Shift kits-are they necessary, better?
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TECH Apprentice
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: Wichita, Ks.
Shift kits-are they necessary, better? This is for all the builders and tranny gurus.
There are alot of threads discussing "shift kits". Questions such as: which one is best?, will it firm up my shifting? do I need to "touch up" the rest of my tranny when installed?. I know there are different philosophies concerning builds, kits and performance when it comes to aftermarket parts and tranny builds. So I would like to hear different opinions.
Recently I had a performance built tranny failure just minutes on the road after my initial dyno tune. I had a local tranny guru rebuild it. He installed a TransGo shift kit in replacement of a "just a drilled plate". The tranny works well now, even with an increase in horsepower to the wheels. Shifts firm and responsive. I would like to hear opinions on shift kits vs. "just drilled plates". Thanks.
There are alot of threads discussing "shift kits". Questions such as: which one is best?, will it firm up my shifting? do I need to "touch up" the rest of my tranny when installed?. I know there are different philosophies concerning builds, kits and performance when it comes to aftermarket parts and tranny builds. So I would like to hear different opinions.
Recently I had a performance built tranny failure just minutes on the road after my initial dyno tune. I had a local tranny guru rebuild it. He installed a TransGo shift kit in replacement of a "just a drilled plate". The tranny works well now, even with an increase in horsepower to the wheels. Shifts firm and responsive. I would like to hear opinions on shift kits vs. "just drilled plates". Thanks.
Some builders use there own version of a shift kit they have worked through and by the way our kit is a bit more involved than just drilling holes. But it is ours and people seem to like it very much. Different builders have different philosophies on this. One will swear by the Transgo, Another uses a modified version using only parts of the kit, Another will use some other then I can show you well known builders who will tell you Transgo is the worst thing you can do. Then I know well known builders who will tell if you really know the trans you can make it do whatever you want it to without buying and aftermarket shift kit. It all come down to builder preference,.
Now I have been hesitant to go into this as we have not decided what to do here but because of these post where as mentioned you say you have our trans to recently fail just minutes into the dyno run I am going to,
First the trans was bought in 2006. You contacted me and said you were having a shifting issue but thought it was tuning with the controller you were using , I never heard back from you after that until around a month ago when you sent me a PM saying that you decided not to use our warranty and had a local builder do the trans instead. Because you didn't have time to send it back however if you had we likely would have just swapped the unit anyway in your special case and that he had determined that the cause of the issue was the billet servo was stuck? And that this was a common issue with billet servos? He also elected to change to different type clutches "AGAIN PREFERENCE" You did send the servo to us and we found no issue with it. Of course its just a piece of billet aluminum . You have ask us for some sort of compensation but will not specify what you want though you have been ask repeatedly.
IMO your post since they only come up are and attempt to make our build look inferior in order to get us to do something, But I don't know what we should do .
1-You didn't contact us concerning any warranty work.
2- The trans was purchased in 2006
3-We were never given any opportunity to make any repair or even a diagnosis
4-And even though it has not been ruled out as a possibility you will not answer the question of what it is you want.
You say each time you make a post that its only to get opinions but you make a point to say its was our trans ETC so obviously you have some agenda otherwise there would be no point in that.
So I have ask in PM what you want or would do if you were in our shoes and all i get back is that whatever we do will be shown in your post, I have also ask other vendors from this site and others and explained the whole situation and gotten there opinions but to date I have gotten no answer from you.
Fact is yes something didn't go well with your trans, What we will never know, Its not because it had and INFERIOR after market servo in it . It was NOT because we use our own well tested version of a shift kit.
The Level 2 build your exact build is in approx 500 cars and loved by many, Its in a trans am that runs 10.23 an has run close to 300 passes and never missed a beat and many car approaching 600 rwhp so I don't think the build can be considered inferior in any way.
You apparently did have some sort of problem , I doubt seriously it was the servo getting stuck But we shall never really know.
The question here is what should any company do when contacted about a trans they sold in 2006 that the customer never gave any opportunity for then to repair or even diagnosis and the pops up in mid 2008 asking for compensation after they had someone else build it. Thats the real question here IMO, rather than how we or anyone else does there shift kits. So I ask again in public forum what would you do? and What do you think we should do, And do you think its fair to make IMO misleading post without telling the whole story
Frank at PerformaBuilt
Now I have been hesitant to go into this as we have not decided what to do here but because of these post where as mentioned you say you have our trans to recently fail just minutes into the dyno run I am going to,
First the trans was bought in 2006. You contacted me and said you were having a shifting issue but thought it was tuning with the controller you were using , I never heard back from you after that until around a month ago when you sent me a PM saying that you decided not to use our warranty and had a local builder do the trans instead. Because you didn't have time to send it back however if you had we likely would have just swapped the unit anyway in your special case and that he had determined that the cause of the issue was the billet servo was stuck? And that this was a common issue with billet servos? He also elected to change to different type clutches "AGAIN PREFERENCE" You did send the servo to us and we found no issue with it. Of course its just a piece of billet aluminum . You have ask us for some sort of compensation but will not specify what you want though you have been ask repeatedly.
