ok so recently bought 81 MC. I can tell someone had already swapped the engine (assuming 3.4L or 4.3L or w/e for that year) to an OLD 305 with an OLD I believe quadrajet carb.
Well, since the cam was damaged or engine throw a rod....swapped out to a 350 we had a lil work into
Swapped intake, carb, brackets, etc. to the 350 (until further notice)

First time driving it, my father said transmission was "slipping" (Have to go into 2nd for a little and then back into drive to functionally drive)
We then noticed the detent cable isn't hooked up to anything, because it doesn't reach
I am not sure what tranny is behind it, but im believing stock.....I am suppose to be going to get another tranny today

But before I go through putting another tranny in.........I've heard the detent cable depends on the car for what it does.
On my car......does the detent cable play a major role? especially with shifting
We went to highway and put it through the ringer, flooring it (dropping to 2nd of course, then to drive)
So surprise the tranny didn't blow out from under us.....but it held up

Should I trust my father about tranny replacement......or I need to figure a way to hook up my detent cable to solve the problem?
Theoretically......could the detent be causing shifting problems AND also my father could be right about the tranny slipping also>?

 

It does matter whether or not the cable is connected. It can give you terrible shift points if it even shifts at all.

First thing first. Look at this chart to see what trans you have.





That would be the first thing i would do.

Now that you know what you have, you can call Lokar and see about getting a cable for your setup. Tell them what motor, and carb you have.

Afterwards, you can decide if it needs to be replaced or not.

 

the trans in that car could be the th350 or the th250 they look identical. the 250s a bit weaker. mine had a th250 in it.

 

If it is a th350 or 250, the detent cable doesnt do anything except kick down when you tromp it, shifting is controlled by the vacumn mod. on the side of the trans. Should have a vac line from the intake to it.
If some one swapped in a 2004r or 700r4 then Yes you need it hooked up. On those it does control the shifts.

 

if he doesnt hook up the kickdown cable the car wont automatically downshift under full throttle. he'll have to manually down shift the car. the car shouldnt have a 2004r or 700r4 in it. theyre both overdrives easily identifiable by there pans and that they have a 4th gear. the tv cable is extremely important on them.

 

Thats why i put that pic of the pans so he can identify what trans he has.

 

i also want to correct one thing it would be a th350 or th200

 

"ok so recently bought 81 MC. I can tell someone had already swapped the engine ".

Never know what someone will put in an older car, thought maybe they swapped in a motor and TRANS.
If its original then yes it would be a TH350 or 200.


"First time driving it, my father said transmission was "slipping" (Have to go into 2nd for a little and then back into drive to functionally drive)"

Wasn't real sure what he was saying here, had a 2004r act the same way. Was just throwing that out there

 

@sideways
yeah you are exactly correct
I looked up the casting # and the "old" swapped engine in it was a 350.....NOT a 305.....so yeah who knows......I havnt looked to see which tranny in it yet (because pretty much at this point doesn't matter anymore)

Along with possible head gasket blown (head work/new heads) because of a pumbling issue overheating....and I justttttt now started hearing the engine start to knock ......pretty sure logically, the engine will need to be rebuilt

So, just as that motor went in.......I believe I am now having to do an engine+tranny swap......I'll probably just take the cam out the engine in the car now and put in other engine going in, and then set the engine aside, until I ever decide if I want to rebuild it
I better have a 10 second car after all these trials!! (being super sarcastic)

Thank you everyone for the responses

 

absolutely it could be any tranny in there if they did a motor swap. pan identification is a good way to test except between the th250 and th350. i also had th350s that would blow up and do what he was describing. i dont know for certain if the th250s came in gbodys my car had one in it and so did my friends. its possible someone threw it in there believing it to be a th350.