400.

D Appeldorn

so i can just use S and shift to D at say 75mph.
and speed up in D without any problems.

not needing to slow down a bit before gear change.

I never used S or L while driving, so it gonna be a new experience

oldzy

Just don't put in 'R' when moving forward. I had a friend in high school who told another friend while he was driving that 'R' meant 'Race'... and of course he put the vehicle in Reverse doing 40mph or so. The results were less than favorable.

starfire

Put a tachometer in the car and you won't have to guess as to when to shift.

D Appeldorn

I do have a tach, but i only conect it to check up the timing.
And i gess you meaning to change gear from D to S if the revs are low?

D position can also put a forced shift, low speed with part throttle and faster speed with full throttle.
but this does not work fast enough sometimes, that's why the question if i can put it in S mode. to get faster downshifts and a stronger acceleration.

MDchanic

We used to have TH400s behind 454s in ambulances we used to drive.
Shifted 'em all the time like we were trying to murder them.
Never heard of anyone having a problem.

I did the same thing in college to a TH350.

Was accelerating out of a parking lot with a '70 Cutlass convertible full of people, one girl was perched between the buckets, and the console shifter didn't have any detent quadrant (oh, those carefree days...).
Her weight shifted and the TH350 shifted to Reverse.
All of a sudden I heard screeching rubber and we weren't going so fast anymore.
I just slapped it back into Drive and kept going.
Never had a problem after that.

- Eric

oldsguybry

thats kind of like a buddy of mine years ago used duct tape to hold his muffler on , and wondered what that burning smell was right before the muffler fell off again