Well i work at a transmission shop so we get parts cheap and i gave my manager two parts numbers one for the vette servo and one for the super servo to see the price difference well he thought i meant order them both so he did which should i buy. The builders tell me that just changing the servo will firm up the shifts enough for me and warn me that a shift kit will break things and may burn up my trans since it isnt a fresh rebuild. Which servo should i go with?

 

Put the vette servo in it. It is fine for what you intend to do.

 

The vette servo kits are $8 on ebay, including seals and O rings. Sonnax makes a really nice super hold servo (is that the one you are talking about?) that is around $90 for the intermediate one, and $40 for the 4th gear servo. If you need the extra holding power, get the better servo, it has a very substancial increase in holding power over the vette servo.

 

I am still learning transmissions, so don't mind me asking these questions.

What do you mean by more holding power?? How does servo affect the 2-3 shifts?? I know the band does not regulate 2-3 shift, however it does affect it. Hmmm.

Why would a super servo be better than vette one. What kind of shifts are expected??

 

If you are going to put a second servo in a fbody with a v-8 you will already have a vette style servo if the trans is the original.

 

Wrong. The Vette servo only came in the Vettes, and possibly some of the cop car Caprices. There's basically 3 different servos that GM used. The 4 and 6 cylinder models got a really light duty servo, about 98% of the V8 cars got the medium duty servo, then the Vettes and some cop cars got the heavy duty, or "Vette" servo. Using the more expensive aftermarket super servo with more holding power doesn't necessarily change the quickness or firmness of the shift, it merely gives the band a tighter grip on the drum, hence, more holding power. You need this if you're putting a lot of horsepower/torque through the trans. I would think the vette servo is probably adequate up to the 450 HP range at a guess. Of course, at that level, you also have to start looking into parts such as "The Beast" sunshell, and the heavier duty 5 pinion planetary set. The quicker apply of the Vette servo also makes the shifts seem firmer, or snappier as well.

 

It's funny that you say that I am wrong because I do not think that I have ever took apart a ?FFD unit without one. All unit's from an V-8 fbody using that code always seem to have the vette servo. Maybe I work on to many race cars.

 

Huh, I just looked in my ATSG manual for 87-93 700r4's, and that FFD code isn't even listed. Maybe it's an older code. According to my manual, the codes that got the heavy duty 2nd servo are YAM, YCM, YDM, and LHM, which would make sense because the Y designates Corvette. I'll bet that LHM code is for the cop cars. I also have a set of instructions for a Transgo shift kit, and it lists the 3 different servos. #554=light duty, #553=medium duty, and 093/95-1=heavy duty. It also says "we do not recommend #554 piston for hard drivers or Heavy Duty use, which also makes sense because I read somewhere that the 554 only comes in 4 and 6 cylinder models. Btw, I wasn't trying to flame you by saying you're wrong. I'm just pointing out what I've read in the manuals I've got here. I'm pretty sure that most of the V8 700r4's, including the f-bodies, got the 553 piston though, except for the 6 cylinder f-bodies of course.