I think I have made a royal mess with the Lokar "kickdown" cable.
I installed the cable and took the car for a test drive........no speed...it felt like it had power, but shifting was terrible. Closer inspection revealed that I have installed my cable bass-ackwards. I installed it so that more throttle=pressure arm moving forward. I hope I didn't cook my transmission. I unhooked the cable, and wired it all the way back. Firm shifts, but it didn't shift into 3rd until 60 mph. So I guess I blowed $70, unless I can rig somthing up to make it work.....Any ideas?
Any help is appreciated.

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

So why can't you put it together the right way? Cable too short now?

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Joshua

Is that; it shifts into 3rd @60mph at WOT or even with your foot out of it?

I've got 2.76's behind the A904.
At WOT my car shifts into 3rd at 70. If I'm just cruising it shifts at about 40. letting off will shift it at 35 or so. It will pop back into second by lightly accelerating at anything under 40.

Back off the adjustment a bit, and see where it shifts. If there isn't any adjustment to relax the housing, you have the clip clamped to the cable with too little cable length.

I find that if I don't set mine for 4000 RPM, it short shifts and doesn't let the engine into the power. ~3600+ RPM.


CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Yeah, may cable is too short to go back and around to the other side of the lever.
Sorry about that...yes, it has to get to 60~65 before it shifts to 3rd, regardless of throttle position. When it shifts, it shifts hard, and it down shifts even harder. The shift doesn't bother me, the fact that something isn't right does.
FWIW, I don't believe an adjustment will correct my problem. The cable will still be pulling the arm forward as the throttle increases. My only solution(short of buying another cable) is to mount the kickdown to the top part of the carb-side linkage plate. (Edelbrock 500) The plate is on a centered piviot, so it should work. I would have to put a spring on the pressure arm to pull it toward the back; giving throttle would release tension on the kickdown cable, allowing the spring to do the work. My only worry is exessive side-loading of the throttle shaft.
I hope this is clear enough....
I was hoping to find a way to make it work...but it isn't looking good.
P.S.~ Could someone using a Lokar kickdown cable, please post a pic of the transmission area, and how the cable is mounted??? If I do have to order another one, I want to install it correctly.
Thanks

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

It will be almost impossible to get a good pic thats detailed enough from under the car... My instructions are long gone but I recall them having a drawing if you still have them.

This is a pic of the 904 cable on their website. The top part is the transmission side. The stud fits through the hole on the kickdown lever. Couple inches of stranded steel wire, then you come to the braided outer sheath part of the cable. Sandwiched between the outer sheath and a nut is a simple bracket as shown in the pic, 2 holes and a bend in the middle. One hole for the cable, and the other fits to a tailshaft housing bolt on the trans. From here the cable does a 180 up into the trans tunnel, then to the carb.

You already have the assorted hardware at the ends of the cable - the steel braided inner cable is a hardware store by the foot item. The outer sheath - maybe you can rig something from a longer junkyard throttle or speedo cable if you don't want to buy another one?

One of the guys on here hooked up the kickdown cable to his gas pedal somehow. I would like to see how it was done.

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Excuse me, does this smell like chloroform to you?

IIRC, the Lokar cable doesn't PULL the lever back for more line pressure, it PUSHES it.
On the trans, mount it in front of the lever; on the carb, mount it above the pivot point (same side as the throttle cable).

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Slant Cecil

Cecil per the original spec it was made to pull the lever back as throttle is applied. Its a non rigid, flexible cable. It can't really push anything. Its like trying to take a piece of cooked pasta and push your meatballs around with it, doesn't work so well. Take the heater box door control cables, those can push things open because they are solid rigid cable.

Bigblock,

When I put in a kickdown cable for my 727 about 2 months ago I came close to buying Lokar but instead bought BPE setup. I have both a 904 and a 727 and putting them side by side I didn't see many external differences in the levers. So maybe the pictures on the BPE website will be helpful even though the picutres and directions are for their cable? I made my own carb. brackets but used BPE tranny bracket and levers. Works great!

rock
'64d100

Hmmm....lots of ideas here. Hooking it to the gas pedal looks amazingly good right now. I may try that first, as I wouldn't have to buy anything else to make it work.
Thanks guys, I guess I'll call this a "Live and Learn" incident.

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

Update:
Cable was much too short to mount to the gas pedal. I went to the local NAPA and purchased 6ft. of aircraft-grade braided wire, along with a 5ft. piece of 1/8"(?) brake line. I bent the line to fit above the transmission, trimmed it, and spliced about 2" of the original stainless cable onto each end. Voila! Cost: $7.80 I'm slightly worried about the cable siezing up,(It's not easy to move) but if it does, the throttle will still close, and the lever will be pulled back. So I can't tear anything up.
Thanks again!

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

Pierre is right. A Lokar cable runs backward from the KD lever and loops around up to the carb. It pulls the KD, not pushes it. Trying to push the KD with it would be like trying to push a wet noodle up a tomcats azz.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Ooph - I would fill that tube with lube... the original lokar outer housing was lined with teflon or somesuch on the inside so the inner cable wouldn't rub. The way you have it, the inner cable may eventually wear a hole in the outer tube.

On mine the ends of the outer sheath aren't at the exact angles as the inner cable is, so you can see the inner cable wear a groove in the aluminum at the very end but the outer sheath itself is fine.

I wonder if someone makes generic "do it yourself" fittings and proper sheath-by-the-foot for a true DIY cable. There has to be something as proper as the lokar but more cost effective.

I have gone to a bicyle shop and purchased brake/shifter cable. Homemade brackets at the carb and trans. Approx $5.00.

The main disadvantage is the end of the cable is not sealed, and water/road grime can enter at the trans end. If ths should happen during freezing weather, it could make the throttle very hard if not impossible to open. If it should freeze at WOT, it would hold the kickdown back, but should still allow the throttle to close, as the cable would buckle at the carb end. In my part of the country, it is unusual to have this condition.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

That's what I get for listening to a parts vendor. I too thought it was like pushing a chain down the road.
My swap meet sourced #7448 350cfm Holley had the lower half of the throttle linkage cut off so I had no easy way to pull a cable when the throttle opened. The vendor (a well known Moparts sponsor) assured me the cable pushed, not pulled, the lever rearward and his parts would fit my needs. I went for the sales pitch knowing how easy the lever moves would not require a very stiff cable.(where's the sucker emoticon?)
I ended up putting the #7448 Holley on my '82 D150 with 833od trans so the Lokar is still in the package, along with the instructions. Anyone need a new Lokar KD-2904HT, $50 plus $5 shipping!

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Slant Cecil