Well, I have a TCI SSF 3500 & a B&M Tranny Cooler sitting under my bed, patiently waiting until I can afford to have them installed on my baby


Im curious as to if I should get a TransGo (or any other brand) shift kit...

The car is an 02 LS1, with lid and exhaust.

The reason Im making the post, is that I've heard a LOT of people say that shift kits will really reduce the life of your transmission, and that they hurt it a lot...

is this true, and can someone explain?

Also, should I get a transmission gauge or no?

 

Actually I think it is quite the opposite. Installing a shift kit will actually extend the life of a tranny. It reduces the wear on the clutches inside the transmission.

 

I have read the same thing,supposedly it extends the tranny life.Trans-go is the only quality brand name I have found so far,it is on my to-buy parts list .

 

before the transgo shift kit
i had a 3400/2.0 verter
and it made my shifts SLOPPY
on top of already being SLOW
and it would sometimes delay when shifting under WOT
then bang into gear
eventually i had to let up to get it to shift.
i had a delay-------BANG when going from reverse to drive

after the transgo shift kit and three washers (included!)
i get FAST HARD shifts that give me a boost when ive got decent tires
and chirps when i dont
no more delay when shifting under WOT,
no more delay/bang when moving from park, neutral or reverse to drive

its a must for ANY automatic, i think.
performance enthusiast or not.

as far as durability,
it might stress the drivetrain a little,
but nothing bad has happened.
i imagine the trans will probably last longer now that its not "riding the clutches" anymore.

 

ps: thanks to those that have chimed in, very helpful guys! <3

 

Hey Robbie, got your PM ... a lot of varying opinions about shift kits. The guys who installed my Yank told me it would not be productive to install a shift kit with tuning. All 4 of these guys have over 70 years experience as transmission specialists. They all agreed. It's all they've done for most of their lives. Too much line pressure and you'll blow your lines. If you plan on tuning (which you should IMO[knowing how your love your car]), I'd save that money ... to put into a good tune. Patience will be your friend. If you've forgotten how mine felt the day you rode in it, well, you need to take another ride with me ... a REAL ride ... not just up the road and back.

My shifts are set to medium+ line pressure and shift at EXACTLY 5850 rpm's each and every time ... consistently and precisely ... as fast and hard as a transmisison can safely stand. Now, if you DON'T plan on tuning, you're not going to get much performance out of your car, as opposed to the potential which is there right now. IMHO, a shift kit would be a waste of money, since I KNOW you will want tuning, eventually.

Is tuning a necessity for your car? Not with your current mods. Will tuning give you additional HP/TQ? Yes, quite a lot from the factory tune. It will allow you to set up your shift points and shift firmness to whatever you want them, eliminate the rev limiter, turn off whatever you need turned off, adjust your LTFT/RTFT trim tables, set your Air/Fuel ratio, plus you'll get 5/6 dyno pulls with a wideband sensor. There's much, MUCH more.

Later, when and if you do exhaust, your tuner should tweak the tune to adjust for that, or, any other internal engine mods you want to do, for a much cheaper tune than the first.

 

70 years experience? What are they 90 now?
You need a properly installed shift kit AND proper tuning. That means specific to your car.

About running too much pressure and blowing lines.....another rumor in my 'backyard, shadetree mechanic' opinion.
I've seen my 4L80E hit 500+ psi when the boost valve stuck, who knows how long it was running like that. It did break the reverse servo though. But the lines never leaked and I got lucky the pressure didn't break the case. A transmission guy showed me a case with a crack in the worm tracks from high line pressure.
BUT none of these are common problems with 4L60E's.

No offense JEB99TA, you give better advice than I can. I just have a different opinion on the shift kit.

 

Go for the trans go big kit....

