Well, I bought my '89 Formula about 6 months ago, and I was told it had a shift kit installed. I got all the receipts and records of work done on the car, and the one from the tranny shop says "Shift Kit Installed" then a couple numbers i can't remember. something like "#54" (i store my important docs at my parents house) and also it says "BG Conditioner". can't remember total price. but. car has FIRM 1-2 shift (chirps em most of the time) and a pretty firm 2-3 shift as well. 3-4 ain't too bad either. now would the B&M shift kit do this, or is it more likely the TransGo or similar? i know it's impossible to know w/o opening the tranny up, but i'm not doing that for another 2-3k miles for fluid and filter change. thanks.

They all do basically the same. A shift kit just reprograms the valve body to hold a higher line pressure before shifting. Taking the valve body off to see the gaskets and seperator plate won't usually tell you who's kit it is unless there's a name or part number stamped on the plate.

The differences are very subtle. At full throttle I can't tell the difference between a TransGo and a B&M. At part throttle the TransGo is a lot smoother. The B&M is a quick and dirty kit that is cheap and gets the job done. The TransGo kit is a lot better IMO, as it addresses the full spectrum of shift feel, quality, and firmness.

The easiest way to tell them apart is to pull the accumulators. In a B&M kit they will not have springs on the pistons, but will be blocked solid with colored spacers. TransGo still uses accumulation, so there will be springs. This is part of the reason the TransGo kit is better.