Camaro Firebird Owners Club of Australia

How to change the automatic shift cable on transmission

1. Under most Holden's ( and even Fords ) you will usually find a rod which links the T-bar selector in your centre consul to the side of the transmission housing . Not so on Camaro's using a TH350, TH400 or even a TH700 . They all use a cable , and like most cables they fray and stretch , plus generally snap .

2. This is one of those jobs you need to be both under and inside the car ( a caring other half makes some tasks easier ) .
New cable comes greased , but never hurts to add more prior in installation .
Safety first , place front end of car on ramps and chock wheels so there wont be a need to call ambulance later .

3. Remove centre consul , keep digging until you finally find the gear selector and other mechanisms . On the right hand side of gearshift you will find the inhibitor switch ( stops you starting your beast in gear and driving through garage door ) , this may need moving out of way to allow access to auto shift cable .

4. The end of cable is held in place by a split pin , once removed store and save small pin . Slide out locking tab which holds outer cable to the transmission tunnel , large screw driver to lever clip out helps here , again save clip . Finally remove small screws ( X 2 ) that hold the rubber gasket and supporting plate in position .

5. Now comes the fun stuff , under the car . Best done with a good piece of carpet to lay on . Slide along until you find where auto shift cable hooks up with transmission .Another split pin needs to be removed to free inner cable , as well as another clip to slide out to release outer cable from bracket attached to sump pan.

6. Now comes the part where you need to be very pleasant to your better half , who you recently offered to make a cup of tea and do the dishes tonight . The reason ….will it's a lot easier to remove old cable , and feed in new cable with one person in the car , and you underneath .Cable can come out either way , to avoid a hassle with getting the rubber gasket through hole , pull out and insert new cable through from inside the car .

7. Replace new cable the same way the old one was mounted with a new split pin . If you have moved selector or gear shift lever , make sure all are in " Park " , then cable ends should line up with original positions

8. Fear not you're nearly done , once a everything is done up underneath , you can slide out from under car and repeatedly thank your assistant for helping . Replace clip on outer cable to lock into place using small taps . Reposition rubber gasket and hold down using plate with 2 small screws , and yes I know its hard to find them when dropped .

9. Re-install pin with new split pin on inner end of cable to gear shift mechanism , and with luck all should line up . Move selector forwards and backwards to check detent points still line up , and don't forget to put inhibitor switch back into operation .

10. If all has gone well , and you didn't lose your temper or insult you better half , check operation of cable with car started and your foot firmly applied to brake pedal before putting centre consul back together . If it doesn't work and you did scream at your other half now is a good time to think about adding a blanket to that carpet and making a comfortable bed , while under there you can allow adjustment on the trunnion ( Z shaped bracket that inner cable attaches to ) using a 9/16 spanner to release , this will give you 10mm movement either way