Mike,
I am seriously considering getting a Factory Tech valve body to improve my shifts. Will I need to adjust the shift settings on the Micro Tuner?

thanks,

 

Hi Johnson505,

Yes, for almost everyone they will, and that is easily handled by the Micro Tuner, no problem.

Greg makes a nice piece, you just need to know that his Factory Tech valve body will usually make the transmission shift very hard even on light throttle if it is used in conjunction with a "standard" performance program for the automatic transmission that does not take his part into consideration. Just as he himself clearly tells his customers, to his credit (Greg's a good guy). He made his piece to work with the stock factory transmission program, so it requires a simple lowering of the shift pressure to accommodate it correctly and get the full benefits of both modifications.

So to use it on the street you generally will want to adjust the shift firmness level down somewhat on the Micro Tuner, so you don't get a shift that is too harsh on light throttle. You can play with that easily with the Micro Tuner, that's one of it's many benefits, so it's no problem to take care of that in the "regular" F-150's & Expeditions, etc.

Have fun!

 

Thanks Mike.

 

May i ask a stoopid question? Curiosity has gotten the better of me.

What is the difference between a "valve body" and a "shift kit"? I read here where people are speaking of each as if they are different. Are they different things or is it just different names for the same thing?

Waaay back in my hot rodding days I have installed a few "shift kits" and as I recall, they were just different valve bodies, with the exception of one. I installed a Transgo shift kit (can't remember what they called that particular model) that made the tranny fully manual. You had to shift the thing through the gears with the gear shifter. "D" was 3rd gear, no matter what. "2" was second gear no matter what. That one kit is the only one I can ever recall seeing that was anything more than a valve body.

Just wanting a little education

 

The valve bodies are basically a one one for one swap. You take your stock valve body out and install the modified one. The shift kit requires drilling in the stock valve body and moving or adding ***** and springs. It sounds like the valve bodies will give you better performance from what I have read on the transmission section of this site. Harley#356 has a post in the transmission section that talks about the valve body he installed. I decided to get the valve body from Factory Tech. I have a B&M Competition Shift Kit in my '77 Firebird. I like it in my Firebird, but I don't want my truck to shift that hard all of the time. The Factory Tech valve body is suppose to firm up the shifts, but only shifts hard when your in it. I will probably post in the transmission section to let everbody know how I like it in a couple weeks after I get mine installed. Hope this helps.

 

Hi RY,

In short, a shift kit allows you to modify your *existing* valve body's various orifices, etc. where a valve body like the Factory Tech unit he's talking about is a complete replacement valve body.

They both have their pro's & con's of course, one of the things I like about the Transgo shift kit is the fact that it allows you to increase the fluid volume flowing to the Overdrive band, a weakness in 4R70W's and some 4R100's, and it also has an over-pressure relief provision as well. The Transgo shift kit is also much less expensive than a complete replacement valve body, less than half the price. On the other hand, installing a valve body is going to be a little bit quicker and a bit less work compared to installing a shift kit, though both involved removing the stock valve body of course, so you have to drain the fluid & drop the pan, etc. don't have enough hands-on with Greg's valve body to know just how much fluid volume flow is increased to areas like the Overdrive band specifically, or if he has any over-pressure relief provision. I feel certain he would increase fluid volume flow to the Overdrive band and probably everywhere else, too, that's what it looks & feels like to me.

The Factory Tech valve body is still fully automatic, it's not like the full manual valve bodies most of us drag racers think of. It will shift very hard at *any* throttle position if used in conjunction with any standard performance chip, so anyone using a chip will need to have the program in the chip adjusted, those using a Micro Tuner can just turn down the shift firmness level to compensate.

The bottom line is, you'd probably be happy with either the Transgo shift kit or the Factory Tech valve body.

I hope that helps you a bit,

 

Thank you very much JOHNSON505 and Mike T. Both replies were very informative. I guess I have been out of my hot-rodding days long enough to forget alot of what I used to know. Technology has surely advanced since I was involved in that area as well, I suppose.

I reckon I need to re-educate myself on these things.
I haven't been inside a tranny or an engine in quite a few years. Perhaps I am "getting the bug" again!

I was sold on the transgo, and may still be, but after reading some at nloc.com, I am also considering the valve body. Time and research will decide it for me....eventually. I tend to spend alot of time checking things out about a mod before buying anything for my truck. Which is why I chose SuperChips for my programming.

Thanks again!