Jack71

What a noticeable difference -- its way too firm. It appears to be from the newly added TV cable. I'm going to put on a lighter return spring and and raise the throttle cable to the highest point on the linkage, but I doubt that will soften it up enough.

Any other experiences with this from other overdrive converters?

page62

All I can say is :yesnod:

I removed one of the throttle return springs to relieve some tension...

Chris69

I've got the same problem with my 700R4. I had the tranny pan off this weekend and decided to check the detent valve and plunger. If the TV is not adjusted right, the plunger will home before the throttle is completely open and act as a throttle stop, and your primaries won't open all the way. Doesn't explain why the pedal stiffened up though. Mine was setup right, and my primaries open all the way. It's just stiffer. The springs in the tranny don't seem to be stiff enough to cause this, so it must be the TV cable. Maybe try rerouting it to make as least a bend or curve(s) as possible?

Mike71

Hey I got a question, I have a 82 S10 witha 700R4, will it bolt right in my 79?

dman535

The tv cable shouldn't really add any additional tenstion to the throttle cable. What is a common occurance is that the geometry is not right and the cable acutally beings to pull on the tv valve inside the trans. This can also cause the cable to come out of adjustment and stretch.

You might want to invest in one of these:


http://www.powerglide.com/parts/parts/As1-01K-1.htm

Most trans parts supply houses carry them. The same company also makes geometry correcting parts for holley/carter carbs.

TedH

I have the same issue; stiffer pedal now that i have the 700R4. So, if my geometry is incorrect on my q-jet, I guess I need to correct it.

page62

My geometry is correct (TV Made EZ), but I do have a sharp bend right near the carb. Hmmm...

Jack71

I forgot to mention that I have a TV kit from Bowtie Overdrives too.

I called BTO on the matter and they stated it "is a characteristic of the 700R4". I wonder if it loosens up over time....

wombvette

You should clean the trottle valves and oil the cross shafts. It is common for them to get stiff.

C3 Shark Tank

I have the 700r4 with TV made EZ but my throttle is just fine, doesn't feel any different from when I had the old TH350. I did meet a guy recently at the RibFest show in St. Pete that had the stiff throttle problem so I took a look at it, sure enough it took a lot of effort to press his gas pedal.

The only thing I could see different on his was that the adjustment was way out, mine isn't out nearly that much. What I mean is that part that clips into the bracket, the adjustable thing...sorry, don't know what to call it :rolleyes: his was so far out it left little room for throttle cable movement. Maybe there are different length TV cables? Not sure as I don't know squat about trannies.

Chris69

I checked the spring tension again at the plunger. The detent moves very easily and is smooth, so that part is ok. The plunger moves without too much effort... until you get about 1/2 way in, but then it starts to take a bit of effort to home the valve because of the springs. Now I'm wondering if the Bowtie folks are using much stiffer springs... C3 Shark Tank, is your tranny from Bowtie? That, along with cable geometry may be the issue, but I'm really doubting it's the cable. The routing of the throttle cable, which in my case has a sharper bend than the TV cable, doesn't make the the pedal stiff at all if I disconnect the TV. I'm going to take the TV cable off to check it for smoothness with some good bends, and if it's ok, it's got to be those springs. Maybe a call to Bowtie about it will yield a bit more than "uh, that's just the way it is." I also talked to them about the stiff pedal when I first got the tranny and received the same type of response. :rolleyes:

Jack71

My TV cable appears to tighten at about 1/2 throttle too. Let me know how you make out, perhaps a lighter spring would resolve the problem...

C3 Shark Tank

Chris- no I had mine built locally. If you guys don't get anything other than "that's how it is" call up a reputable local tranny shop and talk to them about it, hopefully you'll find a good gearhead who isn't looking to pull it just to tell you what's wrong.

Shark Racer

My TV cable is tight too. Incredibly tight at first... it seemed to get looser over time though..

Er, nope! I just got used to it. Ask your wives or friends to drive your car and ask how the throttle feels. My friend who's used to bimmers and chryslers said the cable was "very stiff".

-Steve

Chris69

We'll see what happens... I just sent an email to Bowtie to get some kind of feedback to share here on the Forum. I also mentioned the activating arm springs as well as the one person so far (C3SharkTank) not having a problem, but doesn't have their Bowtie 700R4. Also, the assumption I'm getting is that everyone has had the problem from day one with a new tranny, and most likely a new tv cable. :cheers:

C3 Shark Tank

Chris- at the time I asked the builder to do it to the BTO specs, since I couldn't watch the whole time I can't say if he did or not but he's very reputable and the tranny has held up great so far, with a small/fair amount of abuse(lead foot and 5 runs at the track up to 6-6500rpm). BTO was not offering the 3 different levels when I did mine but I have a Trans-Go/Gil Younger kit in mine as well. BTO TV cable and TV-Made-EZ bracket too if that helps anyone.

