Trans troubles

I broke the original trans cable when removing it from the manifold bracket. I picked up a new cable from CarQuest and even though it didn’t match the old cable I was assured that it was correct for my year and model. In truth it was not. The old cable had a tension spring that was needed when setting the TV cable to WOT. The new cable slipped in an out easily on the bracket and I couldn’t be sure that I had the correct cable length setting. I found an exact replica of the original on the Northern Corvette website. So I ordered it and got to work putting it in place.

The cable is located behind the two trans cooling pipes. and also behind the exhaust pipe. Ideally you would remove the two pipes and the exhaust. Not going to happen on an engine with 144k kms on it. So I had to get my fingers in with a small 1/4″ drive 10mm socket and remove the old cable. Getting the new cable in place was a bit of a bear as I was working by feel alone. There is also a rubber gasket that needs to fit on the cable end and it of course doesn’t want to stay on the end. But I got it in place after a couple of hours of fiddling.

In order to get the new cable on the carb linkage it’s necessary to remove the TV cable bracket at the rear of the manifold. Other than that it was a breeze to set as per the service manual.

The TV cable has a push up/press down lock. With it in the up position I rotated the carb linkage to WOT which pulled the cable out of the lock at the bracket (I held the coke butterfly open while doing this) and then pressed down on the TV cable lock to set the cable length.

Took it for a test drive and all is good. Passing gear works nicely and I don’t have any fear of trans damage due to an incorrect TV cable setting.

I didn’t clear up another problem that has developed. Shifts from 1-2 and from 2-3 are very harsh. The service manual trouble shooting guide for AT shows that the vacuum modulator is the most likely culprit. Rock Auto has the best price at $58 plus shipping – beats the local parts shops by at least $20. So that’s the next job and it will not be fun getting at it as it is once again tucked behind the exhaust pipe and the rear crossmember is also in the way.

Shaking out the bugs from a car that sat for 20 years!

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