i want to rebuild my trans 700r4 and install a shift kit into it. the problem im running into is idk what to get. i want it when it shifts that you will know it(break lose) but i dont want to hurt anything in the process. id love for it to be one hell of a shift (as a joke i tell people itll give you whip lash for the shift). any one know what kinda kit to go with. i want it to get the rebuild kit to upgrade the gears, clutches and what not in it so they are better and wont snap like my other ones did.

any one have any ideas on what to buy?

 

You could just get a shift kit, but your best bet would be to go to a transmission shop and ask what could be done. I would also search around here because there is some great info about shiftkits

 

You have a common idea of what you want in a shift kit...But the reality is what you're describing is something that you will get tired of fast. I used to have an IROC with the B&M kit in it. It was a HARD 1-2 shift and fairly hard 2-3 shift. It also got very annoying as a daily driver. Particularly in stop and go traffic when you got that BAM shift going into 2nd gear all the time. I was your average early 20's male who liked a hard shift too.

The common thought on B&M's is that they don't last. Because they simply jack up the line pressure. I only had the IROC for about a year or so.

The TransGo shift kits are the better kit. But even they have a lot of different options. The amount of washers used (1, 2, or 3). 1 being for towing, 2 being for street/strip. 3 being for full out race car only use. There are also options for "normal", "firmer" and "firmest" with the TransGo shift kits.

I went with the "modified" TransGo shift kit that Pro Built Automatics sells. They're a combination of two different TransGo kits combined into one with extra parts and with custom instructions (drill here, don't drill there, do this only if you have that. Some things are circled. Other things are crossed out).

To give you an idea of how they work. They use 0 washers instead of the normal 1 or 2 washers that purchasers of a regular TransGo shift kit would use. They also use the normal option and only recommend using the "firmer" drill size if you have an aftermarket 9.5" torque converter. While this may sound tame compared to an off the shelf TransGo, the reality is that it's perfect. All the custom instructions and added parts in the kit control your shift quality in a much safer controlled way.

With the ProBuilt Automatics kit, your shift firmness is determined by throttle. Just idling around town, most people wouldn't even notice you have a shift kit. It's maybe 10-20% firmer than stock. Put your foot in it and shift at 3000 RPM and it's noticeable. Put your foot to the floor and you'll be spinning the tires on the shift. It's a faster firmer shift but not so much a harder shift. A better quality shift. Also, by simply pulling the shifter out of O/D and into Drive, it will shift harder going through 1, 2, 3 gears. Pulling it down to 2 and it will shift harder still going into 2nd. We're talking major chirp and shifting the car around type of shift. So honestly it's the best of all worlds. For casual driving around in O/D, it's a car that you will never get tired of driving. The more aggressive your driving, the more aggressive the shift will be. It's about 2 hours of shop labor to get it installed.

Now I had mine put in at "the" transmission shop in town. The one that does all the drag racing cars. I showed up with the TransGo box and they said that the "firmer" and "firmest" were more like "crazy" and "insane." And that they'd had numerous customers who would show up a week later and ask to have their transmission tamed down to something more streetable. These were the people who had the typical 2-3 washers and firm or firmest options. The shop thought my TransGo box was your typical off the shelf version. Not the modified version that Pro Built Automatics sells.

But I told them to simply put my kit in with all the custom instruction followed. They took the car out for a drive afterwords to test everything out and came back in with huge smiles. They were VERY intrigued by the way the car drove as well as all the custom stuff involved in the modified TransGo kit. They said it was perfect and the nicest driving TransGo car they'd done. That perfect blend of fast and quick without being obnoxious and stiff.

ProBuilt Automatics sells a few different versions of their modified TransGo kits for our cars. The Heavy Duty is for towing, ambulances, and vehicles like S-10 pickup trucks. The Street/Strip is for Corvettes and Camaros. Their Elite is for race only cars with mega power (think 500 HP).....I went with the Street/Strip. And have never looked back. If you do a search on TGO for Pro Built Automatics, you'll see nothing but happy customers.

To give an idea of how versatile it is, I took my Mom for a drive. She hates hard shifting cars (all women do). She thought it was perfectly fine. I then took my Dad out for a drive (an old school hot rodder who thinks there's no such thing as a car that shifts too fast/too hard). He also really liked the way the car shifted.

 

pro built for the win!

 

Thany You,
I am older but agree with what you said about driving a car with a very firm shift. I like how this kit you are talking about sounds. It would be the best of both worlds.

 

call danna (pretty sure that his name) at pro built, he is a great guy and will help you pick out just the right kit for your car. i think i spent over an hour on the phone with him before i placed my order.

 

yeah but my car isnt for every day driving its just for when i want to play around. with the kit ur talking about does it have a really hard shift? i understand what ur talking about when u drive it normally and that sounds good but when i want to do something in it say race or play around with my girl in the car will it shift hard as hell nd break traction on 1-2, 2-3? possibly 3-4?

 

When you want to shift hard, it will shift hard. Especially if you pull it down a gear on the shifter.

1-2 shifts are easy to break traction. It can give you quite the jolt if you want it to. The difference between this and the hard all the time kits out there is that it's optional. It only shifts hard when you want it to. Big difference.

2-3 will break traction if you have it floored (which you probably would if we're talking about breaking traction)

3-4 is not a shift I'd ever want to be loosing traction with (100+ mph). But even for moderate acceleration, like merging quickly into highway traffic. The 3-4 shift is still crisper than it ever was with the stock setup. The 3-4 shift is "faster" more than it is "harder." Snap your fingers and you're in 4th gear. There isn't that clutch slipping feeling of the 3-4 shift that comes with the stock transmission.