I have a fmvb th400 in my car now, and it works perfectly. But it looks like my car is going to see more street time than I originally thought. I don't have engine braking with this valve body. Id like to be able to downshift when necessary.

I saw jakes performance has a forward man vb with engine braking and a trans brake.

I guess my first question is, is it just a matter of changing valve bodies?

second question, will a trans with transbrake hold up on the street.? ive been searching and getting mixed answrs. some say yes , others no.

ive never driven a car with a reverse man v/b, so Im more inclined to go wth the forward. Anyone with a street driven car with reverse, please give your opinion.

heres the link to jakes

http://jakesperformance.com/TH400_Components.html

 

I have driven both. Forward manual with engine braking and no trans brake. Now have reverse no engine braking in 1-2 gears it seems but i think it brakes in 3rd at real high rpm, and it has trans brake

My rmvb is very streetable but you need to becareful with how it works. With this style that has no engine braking the internals freewheel independent of rpm of motor. So you cant go wot full rpm in say 2nd gear and let off. Internals will spin at excessive rpm and could explode. You have to train yourself to remember to shift into 3rd gear! Also got to be aware of how you downshift. Gotta match rpms like a manual and apply gas to match rpms. Usually you never need to downshift but when you do just make sure you do it at correct rpms and apply gas on the shift to engage the internals so they dont start freewheeling. But lower rpms wont cause it to overspin anyway

The manual forward style with braking was my favorite with the shifter i have but its no big deal to use the other style, just need to pay attention.

I run a ck performance brake in mine and its a very streetable valvebody with brake. It doesnt require pressing the brake button to engage reverse. Makes it easy to drive

 

Thanx orr. I was hoping someone with turbos would post in here. that was another question I had, was how you would hook up vacuum to the modulator valve under boost if you kept a auto vb in it.

so its as simple as changing valve bodies, and wiring the solenoid then?

is there a performance or power loss wth engine braking, or is just a manufacturing issue?

I guess im just not getting why some have it, and some don't. Seems like you would want it, even in full race mode.

 

You would likely need to put a check valve in the line that somehow shuts when vacuum is depleted and boost starts to come in.

I however never ran one like that, mines always been manual and to be honest i'll never own another automatic shift again unless its a latemodel electronic control trans but the manual valvebodies are to much fun.

I dont see a difference in performance with braking or non braking. Its nice to use some of that engine decel for slowing car down, but this can be harder on connecting rods in the motor so a clean neutral seems to be preferred.

I am so used to my old braking valve body i keep forgetting to shift to 3rd when i do a pull in second and this is very bad lol freewheels the internals they could overspin and blow up.