TH350 Governor/Shift weights

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by JP1738

Hello all. As most know, I burned up the first turbo 350 I had for my M/SA Malibu wagon. Since then, I bought another to get back going for a really good deal with the agreement that I'd give the burned up one back to the guy who sold me the new one. Anyway, that's not important.

The new trans has a built-in auto 1-2 which is really handy for my combo given that first gear has a 2.74 ratio and comes on very quick. I like using the auto 1-2 but the shift is way late. According to my motor man (Mark Lewis) I need to be hitting the 1-2 somewhere in the neighborhood of 6000-6200, but the auto 1-2 has it shifting at 6700. It's definitely slowing the car down shifting so late. From what I understand, I can adjust the governor on the side of the trans to get the shift in sooner. I've found some spring and weight kits on summit that I think would help me adjust it to where it needs to be.

Does anyone have any good resources on what combo of springs and weights would get me close to my desired shift point? I'm sure that all transmissions and valve bodies are not created equal, so I don't know if what works for one guy will work for another, I'd just like somebody to ball park it for me so maybe I don't have to have it apart 89 times trying every combination. I don't know what the trans has in it at the moment, hoping to get it apart and examined tonight. Maybe there's a chart somewhere that shows what weights/springs get you what shift point, or maybe there's a particular governor kit I need that a stock one won't suffice. Honestly I do not know but hoping to learn. If anybody can point me in the right direction, that'd be great.

On 350's . I'd probably put the two heaviest stock springs you can find in it and see what happens. If too low, take one heavy spring out and replace it with one soft one.
Sometimes I would trim a weight or add a bit of weld to one or two.
400 springs and weights are the same, but not the whole governor. The top and drive gears are different.

[FED 387]

i would find a STOCK gov put it in see what happens since you don't know what you have in there now- then depending on what the results are you can play with springs and or weights to achieve your goal--- also make sure the spool valve moves freely and the valve passages the valve and the governor body are CLEAN also-FED 387

[Bob F]

Question for the 1/2 auto shift guys.
When using this function do you start your burnout in 1st and it shifts itself at gov speed or can it be shifted earlier manually?

[Jim Cimarolli]

Originally Posted by Bob F

Question for the 1/2 auto shift guys.
When using this function do you start your burnout in 1st and it shifts itself at gov speed or can it be shifted earlier manually?

I always started in 1st and shifted it manually in the burnout, that way you can get it out of low gear without having to go to the shift point.

[JP1738]

Got the governor out of the car last night, it currently has a #2 weight along with another that is not stamped with any marking. Had an orange spring on the #2 and a green spring on the unmarked weight. See images.

[Eman]

Just me but I would have obtained a couple of governors to experiment with and left that one alone and tag it with it's shift points.
Someone asked about a burnout with the auto shift. When I ran a T350 I never came out of a burnout in 2nd as that shocks the weak link in a T350, the intermediate overrun sprag on the direct drum.

[Mark Yacavone]

In your case, I'd probably put a full , unmodified weight in there to match the other one, and try that first.

[DanBar]

Maybe this will help, according to my B&M instruction sheet the weights go from 1 to 6. 1 being the heaviest 6 being the lightest. the springs go purple blue green yellow orange red in that order. purple is the stiffest spring and red is the lightest.
First gear late shift excessively light spring on weight.
High gear to soon excessively heavy weight.
the plain steel unmarked spring looks like a stock factory weight. Dan

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by DanBar

Maybe this will help, according to my B&M instruction sheet the weights go from 1 to 6. 1 being the heaviest 6 being the lightest. the springs go purple blue green yellow orange red in that order. purple is the stiffest spring and red is the lightest.
First gear late shift excessively light spring on weight.
High gear to soon excessively heavy weight.
the plain steel unmarked spring looks like a stock factory weight. Dan

Could you post the sheet B&M sends with the kit? I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I think I'll do what Mark suggested and just put a heavier or stock weight in it and see. Might have to grab a lighter spring too

[DanBar]

Originally Posted by JP1738

Could you post the sheet B&M sends with the kit? I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I think I'll do what Mark suggested and just put a heavier or stock weight in it and see. Might have to grab a lighter spring too

I tried to last night but the file format of my laptop or whatever is to large to upload to this site. The instruction don't go into much more detail other than if it shifts to early go to lighter weights and/or springs if it shifts to late go to heavier weights and or springs. The stock weights and springs on the governor will shift around 4200-4300 rpm this was a safety factor is if the unaware driver left the shift lever in 1st or low it would automatically fail safe shift before the redline of the stock engine so they didn't have loads of warranty replacement engines. Shift kits were developed to bypass this safety so you could hold any gear till you manually moved the lever . I tried weighing a few spare weighs I have from my kit to give you an idea of what they are put my 14 year old grams scale is DOA .