From: William Huff <whuff@xxxx> To: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CC: eltuuri@xxxx Subject: [Chrysler300] torqueflite trans. Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 15:11:12 -0500
Hi,
It is true that the kickdown adjustment can change the shifting characteristics of the transmission. However, an improperly adjusted or missing kickdown adjustment can materially shorten the life of the transmission, leading to early failure. Governor pressure is another measure of shifting points and quality.
I have also put the transpak in several of my torqueflites over the years, but I have never had a cast iron torqueflite apart, and I don't know what is available for adjustment in the valve body. I do not believe the transpak or other kit was available for the cast iron tranny (could be wrong, I was in high school when they were last made and was driving cars from the '40s and early '50s.) Yep, those were some fast flat head six cylinders, even had a couple of straight 8s. :^).
I really wouldn't recommend moving far from factory adjustment on any
portion of the transmission without some research. I had spoken to some
people at J.W. Performance Transmissions a few years ago, they are close to
where I live, pioneered the Ultrabell bellhousing and are torqueflite
experts. I think they said that they could make the cast iron transmission
a pure manual shift that could live under some real horsepower, but they no
longer do high performance streetable auto shift torqueflites of any kind
due to the problems associated with the throttle adjustment. Someone would
put a tall manifold on the engine and the transmission would be back in the
shop a short time later due to improper kickdown adjustment causing failure.
Regards,
Bill Huff
Excellent article William! But no one mentioned kickdown adjustment [throttle pressure] With minimum pressure, it should shift to high between 23-28 mph. I prefer 25-28, but never over 30. If you install a shift kit, there is also an adjustmant in the throttle-body. I use B+M Transpak. After installing one, I just used adjustments from kit for my other cars.[street-adjustment]
Elmer Tuuri Lively Ont. Canada Been a terrible spring
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