Hey guys,Been a wile since I was last here hope all are well ,Here is my delema, My 1954 Chevrolet ,That have been driving for 37 yrs, Its has a SB 350 and th 350 transmission.The trans was sold to me with a manual valve body in it, Been running for about 30 years and then parked the car for a few years and then had the transmission rebuilt. When shop rebuilt it it made sure to put everything back the way it was ,no kick-down cable ,It was Still shifted manually . We put the car back together and drove about another eight years with no problems . Recently I took the car off the road had the engine Rebuilt back in February we put the engine back in got the car .Started to drive it on and off for last few weeks. Went to the first cruise night of the season travel about 15 miles away on Monday. I was on my way back suddenly I noticed shifting from first to second, (Manually), That 2nd gear didn't catch until I let my foot off the gas then the transmission felt like it went into drive and completely skipped over a 2nd gear ,Earlier in the evening before all this I thought I heard a whistle or a wine like a vacuum leak kind of sound very high pitched ,My first thought it was the wind ,I was driving with the windows open, I gave it some thought later, I'm wondering if this could be related to the transmission problem, I limped the car home. I did a little googling saw some some stuff about checking the vac modual and the governor, I checked the vacuum line to the vacuum module ,It had no leaks, I pulled out the module and check to see if it held vacuum ,It seems fine so I put it back in ,I am afraid to look at the governor yet . ,The Shifter is still in adjustment , The fluid is clean like it was just put in today, No burning, no smell. When I was doing the work I put her on wheel ramps no problem with reverse OR forward moving the car in the driveway,It just doesn't shift right manually or in "D" ( drive ) I do not know a lot about transmissions, Guess I'm going to have to learn now. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to what might be going on?
So will this transmission shift automatically or do you have to select each gear? If the only way it will shift is you selecting the gear, I don't believe your governor does anything. At any rate, it wouldn't cause a missing second gear. If it is skipping second, the problem is either in the intermediate clutch or the or the second gear overrunning clutch. Clean fluid makes me thing the overrunning clutch. Either problem will require removal of the transmission and disassembly.
I've got a manual TH350. It doesn't have a kickdown cable or vacuum modulator. It doesn't shift except when the shift cable moves it into another gear. Either the trans shop changed things, something was changed when the engine was R&R'ed or the trans is worn out. You can have a shop diagnose it or pull the trans pan and check.
Since it's always worked fine the way it's set up, but has sat a lot, maybe something is stuck/sticking inside the valve body?
I have a full manual TH350 in my Austin gasser. It starts out in whatever gear I put it in, and stays there unless I shift up or down. No vacuum modulator or governor involved in it. The shift kit and valve body are Transgo items. Sounds like it's time for yours to go to a good transmission guy who can fix the issues, and not screw up the shift kit at the same time.
Ya ,I went and talked to some of the local gearheads at the speed shops here in town and my engine guy ,And they suggested a local trans shop that has a good rep with the classic and hot rod crowd . So I am gonna check it out tomorrow,I thought I would look for info here 1st, Thank you guys for your input,I appreciate it ! It kills me that this happens right at the start of the season.
Well, there were a couple at 1700 on the bay, this for less, but still need converter https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Motors-Chevy-TH350-Automatic-Transmission,511964.html and a whole lot at 2400 and up. Just so you know your options.
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