Need help with 82 camaro
 

I recently bought the 82 Indy 500 pace car edition camaro. It has a 3 speed automatic tranny and I'm having problems with it. It shifts fine but when I'm in 3rd gear the rpms are too high so I cant do more than 50 mph without having high rpms. Not sure what is wrong. Any one know what might be wrong? Thanks

It might not be a problem at all, but possibly a previous owner could have installed lower gears in the rear. How many rpm's are you considering "too high"? I have 4:10 rear gears, and at 50 mph, the engine is a little over 2500 rpm's. If your engine is racing well beyond that, you may have a slipping transmission problem.

or it could be like the original tach whic was still in the car when i bought it. if even blipped the throttle it redlined and idled at 2500

I picked up another tach on line and it showed the idle correctly but at 65 mph it showed 4k rpm's with the 700r4 and 2.73:1's

attach a timing light with tach and verify. THe probe wire should be long enough to hold out the window and view

oh, you're not looking to time it so plug #7 is ok to use for this purpose

I know way inaccurate tach issues is a pretty common thing with the later third gen's. Not surprisingly, my 91 read double of actual. Didn't know it was an issue way back in 82?

If i were to do 50mph the rpm gauge is reading close to 5000. Is there anyway to tell if the tranny is slipping before i bring it to a mechanic? It shifts fine just dosnt allow me to go very fast in 3rd gear.

I know not either. I'm simply sharing my experience and suggesting that the tach must be ruled out before panic ensues

ok. thanks for the help

Is it REALLY turning 5k? 5,000 RPM is screaming for a 350. Mine red lines somewhere 5400....you would know if its actual or not. I run 3.73'3 and at 75 MPH I turn about 3800-4000. Thats sometimes high enough to make me slow down and let it rest...

Where in NY are you? Im in the Syracuse area. If your close, Id be happy to take a look for you.

it seems like it needs another gear. not sure if it has overdrive or not? im in bay shore on long island

1) Make sure you can feel the transmission shifting 1-2-3.
2) Make sure the rpm's your gauge is showing is accurate, by hooking up an aftermarket tach, or a tuning tach.
3) Assume your transmission is either not shifting into third, or it's slipping.
4) Get #'s 1 & 2 out of the way before assuming it's #3.