Chris69

Hey everyone... I got a reply from Steve @ Bowtie. Tnx, Steve, if you read this. Good stuff....

Chris:

Sorry for the delay in responding to your e-mail. I received another
from Jack D'Attilio. After four days off for the holidays, my e-mail was
really backed up. If you could post this response on the forum, I would
really appreciate it.

We build high performance transmissions with many modifications to
increase the performance, feel and durability. Many of the modifications
change the transmissions shift characteristics and manage the hydraulics
in a more aggressive precise manner.

The answer to the increased spring tension in all of our transmissions
is we install the Transgo TV valve and springs kit in every transmission
we build and have done so for over seven years. We use this system since it establishes a consistent, predicable TV valve apply while completely solving the classic sticking TV valve problem common to TH-700R4 transmissions even with badly degraded transmission fluid. We have found Transgo's patented (since 1984) system to perform exactly as they claim while totally eliminating any future stuck TV valves. It has been and continues to be our opinion that the added expense of installing this kit is well worth it since this kit offers a wonderful solution to this irritating and potentially destructive problem. It's also our opinion
the increased spring resistance is more than offset by the benefits this
system offers. In over seven years of using this system, it has virtually eliminated this common problem and we have had few complaints about the added resistance.

In the past seven years we have used thousands of these Transgo kits, it
has proven to work exactly as advertised and we have never experienced a single problem other than the noted increase in pedal feel. This increase in pedal feel is more noticeable with certain carburetor linkage designs like the Q-jet carburetors because of their positioning of the throttle attachment point on the linkage. This increased stiffness can be easily off set by repositioning the throttle connection point to apply slightly more leverage while working the throttle. If you are interested in how to do this, our technical staff would be happy to help. 760-947-5240; ask for Jayson.

The other option is to install a stock TV valve and spring and live with
the valve sticking issues. If anyone wishes to do this, we would be
happy to send them these parts or a valve body/gasket set with them
installed. If close by, you are welcome to come by and we will remove
the Transgo kit and install the stock system.

If someone knows of a system as good or better then the Transgo system, we would love to know about it.

I hope this answers this mystery. When anyone in the future wishes to
purchase our transmissions without this nifty kit installed, we would
certainly not install it when we do the build.

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Sincerely

Steve Holmes
Bow Tie Overdrive

page62

Very good answer! I had a feeling they were using TransGo components because I saw a part that said "NoYoYo" when we had the pan off of mine.

And now a word of praise for Bowtie's trannies: Mine shifts quick and firm, and the upshifts and downshifts are right where I want them to be. :yesnod:

Chris69

page62... Same here. Been extremely pleased with it! Probably the best upgrade I've done (well, the zz4 was a plus, but it was already there when I got the car :lol: ). I replaced the rear gears to 3.54's before going with the Bowtie OD, and if I had to do it again, I'd go with the largest I can get in the Dana 44 (3.70, I believe).

At the risk of showing how dumb I can be... can I complicate the matter even more regarding the TV system? Ok, tnx... When you read that "shift point and feel" can be controlled by TV adjustment, I just don't get it! You need to establish a point where the arc in the carb's TV linkage causes the activating arm (lever) to barely touch the plunger at idle and fully seated (touching the bushing) at wot while ensuring the primaries are fully open at that point. Well, it seems to me that there's only going to be 'one' position, somewhere along the entire range of adjustments, that's going to give you this. Once that's established, it makes sense that you'd never want to modify it or try to fine tune the shift feel, especially without a visual inspection of the plunger. So you can make it feel less aggressive by giving the cable more slack, and firmer by increasing the tension. But then you don't get that full range of the plunger. And, as the Bowtie instructions mentions, if you don't have that plunger fully seated, you'll miss out on double downshifts at wot (from 4th to 2nd). Ok, that's it. Am I missing something?


[Modified by Chris81, 5:41 PM 12/4/2002]

Mitchel Fisher

I just installed a new TV cable that was the exact length and everything as the original Factory into my 87 r10 305 5.0 and when I went to adjust it it feels like it's too short and the pedal no longer goes all the way to the floor and when I do press the pedal all the way to the floor extends the clicker on the TV cable all the way out did I do something wrong I installed it as if you're supposed to hooked it to the little finger inside the transmission ran it through the same path as the original and plugged it into the same hole on the bracket but it still seems to be too short