RoyArms

Just put it in yesterday... w0w what a difference that made. :yesnod: Absolutely love the change in shift firmness. Now it feels like a swift kick in the rear end when it shifts at WOT. (both rear ends at that)

My friend came over and helped with the dismantle/install of the kit. Neither of us had any previous knowledge of auto transmissions. It took us about 5-6hours to do the install. Some of that time was spent taking the tranny back apart after we forgot to install certain parts. :mad It became th running joke whenever we put another part on, "ok what did we forget this time?". But it all worked when we finally got it back together, so all is well with that.

First time that I punched the car of the line, wasnt quite prepared for THAT much of a kick. :eek: After that, it was just a very nice feeling. I had to do it another 5 times before going home. :D I am afraid that I will have too much fun with that now... but oh well, I think new tires will be needed much sooner than before. ;)

I chose the street/strip setting because the firmer the better in my opinion. I would reccomend this job to anyone, it can't be much cheaper. It is a bit of a pain to install, but the ratio of fun you get from driving/cost of install is just awesome.

bence13_33

I know if I had an automatic transmission I would definetly have a shift kit. You sound a lot like me:

I would want it to bang that 2nd gear just like I powershift....errr I mean shift to second gear :). Congratulations on the installation, was it confusing at all...transmissions are kind of intimidating in my opinion. :cheers:

VTHokie77Vette

I put one in my '77 a few weeks ago and I totally agree with you. For the amount it cost, it was definitely a fun/easy mod to do. I wish I didn't wait so long to do it.

QuickVet

cool. enjoy. :cheers: might make the tranny last longer to :seeya

vettecor

Its GREAT ! Best investment I ever made for the '77.


Larry :D

RoyArms

It wasn't too confusing, some of the names they used in the instruction manual got to be a bit tediuos. There are like 4 parts that they are concerned with and they use incredibly long names for all of them, so it becomes quite a pain to figure out what they are talking about sometimes. Another thing is, they give the torque ratings at 100 in-lbs, I don't get why they dont just say 8.5 ft-lbs, but it gave us intelectuals something to do during the installation. :lol: :lol: But I am pretty sure anyone can figure out how to do the install without problems.

Golden80

I still can't figure out why I kept rounding nuts and stripping the holes out!

RoyArms

That doesn't make any sense, 8.5ft-lbs is like nothing at all... you shouldnt have had any problems getting those bolts in and out to that torque rating, unless someone before you thought that was 100ft-lbs :lol:

98RKC

I've GOT to make the time to do this install :smash:
I have the kit sitting in the garage just waiting. It's funny though, for every three or four positive comments about the shift kit someone will scare me with the "don't do it you're asking for problems down the road". My highly certified mechanic neighbor said he sees alot of trannys fall apart because of the newer trans fluid not reacting well with the to the older formula :crazy:
I'll just have to see for myself :smash:

mrvette

The guys who say 'problems down the road' are the same guys who have the tranny fail after changing fluid on a 60k+ miles tranny....washes out the tired old overheated brittle rubber seals...and then the tranny slips....
not fault of the shift kit.....
thing that kills trannies is overheating...and that means take the unit off the engine radiator and run the biggest damn cooler you can find....
in front of the engine rad.....

GENE

VTHokie77Vette

When I installed my shift kit, I found my previous transmission filter swiveling around on one screw. The other screw was laying in the pan. I'm glad I took it apart or I may have had problems with it soon.

427V8

Shift kits ROCK!
They are fun, they make the trans last longer, and they are fun!

BTW my tranny guy says to use both the factory trans cooler and an aftermarket cooler... Never too much cooling!

Alwyn678

I agree with the Trans cooler.....Let's not forget a nice STALL CONVERTER Upgrade :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

KJL

Hey Alwyn678,
Its KJL, I am assuming if a after market cooler is added it would be in series with the rad cooler. I would agree to use the rad cooler. It cools by conduction which is far more efficient that an air cooler which cools by convection. It will also increase the pressure drop accross the AC/RAD/Trans cooler package thus decreasing the overall cooling effiency of the AC and Radiator. If you add one in series, it will increase the pressure through the coolent circuit which could reduce the volume flow which could cancel out any benefit from the added cooler. Do your home work. I used to design these things for a living for the heavy trucking industry.

RoyArms

:lol: :lol: :lol: man that is funny, I never could have imagined that happening... that would have been a mess soon, glad you found it.

Alwyn678

Interesting KJL......I did not know that....Which is the best cooler to go with?? I know there are a couple of different ones and they are all realtively inexpensive

DP77Vette

I heard these shift kits would cause the universal joints to break quicker. Any comments on this.

Thanks! :cheers:

jerryp58

I would hope that the engineers would have anticipated people shifting their autos manually at close to redline when they designed the whole drivetrain (to include the U-joints) and would not have made them a weak point.

I think if there's any truth to U-joints breaking more with a shift kit, it would be because the shift kit makes the car more fun to drive "hard" and doing that would cause the joints to break earlier than may be expected.

Just a theory, what do you think?

RoyArms

When the car shifts it gives alot of shock to the driveline, making bad u-joints fail earlier. If the u-joints are in ok condtion, then they aren't the weak part, the tires grip to the road is the weak part, and thus they spin before anything breaks. But if the u-joints are already bad, then yes, it will cause the u-joints to break. If they were that bad already, then they needed replacing anyway.

427V8

Go with the B&M multiplate cooler. It has multiple paths like a real radiator rather than the single tube with fins :U




[Modified by 427V8, 7:37 AM 2/5/2002]