IMO your post since they only come up are and attempt to make our build look inferior in order to get us to do something, But I don't know what we should do .
1-You didn't contact us concerning any warranty work.
2- The trans was purchased in 2006
3-We were never given any opportunity to make any repair or even a diagnosis
4-And even though it has not been ruled out as a possibility you will not answer the question of what it is you want.
You say each time you make a post that its only to get opinions but you make a point to say its was our trans ETC so obviously you have some agenda otherwise there would be no point in that.
So I have ask in PM what you want or would do if you were in our shoes and all i get back is that whatever we do will be shown in your post, I have also ask other vendors from this site and others and explained the whole situation and gotten there opinions but to date I have gotten no answer from you.
Fact is yes something didn't go well with your trans, What we will never know, Its not because it had and INFERIOR after market servo in it . It was NOT because we use our own well tested version of a shift kit.
The Level 2 build your exact build is in approx 500 cars and loved by many, Its in a trans am that runs 10.23 an has run close to 300 passes and never missed a beat and many car approaching 600 rwhp so I don't think the build can be considered inferior in any way.
You apparently did have some sort of problem , I doubt seriously it was the servo getting stuck But we shall never really know.
The question here is what should any company do when contacted about a trans they sold in 2006 that the customer never gave any opportunity for then to repair or even diagnosis and the pops up in mid 2008 asking for compensation after they had someone else build it. Thats the real question here IMO, rather than how we or anyone else does there shift kits. So I ask again in public forum what would you do? and What do you think we should do, And do you think its fair to make IMO misleading post without telling the whole story
Frank at PerformaBuilt
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From: Wichita, Ks.
Wow. Frank I appreciate your opinion. I did not mention any builder by name to prevent any references to any particular build. I have not asked for any compensation, as a matter of fact, I explicitly stated I don't expect anything. I have never mentioned your product is inferior, I know some members of this forum have great loyalty toward your product and they work well. It didn't in my case, that is all I have ever stated. I did void the warranty by having another local tranny builder rebuild it, and not send it back, that is fact. Like I have mentioned in the past what you do is up to you.
I am not a tranny builder and don't profess to be one, but I wish to know more. I just state the facts of my situation to obtain opinions on different perfomance parts, builds and styles. These forums are for information, education and to share experiences. We are all passionate about our hobby.
I am not a tranny builder and don't profess to be one, but I wish to know more. I just state the facts of my situation to obtain opinions on different perfomance parts, builds and styles. These forums are for information, education and to share experiences. We are all passionate about our hobby.
Its ok I just wanted it out in the open. And you say you don't expect anything and that you know you have no claim to warranty. But to me this is confusing since at the same time you say we what we do is up to us and will be reflected in your post both here and on other forums. But when you place just "holes drilled in plate" and that you got a "performance built" Unit that failed nearly near instantly and at the same time you do have post in other places that can be searched and easily determined as ours. The wording could and would be by me interpreted in a manor as saying the way we do things is inferior because we don't use a prepackaged shift kit. But of note most shift kits out there are nothing more than a prepackaged version of someones shift kit they did on there own at some time. I wasn't trying to be rude or start any issue, Just clearing the air.
Me I like and have had excellent luck with large billet servos, wide bands, Increase feed hole sizes , Leaving the accumulator system stock as a few builders I know of do even when using the transgo kit and As I have suggested to many people who have contacted be during the transgo install or after the install when things came out more aggressive than they were looking for or expected. don't get me wrong Transgo is and excellent prepackaged kit and I do suggest it when people are looking to get one, I also suggest some mods to it to make it in IMO more progressive as I don't care for hash shifts at all throttle openings.
If you ask and anyone takes time to answer you will find literally dozens of different opinions on shift kits of various types.and preference for the most part they are just multiple ways to get to the same end goal.
Now I will say with the billet servo we use for second the transgo kit again IMO is way to aggressive. I have used the TG kit before with super servos and even set at the lightest level its was too much for my taste.
A hard shift is not necessarily a good thing particularly when not needed in normal driving it places undue stress on hard parts beating n then to no good end, I see some people actually totally block the 1-2 accumulator IMO this is a very bad idea. Shifts need to be firm enough to minimize slip to prevent wear yet not so harsh as to risk breaking hard parts just driving around normally. Now I know that every builder on here has there own little tricks and even those who use the TG I am quiet sure have there own little tricks and changes to it to better suit there goal.Thats why the builders on here and myself do as well as we do anyone can read a book for the build and install a prepackaged shift kit just the way it comes out of the box but its unlikely they will get the results the professionals do regardless of the shift kit or even parts they use. There is far more to making a trans designed originally to live in a 350 HP environment mostly normal driving into a trans that can take 600 hp performance beat to hell driving. Like we and the other builders here do.
