love to drive

Who has installed a shift kit in their TH350? Would you reccomend this? I am taking the vette in for a tranny service soon and I remembered the guy saying he could put the kit in for me in a couple minutes. Will this compromise the reliability of my transmission? Thanks for your advice.

Ted

Neo Fender

Put a B&M shift improver kit in my '77 Camaro many years ago. At the time, there was the "Shift Kit" and the "Shift Improver Kit" Had three choices at the time of installation, Heavy Duty, Street/Strip and Strip. I went with Street/Strip. Fairly straightforward installation. Drop the pan, remove the valve body (easy) install the provided gasket and remove some valves (ball bearings) as indicated in the instructions and then re-install.

One thing I didn't like is that I couldn't manually hold the car in 1st gear - it would always upshift to second. Nice, quick firm shift though, not too harsh. The odd thing is that my bone stock L-48 with 90,000 miles will bark the tires on the 1 -2 upshift. My brother-in-law went with the race option on his old Nova. Real hard shifts, he had the broken U-joints to prove it.

There are some claims that firmer shifts are better for transmission life but I have to believe that a firmer shift is going to be harder on the rest of the drivetrain components.

Just my $.02, YMMV.

love to drive

Hey thanks for the info...I have heard the same thing about firmer shifts as well. I have a feeling that I will be under the car for some u-joint work but hey...they're 24 years old anyway. Are you saying that putting the shifter in '1' doesn't keep the tranny in first only? I think I can deal...
Thanks again for your help

Ted

Neo Fender

Yep, with the shifter in first, the tranny would still upshift automatically as if it were in drive. I did NOT like this. I like *****, switches and levers to do what I tell them to do. :smash: I was later told that it was a result of the shift kit installation.

BTW, I lived in Jacksonville from 1987 - 1996. Droppped by last month for a short visit. Wish I was still there.

love to drive

Interesting...I usually only downshift to second manually so I don't have to wait for the tranny. One more question...does the transmission shift hard under normal driving conditions or only when floored? I don't want to get whiplash on my way to work everyday :)

Jacksonville has a nice balance between hustle and bustle and quiet naturey stuff. It's a beautiful place. They need more (or closer) dragstrips though...I'm in Mandarin and it takes me 30 mins just to go drag an 1/8 mile...hardly worth the drive.


[Modified by love to drive, 4:04 PM 11/16/2001]

Neo Fender

The firmness of the shift was proportional to the pressure applied to the accelerator pedal. :yesnod:

ylose

I put a B&M transpak street/strip in my TH350 attached to a old's rocket 350, 3:73, 2200...

loved that combo, used to chirp the tires in everyshift and awesome chirp at t 45-55 mph when it shifted....I used to time it in a pass to roll em at the drivers door as I passed people...always out shifted the manuals and shift kits....claims to shift in .4 sec...

I think its called the The Shift Improver Kit now...not sure...though...

I did snap the crappy bolts that held my no-hops on above the pumpkin :eek:
after replacing those bolts with better gauge bolts it never occured again.....

love to drive

Sweet...I always wanted a bark of my very own...hehehe Another toy to keep me occupied. :blueangel:

jerryp58

Well, I feel a little :bb after reading that your mechanic said "he could put the kit in for me in a couple minutes", but I have some info at http://users.erols.com/jerryp58/corvette/bnmkit.htm that you might be interested in seeing.

After living with the kit for a while, I decided to add an adjustable vacuum modulator and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Between the shift kit and the modulator, the transmission feels totally different (and much better) than stock. The Tow/HD option is good, but I'd probably prefer the street/strip. Oh, FWIW, some people prefer the more comprehensive Trans Go kits.

Everything I've read says that a quicker shifting transmission is a happier, healthier transmission because of reduced heat (induced by the "comfortable" feeling of slippage built into touring cars). If it's slipping now (beyond design specs), then a shift kit won't help. But, if it's a relatively heathy trans, then the kit may actually extend the life.

Hope this helps. Let us know what you decide.

Budman68

The only draw back I see is turning curves from a stop light or intersection. If you goose it any, get ready to slid when it shifts. Not a good thing on wet pavement.
Budman