I've got my '91 RS, and after all the horror stories i've heard on B&M I've decided i'll get a transgo shift kit. But before i do....

-I don't wanna mess with my tranny, roughly how much would it cost to have a shop put in my shift kit for me?

-I want firmer faster shifts, but i don't want neck-snapping, or tire chirping, can i have the kit adjusted to my likeness? The car is still my everyday cruiser, and i dont want it to get annoying, or unsafe for weather conditions.

-How well does the kit react to the throttle? Will it shift harder as i accelerate harder?

-Can i switch between manual and automatic? ie: Can i still stick it into Drive and the trans will still cycle through all the gears, for everyday driving? How exactly does shifting work? What are my options?

-Wouldn't firmer shifts stress the tranny and shorten its life?

-In my '91 RS can i go WOT in 4th gear?

-What kind of performance increases did you get out of this kit? (0-60 MPH, 1/4 mile)

I have many many questions to come, finally where can i find the best price? I know CarParts has it for $130 then there's a $30 coupon so it comes down to $100.

 

anyone??? anyone???

 

I'll address these one at at time.


1) Probably $120-200. It's maybe 3 hours of work for a tranny shop, at most. You really should try doing it yourself, though. There's no sense in not taking the opportunity to learn how your car runs.

2) Yeah, the kit comes with a set of washers that you install to vary shift firmness. I'm on the firmer setting, and it's very driveable around town at light throttle. With the shifter in OD, it shifts less firm than it does in D. So around town, you could leave the shifter in OD, and when you want to feel real shifts, you put it in D. Even with the shifter in D though, the shifts are never unmanageable around town. If it's raining out, your foot shouldn't be in the throttle anyways.

3) Yes, the firmness of the shift depends on how much throttle you give it.

4) Yeah, it's fully automatic. Since I have 2.73 gears, when driving around town at below 40mph I leave the shifted in '2'. That way, I get the RPMs up into the 1500-2000 range, giving better throttle response than if I were to leave it in D and allow the engine to lug. You can holds shifts in every gear as long as you want.

5) Firmer shifts lessen stress on the tranny and extend its life. Slippage is what hurts a tranny, not hard shifts. A new tranny with a Trans Go installed will last thousands of miles longer than one without.

6) No, not without a special valve for the tranny that keeps it from kicking down into 3rd when you try to accelerate to high speeds.

7) Probably little to none. Maybe .1 second at the track. With a stock 2.73 open rear end, you may have traction problems on the 1-2 shift, would could actually hurt your times.


------------------
91 Trans Am WS6
Bright White
5.0 TPI auto
Flowmaster 3" 2 chamber catback
Trans Go shiftkit
2000 stall converter

Built on Wednesday

 

Definately do it yourself. I think those TransGo kits even come with a video, don't they? If so, hell, that can't get any better!


------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!