Transmission questions

[Brian Felts]

Hey all one more question for you.....my 84 seems to short shift way early, does it have a trans cable on the throttlebody or is the benz box on a vacuum line for upshifts. When I pull it back and shift manually it does awesome but from a roll off a light I would like it to stay in gear longer.....


Does anybody have a first gear start switch? Does anybody have good experiences or ideas they can shoot me?


Brian

[Red Baron]

Brian,

There is a way to hook up a switch so that the auto's will start out in first and hold from shifting until done so by the driver. I've never done it however there should be some "how to" write up somewhere on RL or call Jim Bailey at 928 International and he can probably point you in the right direction. It can be done though>

[psychII]

That thing Red is writing about is called a parallel kickdown switch. Here is a write-up and explaination of how it works: http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/kickdown.htm

Or, before going to the trouble, you can just jumper the switch. It is located under your acceleration pedal. Cut a piece of 12 guage wire into a 4 inch piece with about an inch of wire exposed at each end. Bend the strads back over the sheath at each end. Unplug the kick down switch and put in the jumper you just made.

I found it annoying and prefer to just manually shift when I want a longer first gear. I think yours is like mine, starts in first but quickly shifts to second. If you want to hold 1st longer, try one of the above mods or just put the shifter into second. This will (may) start you in first and it will hold until about 5500RPM or until you force it to shift whenever you want. I prefer that method.

[Danglerb]

Its good to verify the condition of all the parts.

Make sure the throttle cable hasn't stretched and that you have the full range of movement.

Make sure the vacuum thing goes where it should and doesn't leak.

No clue about what the other cable does, but make sure its doing it.

I also would not leave the kickdown jumpered. Its an electric solenoid designed for brief occasional operation, not 100% duty cycle. Doesn't Jager have a mod that puts a parallel switch on the shifter?

[Brian Felts]

I was looking at it just a little bit ago. I can hit the kick down switch with my foot if I am not touching the gas, if I am sitting at a stop and hit the switch with the car in the normal drive position will it then start in first?

I worked on a few Mercedes 300 E 4 matics withteh same trans, and it made them feel like a slug until that beast got moving about 2800rpm and up.


Thanks
Brian

[Danglerb]

You can also get a different stall on the torque converter, but I don't know anybody thats done it yet.

I think you have to do something with the shifter, maybe somebody will post that knows for sure.