So get this, iam at my local car meet yesterday and i was talking to someguy wiht a sick camaro, anyways he was giving me pointers on shifting with my automatic, cuz i told him that i woul leave it in D and just pin the gas, Dose this sound right if iam at a stop and i put it in 1 and then close to 5500RPM go to 2 and so on and so on, em i really suppose to do that, i thought i needed a second shift kit for that but iam not sure what iam suppose to be doing when i drag can someone help me out on this i dont want to try stupid **** and break things that i can't fix later. Thanks

 

Let the PCM shift the car.

 

Leave it in D or OD. You CANNOT shift faster than a computer.

 

leave it in drive. when shifting urshelf it takes to long for the next gear to engage. let the pcm shift the car......and hold on!!!!

 

like everyone says, leave it in 3/D (i don't like putting it in overdrive because you don't want to shift into 4th gear under heavy throttle - it's a common 4L60E breaking point).

if you want to shift it manually, get a manual valve body or a vacuum modulator - both of these turn the 4L60E into a "mechanical" trans - the PCM will no longer shift it for you.

 

What they said.

 

would it make a diff if he was racing from a roll

 

gotcha guys, thanks for the help, ill just stick to wat i was doing witch was pinning it all the way and holding on for my life,lol late...

 

The computer should not shift into OD until about 125 MPH (according to the stock shift tables on my 00 TA).

 

Yes, it would actually.

Because if you're at a certain speed, off the throttle, in 4th, and you punch the gas, it takes a second or two for the transmission to kick down and engage the lower gear ratio. In a race, the last thing you want is a delay

 

look man, it doesnt matter whether u manually shift it or not. the computer is still gonna shift when the parameters are met to shift. if youre at wot, and u manually shift your car at 4k rpms, do u think its gonna shift at 4k rpms at wot?? no sir. the computer doesnt listen to u. leave it in drive and go

 

Well with 3.23's, 3rd gear tops out at around 142MPH.

With 2.73's, it won't shift to 4th until 168MPH

I don't think a 6,000RPM shift into 4th would be very good at all anyhow.

 

No, it probably wouldn't. I guess it's just that regardless of D or OD on a track he won't shift into 4th at WOT. I used to drag my SS in OD, never had an issue with it.

 

dont manually shift an auto!! i just keep mines on OD at all times!!

 

I have tested the crap out of this. When from a 20-30 roll I have it in 1st and I jump on it and shift myself, when racing my buddy who leaves it in D, I rip him apart. When from a dig he has it in D and I have it in 1st it's a bit closer but I still take him. I am all about the manual shifting. I know you can't shift faster than the computer, but sometimes the computer take sa nice delay to downshift when you're cruising.

 

yah i ahve notice the deley on the computer but i have also notice that it pulls hard until i get to 3rd, iam just gonna stick to D and if i lose then thats it nothing i could do other then mod some more or swap a T-56 in there but then ill ahve to learn how to really shift good.

 

Leave it in 1st gear while launching. That way if you spin and have to let out of the pedal a bit, the computer won't screw you by shifting early into 2nd. Once you've launched and are moving, shift on up into drive. Problem solved.

Oh and I modified my shifter with a notch so when I go from 1st to D, it won't pass D unless I press the button.

 

just telling you, if you're cruising at 30 mph and throw it into first manually, that's possibly the WORST thing you can do to your transmission besides revving in neutral to the floor and dropping it in OD. manual downshifts DESTROY automatic transmissions. remember, there is NO torque management for downshifts, so if you're cruising at 1100 rpms at 30 mph and then jam it into 1, your engine and transmission goes from 1100 rpms jammed to ~4500 rpms in an instant, no cushion, no regulation, no torque management.

you may beat your buddy in the race, but his transmission's gonna long outlast yours if you keep doing that.

if you really want to race like that, put the transmission in 1 from a dead stop and drive up to 30 mph. yes, that's still not great for the motor and transmission to be holding the rpms that long, but it's better than what you're doing.

just some friendly advice. no race is worth winning at the expense of your transmission.

 

FLT told me my level 4 would handle that just fine.
Unless you really go over 125mph I wouldn't worry about going into 4th gear. For me OD will downshift a lot faster - going from 3rd gear gets me a big delay. Therefore the car stays in OD always. Plus it just feels a lot more solid. When I go WOT from 3rd gear, not only do I get a big delay, but something just doesn't feel right.
Actually, there are manual valve bodies that do not take away the transmissions ability to still shift itself when left in drive. And a vacuum modulator only deals with line pressure - it removes the PCM's control of line pressure and leaves it up to vacuum pressure only. It does nothing to the shifts.

 

Unless you put a manual valve body in your automatic, there is no reason to shift it by yourself