TH400 Kickdown
 

First show and shine of the season Saturday and my truck made it to within 2 miles of it. Popped the hood and the Carter carb was flowing gas. Fortunately the show-n-shine was at Summit so I bought an Edlebrock 1406. Switched out carbs in a parking lot and the 396 fired right up. When I bought the truck in December I noticed there was no kickdown setup to the TH400. There appears to be an electrical connection protruding from the left (drivers) side of the trans which I assume is that end of things. My question to the swamii's of chevys is: what do I need to do to have an operable kickdown?

You should have a kickdown switch under the dash which gets power from the fuse panel, (unfused ignition). The other connection is a wire down to the transmission.

Here is a pic of the switch.

Jim

The "69" doesn't have the throttle cable on it. It comes with the throttle rod. Note in the PIC the throttle cable (newer truck). The kickdown switch on our trucks was located on the CARB. I do not want A switch on my carb. Best bet 1.Convert to the throttle cable and install the switch. 2.Buy A LOKAR set up (SPENDY). Please correct me if I am wrong anyone.



Gary

Ahhhhhh.....so the switch is mechanically activated (by flooring the gas pedal), current from fuse box is then sent to trans. Theoretically, I could just apply current to the electrical blade fitting at the trans and it would down shift?

Skokie has a lokar kickdown for th 400 in the parts board.

VetteVet
That part was sold.

The '69 doesn't have a switch under the gas petal (did someone already say that?). They're usually mounted on the carb.

So...when I finally decided to swap out my whimpy 2bbl Rochester and cast-iron intake to an Edelbrock 1406 and performer intake I had no kickdown since the old switch was made for the older carburetor. So I decided to opt for the lokar setup and spend a little $$$. Check out these two links:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php3?t=70874

...and...

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php3?t=70868

One thing about what's cool about the lokar switch box. There's a couple of holes in your frame channel (on the driver's side) next to the transmission where you can literally mount the box INSIDE the frame rail. It eliminated the need to break the seal on the transmission to mount it there. All I had to do was plug it in, mount it inside the frame rail, run my wires ,and adjust the throttle linkage so the switch was activated JUST BEFORE wide-open throttle.

Piece-o-cake. Just make sure that nut on the cable is tight. Mine slipped a bit and I started kicking down randomly.

oops.

;)

Thanks much........what a resource this board is, eh?

I was planning on using a TH400 from an`86 diesel(injected).I haven`t looked,but wouldn`t it probably have a pedal activated switch?JimKshortstep4x4,what is that set-up in the picture?

special k,

The pic that I posted is of the stock kickdown switch for the TH 400 in the 71-72 trucks.

Here is a pic of the older style for the BB engines.

Jim

aye chi wa wa........guess I'll go the lokar way.

Yeah...I realized I was spending a lot of time and energy trying to find a stock switch. I realized I could just buy the lokar setup and save the gas money.

I got the lokar setup when I put the TH400 in my 67. Thought it was worth every penny. Slick setup, and very easy to adjust. Here's a pic.

http://thoraldus.com/albums/67General/DSCN8773.jpg

I used the lokar setup in one of my old trucks. It is a very nice setup. And easy to install.

So,how expensive?