It all started with calling on a 455 in craigslist for $150. He still had it and would take 100 instead since I was driving 200 miles to pick it up. I get there and we are talking buick stuff and he mentions switch pitch trans and goes into how he used to run them all the time. I asked him if he still had one. He said I thought i did but i cant find it. I said well i would love to find one. He said well i have th400 you can just have for free if you will take it off my hands, i dont know if it works or not. I said sure what the heck. He then said boy i sure wish i knew what i did with that SP trans because i know it worked when i pulled it. that was about 1.5 years ago and did not know how to id a SP. Well when talking to some people they said a SP will have two post on the side instead of just the one. I said well i have two post on the side of one of my trans. Then he said pull the pan to see if there are two wires inside instead on just one. So i did and it had two wires inside. so i look on hear how to ID a SP and it is much easier that pulling the pan and sure enough, that guy gave me a good SP trans for free. Cool beans:TU:
dont go by the two terminals on the side as some cars in the 70's had 2 terminals for emmissions controls..a sure fire way to tell a switch pitch is by the input shaft end of the trans. should be a thread in the tranny section on how to tell for sure.Bob http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=143723
My th400 has two pins on the driver's side electrical connection. One was for the kickdown and I thought the other for the TCS (?) that is up by the carb.
Best way is to pull the converter off and have a look at the input shaft. On the SP the stator splines are only 1/2" wide. The fixed pitch stator splines are 1" wide. Also the input shaft has a machined section with one or two stator oil feed holes. Two pins don't mean the trans is a switch pitch. In later years, the second connector was used for the Transmission controlled spark advance emissions system.
Trans. code? See if it has a metal tag on pass. side, if so there may be a code like BA that would help ID. I was under my car today(70GS455), and noticed it has two wires. Bert
All you have to do is look at the pictures in the first "Juice Box" post titled VP Converter Trans Visual Id Guide by Jim Weise to easily identify a VP trans.
Thanks guys. Before i started the thread i looked at that guide by Jim Weise, thats why i got so excited. Before i looked at the guide i thought no way that was a switch pitch. But thanks for the help:grin::beer
