I was putting in a th350 tranny into a 79camaro. I went to hook up the linkage and i had to shift it back to 1st gear in order for the linkage to line up. I can't push the shifter forward into neutral, drive, park or anything else though. It was taken out of another carthat I drove before it was pulled so i know that it works. Is it possible that the car was not in park when itwas pulled?


So my question is this... Obviously you need tranny fluid to run it, but if it is empty should I still be able to move the shifter? I don't feel like wasting 10 qts to fill it up just to empty it all back out (not to mention the mess)if I need to open up the tranny to fix something.

I have a feeling there is a stupid answer to this...but this is the first car that I ever actually worked on by myself. I've always just helped friends with theirs, so this is a learning experience.

 

dude check the length of the shifter cable they make different lengths i had the same prob I had to buy a longer shifter cable or either you might of smashed it inbetween the crossmember and the trans putting it in cause that happend to me I smashed it putting my trans and also the one that i smashed was to short..

 

the linkage on the shifter may be in first gear. but in park on the side of the tranny. make sure you got it in the right gear. you can be able to tell if it is in park by turning the drive shaft. and hearing it click into gear., you do not need tranny fluid to do this. i got confused with mine also. biggest pain to change the shifter cabel. if your pushing it fowards and you hear a clickly noise that means it is in park. also alot of people over look the linkage for the neutral safty switch. that metal rod that goes over the exhaust, and up to behind the break booster. maybe something with that is jamed up. on my old car, a screw driver fell and landed so perfect that it would not let the shifter move.


anyway i hoped this helped.

 

forgive me but i got to ask.is the clip in the end of the cable where ithooks up to the bracket.have you got the same linkage that come off the old transmission on the new transmission,where the cable hooks up

 

yeah...it's hooked up the same. Tomm I will check to see if it's just the shifter showing that it's in 1st when it is actually in park...like "thebandit" said.

 

so when i spin the drive shaft it just keeps spinning.

The bracket that the linkage connects to on the side of tranny...should i be able to feel it change though the gears when i move it by hand(as if the shifterlinkage pulled on it)? I can feel it lightly fall into a grove (if you know what i mean) 3 times. should i be able to feel that for PRDN etc...(6times?)?

The issue is that i dropped in a new 350 and it won't start. I believe that it is allcorrect and that it wont start because the tranny is not in Park or Neutral. I was going to disconnect the neutral safety switch....how bad is it for a tranny if it were to start in a gear...?

 

wouldn't hurt the tranny at all. just make sure your foot is on the brakes...hard!

why don't you just disconnect the cable and move the lever all the way in one direction by hand and see if it was even moved all the way with the cable hooked up?