I have a 86 corvette automatic with a 2.59 rearend.

I took my trans into 1 shop and the guy did a very bad job. After almost a year of back and forth to the shop it pretty much died and I took it some place new.

New place rebuilt the trans gave it back and it would not upshift under full throttle till 5500+ ish (bone stock car). Also I did not have 4th till 68 mph.

Couple trips back and forth with them they have changed the valve body, this allowed the car to go into 4th gear during normal driving. But still no upshifts. They then swapped the governor.

Valve body came from a Iroc I was told and the governer was V6 with weights on it.

My car shifts like crap but at least now it shifts. 1-2 shift is around 4100 RPM 2-3 is around 3500 RPM and the 3-4 is around 2900 RPM. My car will now sit in 4th gear at 85 under WOT.

It also does not downshift properly at 70 it used to go into 2nd but now only manages 3rd. Also at low speeds it does not always go into 1st during WoT.

On the plus side during around the town normal driving conditions everything feels ok. I can also manually shift it if/when needed.

My question, will I be able to fix this with a governer tune up kit. Change the weights and springs to get the up and downshifts I want, or should I try and get a stock governor from somewhere and swap into my car. I am done trying to get it fixed from a shop, I need it right and have to do it myself.

Does the governor controll downshifts as well? Everyone talks about raising shift points but nobody ever talks about downshifts.

Thank you for the help and the long winded post.

 

I am not a transmission expert! As I understand things the V6 govnrs were used on 82 Vette and 83-84 Trans Am and many complaints surfaced over time regarding not making a max throttle 1-2 shift before floating the valves. The problem was not the govr weights but the SPRINGS. You may be having similiar type problems as I am sure the fix is a set of stronger springs. I do know that some shift kits will come with governor spring arrangements that are suppose to fix this problem (think the TRANSGO shift kit has them). Although your govnr is suspect, seems the throttle valve system isn't working correctly. Have you tried adjusting the THROTTLE VALVE CABLE?

Early 700 trans engineering wasn't the greatest and a lot of shift kits attempt to fix these valve body problems. Maybe you could try a shift kit--they are cheap.

 

Mine is an 86e, and with 137,000 miles, it shifts just fine.
Tryadjusting the T.V. cable and see what that gets you.
If you look on the T.V. cable, you will see a wear mark where the original setting was, and st it there and see if it's better.
start a new thread and call it "calling Pete K"
and ask him your questions or just PM him.

 

My trans has no shift kit.

The shift cable should be adjusted correctly, no idea if it should match the old adjustment since a lot has been changed since then.

I will send the PM and see what happens. More or less curious if the gov will controll downshifts as well. Hate to spend more money on something that will not fix it...

I just miss the way my car used to shift, my wife's Rendevous shift's better now LOL.

 

The governor controls upshifts and downshifts. To fix your problem you will have to recalibrate the governor or you can try and install a stock Corvette governor to get you close.

 

pm replied