<VV> PG Shifting

[Brent Covey]

Hi Bill,

> Shifting occurs at 10-15 mph, which seems low to
> me.  Is it and if so, can that be changed?

You arent imagining it, thats very low. You should be able to floor the
accelerator at speeds under ~45 mph and force a downshift out of high hear
automatically, and if you are just accelerating at full throttle the car
should upshift about 46-48 mph out of low gear. Heavy part throttle
operation at traffic speeds between 15-35 mph should delay the upshift or
force a downshift as well for good response.

The part that effects all this is the Throttle Valve, which is the
accelrator linkage swivel on the drivers side of the transmission. Viewed
from the drivers side wheelwell, it rotates clockwise as you step on the
gas. Yours needs to be adjusted to a farther clockwise position. This is
done by going up in the engine compartment where the rod from under the car
attaches to the cross-shaft linkage between the primary carbs, and turning
the swivel adjustment to pull the linkage farther into the engine
compartment. If you pull on this rod while its disconnected from the carb
linkage, you'll feel towards the end of its travel theres a detent, it sort
of reaches a springy resistance- thats the kickdown ('passing gear')
engagement point. The linkage needs to be tight enough it will pass thru
this resistance as the carbs approach full throttle. Readjust it to ensure
this occurs- you may need to fine tune by trial and error for a perfect
adjustment but thats what you're shooting for.

If things are really out of adjustment under the car, the accelerator pedal
may be too close to the carpet to allow the linkage to move far enough
before it contacts the floor panel- you can readjust the swivel AT the lever
arm on the transmission side (retained with an 'e' clip) to put the pedal
back in a good position. Try to make a point of replaceing the 'e' clips
whenever you have removed one, they like to fall off if they've been
disturbed, I always throw a couple in the glove compartment,. any jobbers or
dealer has them.

Once your linkage will force a downshift on full throttle over 40 mph you're
pretty much set, keep playing with it until you can get a full throttle
downshift at at least 40 mph. Many cars will hold low past 45-47 mph, so try
for the highest upshift speed possible. In regular easy drving it will still
upshift at 10-15 mph at light throttle, but response will be much better
when you're in a hurry.

Factory 140 Powerglides have a special transmission governor that upshifts
as high as 58 mph, but this is not neccesary. If you have the manual trans
version of the engine, which it sounds like you do, it is a desirable change
when you can locate one. You can identify the 140 governor by a splotch of
orange paint on the nylon drive gear or case. You will not need to readjust
the linake with the new governor.

When you next have the carbs apart, you should add accelerator pumps to the
secondary carbs and remove the lockout linkage so that they work all the
time. Thats also a good time to rejet, 53's in the primaries and 50's in the
seondaries is a good starting point. Removing the lockouts and adding the
accelerator pumps really improves overall drivability and allows full power
when the engines still cold for emergencies. It also prevents the
secondaries from seizing closed if the lockouts bind up which many do.

Good luck,
Brent Covey
Vancouver BC