Me I like and have had excellent luck with large billet servos, wide bands, Increase feed hole sizes , Leaving the accumulator system stock as a few builders I know of do even when using the transgo kit and As I have suggested to many people who have contacted be during the transgo install or after the install when things came out more aggressive than they were looking for or expected. don't get me wrong Transgo is and excellent prepackaged kit and I do suggest it when people are looking to get one, I also suggest some mods to it to make it in IMO more progressive as I don't care for hash shifts at all throttle openings.
If you ask and anyone takes time to answer you will find literally dozens of different opinions on shift kits of various types.and preference for the most part they are just multiple ways to get to the same end goal.
Now I will say with the billet servo we use for second the transgo kit again IMO is way to aggressive. I have used the TG kit before with super servos and even set at the lightest level its was too much for my taste.
A hard shift is not necessarily a good thing particularly when not needed in normal driving it places undue stress on hard parts beating n then to no good end, I see some people actually totally block the 1-2 accumulator IMO this is a very bad idea. Shifts need to be firm enough to minimize slip to prevent wear yet not so harsh as to risk breaking hard parts just driving around normally. Now I know that every builder on here has there own little tricks and even those who use the TG I am quiet sure have there own little tricks and changes to it to better suit there goal.Thats why the builders on here and myself do as well as we do anyone can read a book for the build and install a prepackaged shift kit just the way it comes out of the box but its unlikely they will get the results the professionals do regardless of the shift kit or even parts they use. There is far more to making a trans designed originally to live in a 350 HP environment mostly normal driving into a trans that can take 600 hp performance beat to hell driving. Like we and the other builders here do.
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From: Wichita KS / Rancho San Diego
Uh ... I for one never would have translated "performance built tranny" to "performabuilt" ...
The Transgo contains a lot besides the instructions on drilling the plate - revised TCC valve, boost valve, stiffer pump spring for better high rpm oiling, and various other pieces to improve performance. If installed thoughtfully - and yes, each builder seems to have his own favorite tweaks to the kit - it really does a lot for the tranny. Definitely one of my favorite mods to my car - wouldn't drive an A4 without one.
Out of curiosity, who was the local guy who did your rebuild?
The Transgo contains a lot besides the instructions on drilling the plate - revised TCC valve, boost valve, stiffer pump spring for better high rpm oiling, and various other pieces to improve performance. If installed thoughtfully - and yes, each builder seems to have his own favorite tweaks to the kit - it really does a lot for the tranny. Definitely one of my favorite mods to my car - wouldn't drive an A4 without one.
Out of curiosity, who was the local guy who did your rebuild?
We use the sonnax pump slide spring in most of our builds and eliminate the function of I believe what your referring to as the TCC valve which is actually the TCC REGULATOR valve (PWM) But agreed it is and excellent prepackaged kit possibly the best on the market IMO.
As for the translation of performabuilt and performance built tranny I was actually referring to other previous post.
As for the translation of performabuilt and performance built tranny I was actually referring to other previous post.
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From: Wichita, Ks.
Ken at Gillette Transmission worked exclusively on my tranny. Very thorough, and informative. I see you are from the same city- Wichita. nice stable of cars in your sig.
I just finished replacing the headers on this build and having it tuned by Chris at Wichita Dyno. It is a 69 Camaro vert LS7. Going to be at Automobilia July 12. Stop by if around. happy to chat with other local LSx enthusiasts.
I just finished replacing the headers on this build and having it tuned by Chris at Wichita Dyno. It is a 69 Camaro vert LS7. Going to be at Automobilia July 12. Stop by if around. happy to chat with other local LSx enthusiasts.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Wichita KS / Rancho San Diego
I'm going to be a little busy that day but I hope to get down there for a while. I'll look for your car. I've never heard of Ken, but would like to know more about his operation. A lot of people have claimed great experiences with Chris at Wichita Dyno. A friend used him and I was unimpressed with his tuning for the money. If we get the chance, we can talk about it ... I'm always ready to hook up with LSx guys and learn from their experiences.
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From: Wichita, Ks.
Great, I initially had my tune done by Ed Wright in Tulsa, Ok. He was recommended to me by others on the Kansas F Body forum. he has been tuning cars for many many years, and is considered one of the top Mid-West tuners. If you can make it to Automobilia my car is a 69 SS/RS Camaro vert. hugger orange with black Z stripes, black int. From the number of posts you have I would definitely like to chat up your experience. thanks
