I have a back-halfed '82 Camaro that is used for street/strip duty. I would like to keep the trans fully automatic shifting for bracket racing and also due to the fact that I have a stock shifter and want to keep it. Would the stock, shift-kitted valve body be the weakest link in a 400? The car weights around 3100lbs and I would like to spray it into the 9's....


Thanks-

 

no

 

Why would you want to keep the stock sloppy shifter?

You can keep the stock valve body. What you do need though is a good shift reprogram kit. You're going to want one that lets you shift through the gears like having a manual valve body but when you put the shifter in D it will shift like a normal automatic.

A manual valve body has no such automatic feature. If I put mine in 3 it will start off in third gear. Mine is also a reverse pattern. PRN123 instead of PRN321. That way I pull the ratchet shifter and once I'm in third gear, there's no way to accidently go into neutral without downshifting. The manual valve body also doesn't have the ability to use engine braking in first or second gear. Not a good choice for a street driven vehicle.

 

Hi Guys,

I would like to keep the stock shifter for looks and the fact that I plan on leaving it in drive. I will modify the govenor to get my shift points right. If I have to go the manual vb route there is no way I would keep the stock shifter. I am not new to either manual valve bodies or aftermarket shifters. I am just not very well educated on what it takes to keep an automatic shifting 400 together. My friends have smoked auto shifting 400's from low 11's into the high 9's (heavy cars) and have put in a manual vb and never loooked back. However, I am convinced the people who built their tranny's didn't do much, or possibly any, work to the stock vb's. So you guys think a good, properly installed shift-kit would do the trick? Any other parts or literature I should look at? I was just under the impression that the stock vb couldn't be made to work as well an aftermarket one..but I've been wrong before

 

All the tricks in Ron Session's Turbo 400 book.

The weakest link is the intermediate sprag. You should have it upgraded to a B&M 34 element one. To upgrade it you'll need an aftermarket direct drum or one from a 1964-1970 TH400. These early models used a 16 element and be easily converted to a 34 element. The later models use a 8 or 9 element roller clutch similar to the TH350's. There's no way to modify and use the late model direct drum and the late model roller clutch is very weak.

I use a 1968 direct drum with 34 element sprag in my 1981 TH400.