Let me start by apologizing, I’ve sprayed this board with a couple of questions about this tranny that were inconsistent. As it turns out what the tranny does changes under different conditions.

It’s the original tranny, 80k miles in my 87 Formula, and I just installed the Transgo “700 Performance Shift Kit” which came with a vette servo and a .500” boost bushing, both installed.

On the street: nice positive shifts, firm but not too firm, the 3-4 shift might be a little late (2200-2400 rpm at light throttle, later when it’s cold which made me suspect that it wasn’t shifting into 4 when cold). Reverse engages too firmly, but that happened before I messed with the tranny.

At the track in D: completely different feel (I suspect that it would be similar on the street at WOT, but lack of traction and space keep me from being positive). 1-2 happen quickly, but it is no longer positive. 2-3 stinks, there is no clear -shift- but instead when the shift starts the car actually noses down for a split second until 3rd engages and then it starts pulling again. It doesn’t slip, the rpm’s don’t go up, it almost feels like something is binding up or like I let go of the throttle for a second (I didn’t and it’s not an engine problem).

At the track selecting gears/shifting: feels the same, 1-2 happens when you move the lever, 2-3 takes about a second from moving the lever to the shift starting (don’t know the exact time, but if I move the lever at about 4800, the shift happens closer to 5200).

Now the stranger thing is that another local guy had exactly the same problems after installing a transgo in his ’86 Iroc. The only difference was that if he got the tranny nice and hot the 2-3 shift was OK (I don’t know if mine will or not, I try to keep things cool at the track and don’t get to do too many WOT shifts from 2-3 on the street).

BTW, when I pulled it apart, the bottom of the pan was clean, fluid a little darker then what comes out of a bottle but not much, not burnt smelling, and it was shifting like a stock tranny. Transgo’s tech support hasn’t been of any help, could only get them to talk to me for not even a minute and they didn’t even listen to the symptoms and wanted to blame it on things that I didn’t touch (governor and pump) and that obviously were working before.

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Mark
'87 Formula 350
’83 Crossfire TA
'97 WS6 TA (for sale)

 

If the transmission has many miles (80K), the front pump rotor have have increased clearances, the primer spring in the front gets weaker, wear on the vanes & rings, so the volume goes down, etc. Just normal wear & tear. Even with the addition of the .500 main boost valve & larger feed holes to the band/clutches, the volume of oil required could/will be down because of this. The condition of the band/clutches with 80K are not going to be in the best of condition.The Trans-Go Performance Shift kit is not going to fix worn band/clutches, crossleaks, etc., it could extend the life some but that is about it. I know that this is not much help, but it would explain some of what is going on. How were the shifts before the addition of the Shift kit?

 

I guess if 80k miles is a lot of miles is a lot for a 700r4 is a matter of perspective. My ’83 TA has 150k on the stock one (got dragraced or autoxed every weekend for years and 70k of those miles) and my ’92 full size blazer (which I would think would tear one up with towing and hauling) with 130k miles on the stock one is still going strong. So from my perspective I was mentioning the 80k miles as ‘fairly low mileage’.

Anyway. The reason that I installed the transgo is to get a little extra life from the tranny. I’d also heard the rumor that the previous owner had it slip once when he sprayed the car with 150 hp N2O with 305 40 16 M&H Racemasters on it (only ran it once and decided to remove the N2O, so we’re not talking years of abuse). As far as how it acted before I messed with it, it was fine, no slipping that I could tell and the shifts were more positive at the track then they are now. It did not shift as firmly as the stock tranny in the ’83, but much like the tranny in my ’92 truck (with new atf, I’ve noticed that in the truck the tranny shifts different with fresh atf then atf with even 7-10 k miles on it. I use Mobil 1 synth in all of them). BTW, when I drained the ATF to mess with the valve body, there wasn’t any amount of the normal debris in the bottom of the pan. The ATF looked clearly worn, and there was some metal dust stuck to the magnet, but not much else, as compared to the other 2 that I’ve got experience with.

I was expecting firmer shifts in all cases. What I got was firmer shifts sometimes (almost at random, it’s not like one shift is firmer and another other isn’t but that it might be good onece and not so good other times). What really concerns me is the 2-3 shift at the track. I drove the car around Sunday (it’s basically a play thing, I’m not even sure that it’s had a thousand miles put on it since I bought it this summer) and the few ¾ trottle or higher 2-3 shifts that I had were what I would call perfect, nice and positive, and I tried it when cold and warm. At the track it usually throws a 2-3 shift that doesn’t feel like it’s slipping, it feels like I let off on the gas or even hit the brakes. It’s not that it takes time and slips a little between the gears, its that it takes a couple of hundred rpm to start, noses down when the shift starts, takes a split second to shift (longer then it should) and then starts pulling again (and it’s not just the way it feels, at least one of the driver’s in the other lane saw it and mentioned it to me).