Tonight on the way home as I got on the highway I noticed the tranny would not kick down. I tried several times on the drive home and no matter how hard I stood on it it would not kick down. When I got home I checked the kick down cable and the plastic clip on the end of the cable has broken. It just split apart. It only lasted 222,890 miles.

My question is how do I replace that thing? I have a 1986 Camino. I did swap the factory carb with a throttle body fuel injection but the connections for the throttle, cruise and kickdown are all just stock carb parts.

I am feel sure that I am not the first person that had the kick down cable end break. Where can I find a replacement clip without replacing the entire cable? Any suggestions?

Interesting problem - different. Me? I would look in the local yellow pages and start with the salvage yards. Tell them what you are looking for. If you find a unit, go take a look at it and try to determine if you must use the entire cable or just the end. If you get an answer that the yard does not have a cable, ask them if they know of a source and also ask them if they know if the entire cable must be replaced.

Just go buy a new one, they're only like 28 bucks from a Chevy dealer. As for being hard to replace, they can be. A lift makes things really easy.

I am very sure that the clip you seek was used on innumerable GM vehicles in the 80's and 90's and should be easy to find at a pick n' pull type salvage yard for next to nothing, or free if your yard operator is as cool as mine is, he's always giving me free stuff. :P

My suggestion too though would be pretty much just get the whole new cable, like someone already said, it's $30 or so. It's probably not a bad idea to replace the whole cable anyhoo, it wouldn't hurt anything, I've seen a few cables that have completely broken from wear. I've done one on a 700R4 it's really not too hard, but it was an S10 with a 3" body lift, It might be a little more cramped between the tranny and body on your Elky, but it's still not a tough job.

That is kinda what I expected. I ordered a cable from my local dealer today.

Just another project for the weekend.

If anyone is interested here is my very simple web page.

A few pictures of my 86 Camino. (http://members.cox.net/carrera911/)

I bought a cable from the dealer and decided that for now to try something easier. It looks like a pain to install the cable so I went to NAPA and looked around. I found a clip that was a super easy to install. I just slipped the clip on the cable and put on a cable clamp to keep it in place. It was a 10 minute fix. I will keep the cable and replace it, if and when the transmission is ever repaired. Here is a picture of the clip, and one picture that shows the difference between the factory cable and the replacement.

http://members.cox.net/carrera911/clip6.jpg
http://members.cox.net/carrera911/clip4.jpg

Would you have a part number still for this item?

Autozone has them too part #41020