Re: Ultramatic

Posted by Jim McDermaid On 2019/6/23 16:44:02

I drive my 54 Cavalier all the time and I have the non-gearstart Ultramatic.

I put the selector in "H" which is high gear and leave it there.The car has decent acceleration and at about 20 to 30 MPH (depending on how hard you push the accelerator) I feel the clutch lock up the torque converter. Feels almost like a gear shift but we know there is no shift.

I believe if you stomp the accelerator it will unlock and it feels like a passing gear.

I am told not to shift to low to race the Beemer next to you and then go back to High although we did that all the time in high school.

I am led to believe the torque converter did a little better ratio than modern converters so as not to require a low gear start.

So in high gear the car is always in direct drive.

Jim