Tom

 

these 90 year old guys need to check their facts. you can install a shift kit and not have it shift horribly firm (don't drill the holes out as much, only use one washer).

get the shift kit, you can't go wrong for 100$ (or less i forget), just because 2 "experts" say you shouldn't get it, well, look how many shift kits trans go sells (probably millions) and im sure all are satisfied customers. i know i am. so believe 2 " experts" or millions of people, your choice.

me and my mechanic (personal friend) used to argue points all of the time, then i would do it my way only to usually prove him wrong (but he was right a few times), he knows his **** with the older muscle cars, but he has actually learned alot from me who grew up with efi and ecu's instead of carbs and distributors.. put in the shift kit, adjust/delete torque management and show the old bastard how your car chirps the **** out of 2nd at wot and still shifts smooth at partial throttle. then ask again why shift kits suck.

 

I'm with sleeperstyle and jxaxsoxn - that's why I have a Transgo kit in my basement waiting to be installed with my TC. Trans experts correct me if I'm wrong, but the softer shifts after a TC install are caused by the smaller verter taking longer to build pressure and dropping it off more quickly. The shift kit will not cuase insanely high pressures, it will keep them where they need to be. Also, it will give a more positive TC clutch engagement, which will diminish the chance of chatter that people complain about.

 

I guess that I dont understand why they are opposed to shift kits.
(and again, no offense to you JEB)

I agree with you RevGTO

The point of a shift kit is to make the Trans shift more Solid, positive shifts.
The opposite would mean slow musshy shifts, where clutches and bands are slowly engaging...sanding themselves away over the years.
I would think that if you were to utilize a shift kit - A Proper kit for the Proper application, it would help the life of the trans.
Im a HUGE advocate of keeping things cool - but not too cool.

Remember, Transmissions need a little bit of heat for the fluid to quickly get through the valve body and passages - the faster the fluid gets through, the snappier and more efficient the shift (correct me if I am wrong).
TOO hot, then you start to heat age the parts/seals, and wear too quickly.
Find a cooler for your app, and go from there.

I'm not a big fan of TransGo. I had them in my 86 700R-4 with a 30 yr trans guy (with racing build background- 600+ runs on a trans he rebuilt), and installed the Transgo "Rockcrusher" kit. Slippity slop.
Im going to try a B&M in my pickup, as most of the guys at the track favor the B&M's over transgo, for reliability.

C

 

A point was brought up about a smaller converter. My recommendation to FLTRANSAM02 was based on him installing a not-so-small converter with a not-so-small STR rate. I do agree that a stock-to-small converter would pretty much require a Shift Kit to achieve good performance ... along with tunig, as well.

Gotta' disagree with you guys ... shift kit's a waste of money IMO IN THIS CASE ... not necessary, again, my opinion. He's installing a 3500 stall converter with 2.5 STR. Mine's a 3600 stall with 2.5 STR. It not only chirps, it spins the tires hard in 2nd with GS-D3's on the back corners with 4 grown adults in the car and I'm only shifting at 5800 rpm's. And it shifts smooth as silk when I'm cruisin' through town.

Explain how a shift kit would perform better than this. Robbie, come take another ride with me. Then post up what you think. As for extending the life of the transmisison overall, I don't buy it ... may save wear on the clutches, though ... don't really know.


'All 4 of these guys have over 70 years experience as transmission specialists'

jxaxsxoxn you misquoted what I said to humiliate me and to make me look foolish ... don't ever do that again. That was your point in your opening statement about me, was it not?

sleeperstyle go back and read the post ... you look pretty stupid backing up a smartass who misquoted me ... you were belittling me too, right?

 

Shift Kit ... just one more point of failure it not needed IMHO.

 

I'm kind of on the fence on this one. I have a Trans-Go
kit I've never installed (mainly not wanting to grind on
the spool valve thingy like they say it wants). There are
some aspects that seem sensible to me, like relieving
some of the hydraulic orifices to make it cycle faster /
cleaner with the same pressure, seems to me would be
a win - better operation without raising the line means
less stress and more efficiency. But I don't really favor
stacking up six washers just to shock the hell out of the
drivetrain.

