I got my shift kit installed yesterday and man, what a huge difference that thing made. It fixed every issue that I was having with the trans. Slow 1-2 shift, slipping 1-2 shift, slow 3-2 downshift, slow second gear downshift on the freeway from fourth, slow annoying torque converter lockup, slow torque converter unlock.

Every single one of those problems went away. I know of some that say you don't need a trans go for any reason, just fix it all with tuning is all you have to do. Well, I can tell you that they would change thier tune if they rode in my car before and after the shift kit install.

It took me about 4.5 hours to do, which included a break for lunch. I didn't think the install was that bad. My biggest complaint was that the instructions are kinda leaving a bit to be desired, but if you just make sure to put it together exactly how it is shown it'll be OK.

As soon as we got my car done, we took it off the jack and put my buddies 00 T/A in the air and we replaced his clutch, slave and Master. We put in a few hours working on the old LS1s yesterday

Later,
Jordan

 

Congrats on the install! I put a shift kit in my old 94 Z-28 back in 1996. It was a night and day difference on how well the tranny worked.

 

Does a shift kit improve or decrease the life of the transmission?

 

IMO it for sure increases the life of the trans. I don't think the clutches would have lasted too long slipping the way they were on the gear changes. Also, the 2nd gear band gets more force applied to it to engage 2nd gear, which keeps the band from slipping.

 

I also just got the TransGo installed in my trans, and it's awesome.
You're right, every problem I noticed before is now history, and the shifts are hard and instant.
Definitely worth the money!

 

Jorday, congrats on eliminating your issues. You mentioned slippling and other issues, were they bad enough to give you the impression the tranny was bad?

 

from what i hear,
there are three setting on the transgo..

what setting is everyone here using?
i just got a stall..
i think i am going to call back up and order a trans cooler and shift kit

=D

 

I've had a transgo for months now, and I still haven't installed it. I'm scared to do it. The instructions suck. Go figure I'm not affraid to take my engine apart and swap cams, but I'm scared of the tranny. Anybody in the Houston area want to help me out with the install?

 

I installed a couple years ago. It helped to have the service manual with good pictures and labels to assist. DONT LOOSE ANY ***** or BREAK THE LITTLE SCREEN! I got Trans-go 4L60E-3 It was supposed to make it full manual, but all the solenoids still work
I just had it at the tranny shop for a flush and to reconnect the PC solenoid. With the PC sol. connected the tranny locked up. The expert figured full pump pressure was now neccessary to release the bands. It acted like it was engaged in both foward and reverse at the same time.
Also, tranny guy figured I'd be breaking the sun gear shell in half with the HARD shifts. He claimed it was the common weak link in the 60. The aftermarket one is way tougher. I'm nice to the tranny for the most part so everything is still hanging in there. Stock 99 5.3

 

Mine is installed 2-washer. Perfect mix for street/strip.
I got it at the same time as my converter... and afterwards I was reading in the Precision Industries installation manual, and it says for the 4L60E "TransGo shift kit is highly recommended". So I'm glad I got it!

 

i like what i'm hearing. i have a Trans Go but haven't installed it yet. i watched the instruction vid and looked at the printed directions and im so paranoid of messing something up that i'll probably take it to a tranny place and have the set it up.

 

Here's my thoughts on the install.

If you can do a cam swap on your LS1 the shift kit will be no problem for you. When I started the job I was thinking great, this is really gonna suck. Don't worry about the check ball thing. When you take them out of the valve body it is totally obvious where they all go. I put all them back without even looking at the diagram. Just don't loose them and you'll be fine. I had to remove the cross member to lower the trans enough to work on the 1-2 piston on the side of the trans. There was not enough room without lowering the trans. You probably will see what I mean when you do the install.

I put up a post a while ago about my converter clutch squealing when it locks up. Just the first instant when it starts to lock up the converter will give off a little chirp noise. The aftermarket pulse valve in the trans go kit corrected this problem. It locks the converter up really fast and the clutch just grabs quick and doesn't make that noise anymore. I think the pro thruster has a kevlar clutch, either that or carbon, trans go says the new pulse valve allows the use of any kind of converter clutch material.

I talked with trans go about what setting to use on the 1-2 shift firmness. The guy said that with a real big converter like mine use the highest setting. He also warned not to expect neck snapping shifts with a converter that big, which I already knew that anyway. The looseness of my converter absorbs most of the shock of the hard shifts. The shifts happen really fast with the shift kit, but you can't feel them too much because of the converter. You can tell its shifting really quick because on the gear changes you can tell the engine instantly changes speed on the shifts. Anyway, definitely use the highest setting if you have a big converter. The guy at trans go told me to go out and buy a converter that's really nice and tight with low stall speeds and then I'll really have some hard shifts...I was like "ummm, no thanks." I don't think I'll be swapping back to the stock converter just so I can rattle some teeth on the gear changes.

I'm surprised that mike at yank doesn't recommend a shift kit with his converters cause it really helps a lot.

I didn't think that my trans was bad because the slipping was there, it was just having trouble shifting with all the extra power over stock.

Octane,
I have a couple questions about your vig 3200. how is that as far as being loose around town? What's the shift extention RPM on that converter?

Later,
Jordan

 

As far as being loose, well, it's not too bad really. It takes more RPMs to get the car moving, but throttle response seems better, so it doesn't seem to take any more pedal.
I've only got 2.73 gears, and I don't mind the added looseness at all.
But keep in mind that my setup is a Vig3200 combined with a TransGo shift kit (2-washer).

As for shift extension... I have no idea what that is, sorry. Could you explain that? I saw that Yank lists shift extension RPMs for some of its converters, but Vigilante doesn't list that.

 

Congrats on the converter Octane. Have you taken it to the track yet? You are gonna kill those Nitto's now! How come you only went with 2 washers. With the 3200 you need all three. It still has to be night and day though. Get ready for some 1.6 short times and low et's.

 

What I meant was, what RPM does the engine does the engine drop to on the gear changes? With my PT4200, the engine speed drops to about 5700 RPM on the gear changes. I was told that on a N/A heads/cam car your looseing ET if the shift extention speed is below 5000 rpm. When I ordered my converter Mike at Yank told me SS3800 converter would produce great 60 foot times, it would not produce the same ETs due to only having a shift extention soeed of around 4900 RPM or so. I was just kinda curiuos what your thoughts on your converter were. I wonder a lot about parts I could have had instead of the ones I bought.

 

Darknight...
Thanks man, haven't been to the track yet, but I got a SERIOUS itch to go! Tonite was my plan, but it frickin rained. I'm goin to SCC at 41 on Friday the 18th, but I'd like to get some times in before that.

Jorday...
OK, I see what you mean now. I really can't answer yet becasue like I just said, I haven't been to the track yet with it. It'll be interesting to find out though. It'll also be nice to find out how hard & quick the shifts are at WOT.

 

hey jordan i have a quik ? for you. When drilling the holes in the separator plate on 1-2 shift did you go with the .082 drill bit or the .093 drill bit for full race & hi-stall conv.
and on the 2-3 shift did you use .093 or .101 for hi-stall conv. or full race

 

.093 and .101 are what we used on Jordans and then on another one I just did. The 1-2 in the truck I just worked on is a stiff bitch. I would use those drill sizes and then dont install ANY shims in the 2nd gear accumulator, or the shifts will be too stiff.

 

i have a high stall conv. it's a vig 3600. so i sould be able to do the shims right?

 

My understanding is, to make it fully manual, you also have to put in the Vacuum Regulator kit.