What has happened to my tranny

[old man]

This winter I built a new 340 and put it into my 70 Challenger. I also had a new 3000 stall built for my 904. Now that it is all together something is not right. Before I could shift from 1st to 2nd and it would shift firm and bark the tires. Now when I try the same it takes forever to shift and will not bark the tires. Would the stall do this to me? I can't see how it would. Could it be the kickdown linkage? I set it so that when the carb is full open the rod shifts all the way back. Give me some advise on what to do.

[tactransman]

So this was a working transmission and all you did was put a stall in it?

[old man]

It was a good tranny when I changed it over. I took out a 360 and put in a 340 and changed torque conv to match the 340. I had one built for around 2500 to 3000 stall. Since then it doesn't shift the same. It use to shift hard and fast now it takes forever and doesn't bark tires 1st to second.

[tactransman]

I am wondering if you messed up the pump. 

[old man]

During normal driving it shifts fine, this only happens when I try to manually shift car under throttle. If the front pump was bad wouldn't it act funny all the time? 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Explain 'forever'. Are you being sarcastic? or does it just not shift as hard?

For what its worth, my 3500rpm footbrake/3900rpm flash dynamic converter seems to 'stall' when i shift hard, vs my cheap 2500 that was in there. Doesn't effect the speed of the shift it seems, its just for a split second. Does it seem like it may just be stalling/flashing the harshness of the shift, dampening almost. I've talked to a few other guys about that and they both had similar results..

Also do you have a factory cooling system? Is it a off the shelf or tweaked to spec converter?

[tactransman]

A stall of 3000 RPM should not effect your shift firmness under throttle. The fact that you say it shifts late and softer does not make sense. Usually later means firmer.

[old man]

Well after some research on the matter I may have found the problem. The kickdown linkage was set up different that what I have seen on others. The linkage did not engage the carb stud at idle. There was about a 5/16 slot in arm and so linkage did not move until stud was engaged that far back. My understanding is that the linkage is supposed to engaged with stud at all times. So I have placed a small bolt in the slot opening so that as soon as throttle is given it moves with carb linkage. I hope that this is correct. If not I am going to order new Lokar linkage and get rid of factory linkage. Could this have been the problem?

Explain 'forever'. Are you being sarcastic? or does it just not shift as hard?

For what its worth, my 3500rpm footbrake/3900rpm flash dynamic converter seems to 'stall' when i shift hard, vs my cheap 2500 that was in there. Doesn't effect the speed of the shift it seems, its just for a split second. Does it seem like it may just be stalling/flashing the harshness of the shift, dampening almost. I've talked to a few other guys about that and they both had similar results..

Also do you have a factory cooling system? Is it a off the shelf or tweaked to spec converter?

I have an external cooler that was the max size I could get for car when I put it together years ago. The shift between gears seems to be 2 to 3 seconds. Before it was instant and hard. Now it's drawn out and slow no barking tires. 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Well after some research on the matter I may have found the problem. The kickdown linkage was set up different that what I have seen on others. The linkage did not engage the carb stud at idle. There was about a 5/16 slot in arm and so linkage did not move until stud was engaged that far back. My understanding is that the linkage is supposed to engaged with stud at all times. So I have placed a small bolt in the slot opening so that as soon as throttle is given it moves with carb linkage. I hope that this is correct. If not I am going to order new Lokar linkage and get rid of factory linkage. Could this have been the problem? 

 That was my problem. I have a late 60's linkage on my car, according to Chryco. I put a screw in the place you want to place a bolt. It is amazing what an 1/8 inch movement did for me.  I hope it cures your blues!! 


  Mike

[tactransman]

Make sure you have the kickdown return spring on it (like MEK's photo)and make sure your linkage doesn't stick the throttle wide open.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

A stall of 3000 RPM should not effect your shift firmness under throttle. The fact that you say it shifts late and softer does not make sense. Usually later means firmer.

DJVCuda i think roams here, and im not sure if CudaDan does. Both run the same dynamic converter and claim the shifts soften up with it in. Runs just as hard, just doesnt feel to slam into the next gear like it used to. I'm not the tranny guru...but i do know my car and how it was before the swaparoo. i daily drove it about a good year before the swap, i could tell the rpm in my sleep. 

[old man]

It hit 65 here today so I took car out for a spin. Since I put the bolt in the kickdon arm so that it engages all the time the tranny shifts better. The hard shift from 1st to 2nd is not there but when you shift now it doesn't lag. It's not quite what it was but it's better. Tune it some more and I'll be okay. That's for your input.

[MyMopar]

Check out this thread on kickdown cables - http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=21375.msg211931#msg211931