Hey idk if this is already a post or not but this is kind of urgent, how do i figure out what kind of transmission is in my car? im buying a shift kit and am not sure if it makes a difference or not... thanks

 

assuming its still the stock tranny, an 88 has the 700-R4

 

if it has 4 gears it is a 700r4. and YES it does make a differance when getting a shift kit. as slayer said if it is the stock auto trans it's a 700r4

 

alright thanks alot guys cleared that up, new to all this stuff...lol and it shows

 

Jack the car up, look close at the pan. Then go to this website, and match it up to one of these. Considering you have an 88 Camaro (according to ur nickname), i would say its a 700R4 4spd Automatic.

http://www.nastyz28.com/chevy-transm...tification.php

 

you still wanna be craeful when you do this shift kit. if trannys and whatnot are all fairly new to you, perhaps a shift kit is not the best thing to tackle at the present time. if you feel so inclined to push forward with this, make sure you have a digital camera and take a lot of pictures of the valve body while you have it apart and note where all of the check ***** go, ensuring that they ALL go back in the SAME place as before, noting that different years of 700R4s have different numbers and placement of check *****.

 

Agreed. But, if you take lots of pictures and follow the video that comes with the video (for the Trans-Go kit, which I recommend over any other kit on the market) you can't go wrong. Just double check all your actions, and most importantly, TAKE YOUR TIME!!

 

idealy, set aside the better part of a weekend day to ensure that you do in fact take your time. dont rush. i was somewhat lucky when i did mine (TCI kit) and i had the tranny out of the car. i muchg preffered that to working under the car, but it doesn't take that much extra time when its in the car and the other nice part about it being right side up is all of the fluids drain quite nicely, versus the upsidedown method half the check ball are hidden/submerged in fluid and u sit there with paper towel soaking it up. bottom lien, which everway you do it, don't get frustrated, and document everthing. if the kit does have a video, commit that thing to memory, it'll make life a lot easier.

 

when dealing with a transmission , don't f*** around!! it is a CRUCIAL part of the car!! these things are best left to professionals!!
i can biuld an engine in my sleep, setup suspension, and fabricate anything, but I don't touch transmissions. they are magical in nature as far as i am concerned.tranny's are more complicated than electrical systems and ten fold as expensive. but that is just my experience, and some people just have a knack for it. you may be one of these people. anyways , best of luck.

 

come on now, theres no need to scare anyone. T/A Tome does have a point though in the sense that any small misplace thing can mess up shifting and other stuff and is impossible to diagnose unless you are a professional. most kits come with very good intrsuction and diagrams and make it so that the slightly above average do it yourselfer can accomplsh the task.

 

You dont have to listen to this, just pretend this comment was never posted.


Want my experience? At the time I did my trans go shift kit, I was a 5 on a scale of 1-10 in terms of knowing how to work on a car. I did the kit in 3 days thanks to the VIDEO and LOTS OF REFERENCE PICTURES I TOOK. This is not a hard job to do. If you get the Trans go kit, I'll tell you what you have to do. It is time consuming, but NOT hard.

-Take of tranny pan, drain fluid, remove filter, and disconnect the only two electronic connections you see. (To access valve body)

-Youll have to remove one of the accumulators and remove the kickdown lever and spring from the valve body. (Again, to access valve body)

-There is a valve you have to now remove, it is secured with a snap ring. The valve will fall straight down followed by a spring, and bushing, I believe. Put new valve system that comes with it in.

-Unbolt valve body, DONT LOSE CHECK *****

-Install spring and washers into accumulator, this goes back in later.

-Drill out specified holes in valve body, remove two (i think) valves and install correct springs

-Drill out the valve body plate according to spec

-Remove servo assembly from side of trans and install new one (this step is completely independant of the valve body steps)

-Put it all back together


This is just a basic run through so you know what to expect, nothing more, as I may have left out small details. This swap doesnt go deep into the internals of the transmission, you are essentially removing one "layer" if you will. But again, I was around a 5 in experience, and did this in three days at a leisurely pace. The ONLY problem I had was that the one valve that had to be installed fell out when I started the car, but that is because I didnt secure the snap ring correctly. I found it lying in the transmission pan when I took it off again.

The time that this swap takes is a small price to pay for what you get. The harder shifts feel soooo much better and shifts so much faster. The downshift is very fast too. Probably the best 100$ i put into my Camaro.