No kickdown on Pontiac Th400

Asked by TCFirebird68 Feb 15, 2019 at 12:05 AM about the 1968 Pontiac Firebird Coupe

Question type: General

I have a 1968 firebird convertible. It has a
400 motor. I recently acquired TH400
transmission out of a 1969 Catalina. I
installed it in my car and am getting ready to
fire it up. But I noticed it does not have a
kick down. Is that right or is it missing?
Does it even have one in that year? How is it
suppose to kick down.

2 Answers
103,215

KenF answered 5 years ago

TH400s have an electrical kickdown, not a mechanical linkage. Google "TH400 kickdown switch" for part sources. On models that came with the TH400 back then, there was an electrical switch that was mounted at carb on throttle linkage, when the linkage was at WOT (wide open throttle), it connected and supplied 12V to a solenoid in the tranny that did two things, increased line pressure to prevent damage to clutch and downshift tranny (depending on gear). Lots of TH400 retrofits involve installing that switch as well. Don't run tranny without it, as again you can damage clutch due to lack of increased line pressure.

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