1965 Bonne 389 TH400 Kickdown Switch

[60spontiacs]

When I had the engine and tranny out for rebuild, the kickdown switch didn't get reinstalled. It appears that it originally was located on a bracket at the carb.

I have seen elsewhere that to install one at the gas pedal is a better setup (possibly from a 1967)? But there is not a handy bracket available I'm told. I'm not sure if that switch itself is better or easier to acquire.

So what I have is a modulator in the TH400 which has one black/orange wire coming out, then I have two bayonette connectors up by the carb being black/orange which I expect would have plugged into the switch. Can I get a switch & bracket for the carb and then just plug it in - seems easiest - except I haven't seen anything readily available.

[Larry]

It appears that the carb switch is available from a number of places (when Google searching), however, almost any plunger-type switch should work. Just be sure it is a normally open at rest switch and not just backwards like a brake light switch. Almost any switch like this should work.

As for a bracket, that should be quite easy to fab yourself. Try some aluminum flat stock like at Home Depot. Very easy to work with, and still strong. The switch "nose" is threaded so you can adjust quite a bit by it alone. See this photo of a Firebird switch installation. Probably similar to what you would need to make.

I see a lot of suggestions to go to the gas pedal mounted switch like on my '69 A-body, but why go through all that trouble? You can also check with LOKAR as they make a lot of aftermarket kits for things like this.

To test your wiring, not quite sure if you mean you have two wires (one black and the other orange) or one wire that is black with an orange stripe. Will assume two wires. If so, one at the carb must be power. Try a test lite to ground to find which one. The other is probably ground. To test power to the trans connection I would jumper the two at the carb and then test for power to one of the leads at the trans. It's a pretty simple system.

Don't forget to check our Automatic Transmission Tech Advisor too.