Is my Lokar kickdown right?

I have a Lokar with the braided stainless sleeve. When you pull the throttle and the cable moves, the braided sleeve bunches up. I was told by a mechanic that the sleeve should not bunch up and instead the cable should slide freely and not pull the outer covering. He thinks the cable is binding up inside. I just got it only about 2 months ago.

My issue overall is that the shift point from 2nd to 3rd at wide open throttle is very late, like 4000 rpm.

Non wide open throttle the shift is at 3400 rpm.

I think I also have an ignition issue too.

It starts cold and hot fine.
But at 4000 rpm the tach needle starts shaking and the car shudders a bit and seems to detonate in the header/front exhaust.

I am told I need a new cable, preferably the black kind with the rigid outer sleeve and a MSN ignition system, to solve my spare issue at high rpm.

Any alternate opinions?