700R4 Help

[Shelty]

afternoon everyone

After a brief hiatus, I got my wagon back on the road with new rear tires, a new fuel line and a patched (as best as my shoddy skills could do) frame.

I have adjusted the throttle linkage so that the secondaries open fully, something it wasnt doing before (the rod was too long). My concern now is that when you put the pedal to the wood, the trans likes to shift low. from stop, going WOT, the 1st to 2nd shift shifts around 42-4500 rpm, but the 2nd-3rd shift only shifts in the neighborhood of 3200rpm. normal driving around, part throttle the trans shifts in the mid 2000s, which seems normal. but at WOT, I think it should be shifting maybe 1000 rpm higher than it is.

I found out the wagon has a 3:36 open diff, which is close to what a mid 80s camaro would have had stock (which is where the 700r4 was sourced from). the trans is running off a vacuum switch, which is plumbed to a port on the intake manifold behind the carb, where the brake booster is plumbed in. (this is the same port that the old PG used) and I have it wired to one of the side terminals on the fuse block. I checked the inline fuse I put in and its not popped. I checked the fluid like 12 times and its still nice and red, and doesnt smell burnt at all.

do I need to adjust the TV cable? is the trans simply not pulling enough vacuum? should I plumb it to one of the unused ports on the front of the quadrajet?

thanks
-Bill

[TheSilverBuick]

It probably needs the governor adjusted, but to check the TV cable, hold the linkage at WOT and then pull the cable and see how much more it comes out. If the linkage geometry is correct, it should only pull another ~1/8" or so at WOT.

The vacuum is only for a locking torque converter and shouldn't be effecting WOT at all.

[Shelty]

checked the cable, when its a WOT, the cable doesnt seem to have any slack left. I will check the governor probably after the weekend. I read up online that they will act up if they get dirty. I also read up that if I want to raise the shift points, It needs lighter weights.

[anotheridiot]

checked the cable, when its a WOT, the cable doesnt seem to have any slack left. I will check the governor probably after the weekend. I read up online that they will act up if they get dirty. I also read up that if I want to raise the shift points, It needs lighter weights.

Maybe it was too tight all along then?

[Shelty]

it has some slack, just not a lot, its tight light a bow string. when it shifts, its not stacking the shifts and it doesnt pop in and out of overdrive at highway speed. read alot up on the 3rdgen camaro forum, going to start with the governor. seems to be pretty common thing,

[anotheridiot]

I have been watching a bunch of videos on adjusting this. There was one in particular, that said at idle, the trans should be about 55 psi, WOT the trans should be at 300. Is there a port outside somewhere that one can connect to to actually read these? That one said first shift should be 17-20 mph, if it shifts late, the cable is too tight, if it shifts early, the cable is too loose. I think that was performance trans.

There was a monster video, they showed their TV cable kit had a spring hooked to the linkage before the adjuster, so it was clipped on the throttle linkage, a little 3/8 coil spring, then the adjuster. I can see that keeping the cable taught when the throttle was closed, but shouldnt it be tight without the little spring?

We just filled the trans with fluid, ran AN fittings and aluminum tubing to the radiator and fired the motor, missed out on the full 20 minute cam break in since the header paint was boiling off. So we havent been able to test any shift points, we just wanted to make sure there was fluid in there. We put 9 in to the point it was dripping from the speedo cable but knew that was gonna get sucked right into the converter.

[Shelty]

there is a port on the driver side, i need to get a pressure gauge to see what my readings are. I did get a governor recalibration kit, read up on it on the 3rd gen camaro forums, and it seems to be a common issue of ppl wanting their trans to shift higher than 4000 or so rpm.

I'll be installing it on wednesday when the weather is supposed to be nice

[Shelty]

spent the last two days messing around with the governor on the trans, 12 tries later with the calibration kit and I think I got it close! Im going to try two more combinations tomorrow.

its getting there.

[quick 52]

using a 700r4 in drive for launching is not the way to go in drive or OD the low gear uses only a lower roller clutch or a sprag... Manual low it uses the low roller clutch plus low reverse clutch which makes it much stronger

[Shelty]

did not know that. thanks for the info.

after 3 days of messing with the dumb thing, it still shifts a bit low at WOT, but I can live with it. running one stock weight and the number 1 weight. with lighter weights than that, it would rev up to 5 grand at WOT, but then part throttle it would shift weird and then not want to go into overdrive. seeing as how this car isnt a race car, more of a cruiser, it wont be at WOT very often, so I can live with the lower RPM shifts.

fallback plan is that if anything goes horribly wrong, ditch autos all together and stick a manual in it. (because how sweet would a manual fullsize wagon be?)

as for now tho, done messing with transmission stuff, next on the list is tie rods, rag joint in the steering and taking a coil and a half off the front springs to bring the nose down

[quick 52]

did not know that. thanks for the info.

after 3 days of messing with the dumb thing, it still shifts a bit low at WOT, but I can live with it. running one stock weight and the number 1 weight. with lighter weights than that, it would rev up to 5 grand at WOT, but then part throttle it would shift weird and then not want to go into overdrive. seeing as how this car isnt a race car, more of a cruiser, it wont be at WOT very often, so I can live with the lower RPM shifts.

fallback plan is that if anything goes horribly wrong, ditch autos all together and stick a manual in it. (because how sweet would a manual fullsize wagon be?)

as for now tho, done messing with transmission stuff, next on the list is tie rods, rag joint in the steering and taking a coil and a half off the front springs to bring the nose down

Sometimes those governor kits just don't get the part throttle shifts right and hang on happen in 4th... there are shift valve springs for 1-2 2-3 and 3-4 also and wot sleeve for 4 the 4th sleeve can be plug for wot throttle in 4th or trango, sonnax have them

[anotheridiot]

ok, so bottom line, TV Cable should be adjusted properly when you go to WOT and can just pull barely 1/8th of an inch of cable out. Is it at least a starting point? Seems we do this and there feels like there is no tension when the throttle is closed, just barely tense, almost arched, but I put a mark on the cable and it does move as soon as the throttle moves.

[anotheridiot]

This is what I am looking at, sounds like a great procedure other than the fact that I cannot find numbers of what the pressures are supposed to read.

http://www.tvmadeez.com/press_gauge/pressgauge.html

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...st-method.html

I guess I am just worried about pulling that cable too hard and sticking that plunger.

[yellomalibu]

Do you have the correct bracket? I thought I posted this earlier, but putting the stud for the TV cable on a Holley's bottom hole doesn't give the TV cable the correct amount of pull... the geometry is off.

https://www.google.com/search?q=700r4+tv+cable+adapter&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Whether Holley or Edelbrock, there is an adapter available.

[Shelty]

hey guys, as of right now, the wagon is shifting pretty well. I have put several hundred miles on it and its been going along well without a hiccup, well aside from the q-jet constantly changing its mind about idle quality... Still havnt put a holley on it, i decided to build a new one to replace the tired mill in it now., when I swap in the new motor, which will have said Holley on it, i will be getting the bowtie overdrives TV cable kit again, I have it on the car currently and really like it.