I've been thinking more along the lines of the simple B&M
shift improver kits, though I haven't seen much on these
from people who've tried them. But my dealership mechanic
buddy seems to like them. Whether that's because they're
effective, or just easy, I am not quite sure

 

Yeah, installing a TransGo Kit seems like it puts 'M6-type' stress on the 10-bolt through the drivetrain ... no rearend pre-loading + power = faster breakage. Transgo Kits, IMO, are easier on the clutches, but, harder on the drivetrain. That was another thing the '90 YEAR-OLD' experts had brought up ... hehe!

In my opinion, it's a trade-off one-way-or-the-other ... any way you look at it. Some of that trade-off depends on the drivetrain components and the size/STR rate of the coverter that is being installed. My personal preference is to sorta' maintain the GM engineering ideology of the Auto transmission ... let the computer control the shifts the way it was designed to do.

 

ok- i did not mean to beliddle anybody, but look above and i think you look a little stupid. how does a shift kit affect your launch/pre-loading the drivetrain. if you mean you will break your rear on the 1-2 shift- well SIGN ME UP for that shift kit (not possible). i looked stupid, now you look stupid. it happens to the best of us- don't worry about it.

again- not meant to beliddle you at all, but look at my sig. it used to have my modifications, my track times etc... till i god "beliddled" and basically told my car should run better than it does. now my car is simply "slow".

honestly, i don't care if so-and-so puts a shift kit in their car or not, just trying to say I WOULD if i were in a similar situation. btw- i had a 3500 2.5str and now a 3800 2.5str,

 

sorry if this is slightly off topic but i have always wondered if the shift kits are supposed to actually improve performance (i.e. faster acceleration, 1/4 et's) or just kind of for show (chirping 2nd...etc..)?
plus, i have a friend with a shift kit and you can definitely feel a difference through shifting but it doesnt seem terribly faster. But i was just wondering, thanks guys.

 

Thanks for all your opinions. I spoke with Mike Norris of Next Level Performance and he said:

TheVetteDr (12:22:09 PM): shift kit cannot hurt, not a bad idea and yes tuning should be done also. Ask 10 people and get 10 different opinions at times.


Basicly going over what everybody in this thread had to say, different people, different answers...While it may not hurt, if it wont help, than its not worth spending the $150 on, so I need to figure out how much of a positive affect it really has....(150 may be pocket change to you all, but I'm 16, attending highschool 35 hours a week, and working 26 hours a week, money is very hard to come by)

1)Will tuning make up for a shift kit? (I thought with tuning, you could manually set your shifts in the ECU...)

2)How does a shift kit affect your daily driving instop/go and speed limit cruising.

3)I think that the people with minimal thinking capacity were able to understand that JEB99TA meant that the technicians combine had 70 years of experience in the field, I'm not real sure why "sleep" and "jx" tried to make those comments, but never-the-less thanks for the input you too.

4)Hey Jack, do you think youd ever let me drive your car? Just like cruise upto 711 or something, to see how it feels, if not I understand, just let me know bud.

 

Sleeper > the TransGo shift kit forces the transmission to do things it was not designed to do ... of course, a cam forces the engine to do things it was not designed to do. You could argue the TransGo issue for arguement's sake all day long. So, I'll admit we both are stupid. At least one of us admits to it. I'm sure we're both smart in a lot of area's, as well ... LOL!!!! No hard feelings.

Robbie, if you were 25, I'd absolutely not have a problem with you driving mine. The law requires driver's to be 25 or older if not specifically carried on the owner's insurance policy. Otherwise, I'd be glad to let you drive it. You should be knocking on the front door any minute now, so, I'll just let you be the judge if you want to spend the money for a kit.

 

No **** I get it......but why do they do this.
Do they have 15 people with 4 1/2 years? 10 with 7 years? or 2 with 35 years?
It's a bogus sales pitch that means nothing to me.

You can do all you want to the programming and you're not going to get the same fluid volume to where it needs to be, you can raise the pressures and it'll stuff as much it can through a small feed holes. But thats not going to be the most beneficial.
Do what you want.