Throttle and Kickdown Linkage
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Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 53
Throttle and Kickdown Linkage
Hello, I'm in need of some assistance on the type of throttle and kickdown linkage I would need for my 66 Oldsmobile f85 a-body. It has a Edelbrock 7111 intake manifold and Edelbrock 600cfm manual choke carburetor. I've been getting advice from people but has not the correct anything yet. I'm hoping that some of the Oldsmobile brothers or sisters can be of assistance. Happy FRIDAY Oldsmobile Enthusiasts!
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 53
Throttle and Kickdown Linkage
Because it has a BOP 350 automatic transmission do I have to have a manual throttle and kickdown linkage. If so can someone send pictures to give me an idea of what it would look like or what I would need or by. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 2,249
From: Northern California
In '66 Olds was using one throttle switch that combined a function to "switch the pitch" of a variable vane torque converter and also provide the transmission kickdown function.
This combination switch sits about mid-way between the gas pedal & the carb on a steel linkage just in front of the firewall. Rod connections for the switch are cotter pinned and the switch itself is connected to the linkage by 2 3/8" hex head short screws which secure it to the linkage. The linkage pokes back through the firewall to the gas pedal which I'm guessing you're familiar with..
If your transmission is not a known-switch pitch, you'll be fine with the just the kickdown function. Or you can use both if you have a torque converter than switches it's pitch. Look on the transmission connection, if it has 2 pins, you may have a switch pitch, if not, probably it's just a kickdown.
Dig around under my user name "cfair" and you'll find a lot of detail on '66 big car throttle/switch pitch switches. Pictures, restoration, adjusting, all of that. The throttle switch theory is the same for all Oldsmobiles of that year, but the implementation was a bit different for big cars vs. Cutlass/442's.
The major difference between the Cutlass/442 kickdown switches of that year and the big cars was that the A-bodies (Cutlass/442's) used a fixed position switch pitch/kickdown switch whereas the big cars had an adjustable one available.
Unless I miss my guess, you could use a big car switch in the Cutlass/442, but you might have to adjust it a bit to get it to work right. Frankly if you found a Toronado switch, it would bolt right up too.
The adjustability in these things has to do with the throttle rod lengths and adjusting that to make sure that 1) when you floor it, the carb opens all the way ; 2) just before you floor it the kickdown happens and 3) at idle, if you have a switch pitch, it goes into lower stator angle to reduce idle creep.
I may be off base here since I play with big cars, but if you're looking for a factory solution, this reply should help a bit.
There are plenty of aftermarket solutions, just google up '66 or '67 Chevelle kickdown and you'll go down the rabbit hole for hours.
Cheers
Chris
Joe P reports that in the later 60's GM switched to throttle cables instead of throttle rods like they used in '66 because if a motor had a broken mount the rods could pin the throttle and hurt/kill people.
This combination switch sits about mid-way between the gas pedal & the carb on a steel linkage just in front of the firewall. Rod connections for the switch are cotter pinned and the switch itself is connected to the linkage by 2 3/8" hex head short screws which secure it to the linkage. The linkage pokes back through the firewall to the gas pedal which I'm guessing you're familiar with..
If your transmission is not a known-switch pitch, you'll be fine with the just the kickdown function. Or you can use both if you have a torque converter than switches it's pitch. Look on the transmission connection, if it has 2 pins, you may have a switch pitch, if not, probably it's just a kickdown.
Dig around under my user name "cfair" and you'll find a lot of detail on '66 big car throttle/switch pitch switches. Pictures, restoration, adjusting, all of that. The throttle switch theory is the same for all Oldsmobiles of that year, but the implementation was a bit different for big cars vs. Cutlass/442's.
The major difference between the Cutlass/442 kickdown switches of that year and the big cars was that the A-bodies (Cutlass/442's) used a fixed position switch pitch/kickdown switch whereas the big cars had an adjustable one available.
Unless I miss my guess, you could use a big car switch in the Cutlass/442, but you might have to adjust it a bit to get it to work right. Frankly if you found a Toronado switch, it would bolt right up too.
The adjustability in these things has to do with the throttle rod lengths and adjusting that to make sure that 1) when you floor it, the carb opens all the way ; 2) just before you floor it the kickdown happens and 3) at idle, if you have a switch pitch, it goes into lower stator angle to reduce idle creep.
I may be off base here since I play with big cars, but if you're looking for a factory solution, this reply should help a bit.
There are plenty of aftermarket solutions, just google up '66 or '67 Chevelle kickdown and you'll go down the rabbit hole for hours.
Cheers
Chris
Joe P reports that in the later 60's GM switched to throttle cables instead of throttle rods like they used in '66 because if a motor had a broken mount the rods could pin the throttle and hurt/kill people.
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