I just got my truck back together (KB, HEADS,CAMS,ETC.. 600 +RWHP) and I noticed that under full throttle the shift is fast, but not felt which I was hoping to fix with a VB. Right now it just has the valve, which I knew wasn't going to cut it. Will a valvebody be enough or will I need to replace the whole thing? I'm tight on cash so thats why I'm asking.
Thanks Mike

 

I think you should rephrase the question....its not very clear

 

I'm not real sure where I confused you, but I'm basically trying to find the limit of the stock transmission. Secondly I asked would a valvebody be enough or will I have to replace it (transmission) period? My rwhp should be in the 600 + neighborhood, if that helps??
Thanks Mike

 

I didnt see the seperation in the questions.

Most guys who get over 500 HP will change more than the VB. I read somewhere that our tansmissions run around 90% capacity when stock... Factory Tech sells an upgraded 4R100 that can handle it..I think he does a core exchange too...not sure though. Your trany may be able to take the HP for a while as is...but not forever...sooner or later something will break.

He sells a few different levels of VBs... I have the regular version, which has plenty of kick for me. If you want a full race VB he can do that too...but I hear its a little ruff for the street.

There are also a few different "build up" kits available if you want to do it yourself.

 

The tranny can handle 1000 ft/lbs of torque. But the torque convertor puts a 2x load from the engine to the transmission. This is from Greg's mouth.

 

I am running with a Greg Evans Valve Body (only) with 562 lbs of torque with zero problems for 8000 miles. What is your rear wheel torque?

In my opinion at your hp it is just a matter of time. Use it as long as she lasts.

Good Luck!

D-Day

 

Unfortunately no hard numbers yet as I just got it broke in , but it should be in the 750 and up range at the wheels on the torque side.

I may just have to try the VB and if it doesn't work I'll just have to pull the tranny out

Does it ever end

 

ok you have to treat vavle bodies and the tranny seperate kinda. The valve body will help extend the life of your transmission but if you put to much torque or power into it, sorry no vb on earth will help you.

With that note, vinnie runs on a stock tranny with just a vb i think, and i think dale also was on a stock tranny with he ran that 10.3?

edit: i also think that vinnie does have a monster box on standby as well though.

 

Ahhh--- some good news

Right now I have just the accumulator valve, and I know the VB will do wonders over it as far as shifting and line pressure goes. I don't have any slipping issues at this time so the clutches should be fine.

The reason I was wondering about the tranny power level is it would be useless to put a VB in to help the shifts if the tranny won't hold it anyway. If theres a good possibility it will hold for awhile then I'm going to do it. After putting my truck back together I just don't have the money right now.

Thanks Mike

 

I have an 01 Lightning with many low 11 sec passes and 27,XXXmiles on it. It was running great until recently. I have a level 10 shift kit installed since 49miles on the truck.

 

The stock tranny will take a hell of a lot.
As said people have ran 11's on them for years without a prob,
schitt V's been running 11's season after season driving all over the country, and then after the Built Motor/ KB he ran a series of 10's all on a 100% stock tranny (only had the valve)
Only NOW a few weeks back (right before Florida FFW I believe)
he went for a Built Tranny/Convertor Combo from JDM.
(and there was absolutly nothing wrong with the orig)
It's got to have 20-35 K on it (HARD MILES, HUNDREDS OF RUNS)

I've been juicing mine for 2 years with no problem.
Something you mentioned I may be able to help you with though.
There is def a reson we do the FTVB Mod (and in my case it surly WAS NOT for the hard shifts, I rather have kept what I had Thank You)

But for a good 1-1/2 - 2 yrs I had a problem of mine NOT shifting where it suppose to. No matter who tuned it, no matter what chip, no matter what shift points, mine was pinning the tach at 6K before shifting, it prob did it hundreds if not thousands of times. I always joked about it in tons of post as stretching my rods
I actually think it worked in my favor (in some weird way) ?

But with the Nitrous runs this really started to bother me and I was writting Diablo on a regular basis about it. They finally explained why it was happening and sorry but I don't know enough to explain it except in my words: The tranny kind of shifts based on a "timed out setting" , SO if you accerate that time with major mods and especially Nitrous, the tranny simple WILL NOT be ready to shift in the allowed time period.
OR SOMETHING ???
They said we could fool it and set very low shift points but it would never shift consistant. They told me the FTVB would fix it
AND IT DID

Go for it, it's a drop in the bucket if it can save us a year or two before going for a tranny

 

Just to be precise, Gregg stated that the 4R100 was rated for 500 crank lbs. ft. (assuming 2X multiplication).

Like many other components, exceeding that number obviously does not mean that it will fail -- just that anything over that produces, from and engineer's standpoint, an unacceptable failure rate.

 

I'm almost as stunned by Diablo reccomending my part as I am by one of my dealers reccomending a Level 10. I just knew I did too much acid when I was a kid.

What Tim said is right on the money by the way, at 500 ft/lbs it's where Ford doesn't want to warranty it, not where it will by default fail. And all that said, and in all modesty, my valve body is THE WAY it should be tuned, both by method and calibration.

G

 

Hey G, good to hear from you,
I Hope things are going the best as expected


Ok it's not like they were advertising go buy G's FTVB
but my e-mail to them was, hey will G's FTVB fix my prob ?
and here's their answer


There are fairly simple answers to these questions, in that they are common to one issue in the vehicles. They are automatic transmission issues. In these vehicles factory ECU they have a certain understanding about rate of acceleration, and the ECU speed is built to work with-in those parameters. You have, by adding the bolts on parts, specially added boost and NOS, greatly increased the rate of acceleration, and the signal your sending to the ECU has not kept up. We can try to lie to the ECU, tell it to shift at 4800 to get it to shift at 5400, for example, the time that exists for the ECU to send, and the trans to receive this signal is now much shorter, when the system runs out of time it may just miss the shift, leave something out, like the shift, or a rev extender, or do a double shift. The point is you can not always say for sure, it may do something a little different each time it hits this wall, leaves out something different one time then the next.
The answers are to try to play with it in the tune, but keep in mind when the conditions change so does this issue. We worked long and hard to dial in a car with a SC, 410 gear combo, go it perfect, then the guy goes to the track, puts slicks on the car, and we have to start all over again, traction changes the load, and rate of acceleration.
Your best bet is to go to transmission upgrades, a minimum of a shift kit, and maybe more, alot of Lightning guys are going valve body upgrades and such. Check with any of the DiabloSport Lightning guys and you will find they are stocking these parts now. The faster we go the more complex it can be if your running an automatic transmission.
Thank Ford for building your vehicle with a CPU speed of a 80's PC, but at least they supercharged it!!

Thanks,
__________________
Nick Spinelli
DiabloSport Sales Manager

nick@diablosport.com

 

Greg,

Sorry if it came off that way. I had that shift kit way before your kit came out (since 99). I think your shift kit is great and works great.

I am looking for a trans now and looking in to many options. I am looking for a great product that has been tested and proven. Also looking for sponsorship so the choices I am looking at are the Factroy Tech, Level 10 and BTS. They are the trans companys that I would trust going in my truck. Now it comes down to the best deal and sponsorship.