I have a Whipple SC on my truck and am looking to have my tranny built do to the problems I am having with it. It slips from time to time and stumbles between gears. I already have the Troyer valve body installed and am wondering what else I need as I don’t want to be screwed by a tranny shop. Any help would be great.

Also, Im lookin to upgrade to the 10psi kit and I need to do something with my fuel pump. Would a boost a pump suffice or should I go with something like the dual gt-500 pumps? If I need the gt-500 pumps what all would I need to go with it? I don’t have much experience with any of this so any help would be great.

I should probably mention that I have a 2006 F-150 5.4 with the whipple and only plan on going to 10psi and no more. Also I tried the search button but it doesn’t seem to be workin properly, for me at least… Thanks

 

More then likely your Tranny problems were caused by the tune on your truck. I would get that checked out first before I would just start throwing money at the problem.

I have been rocking well over 400rwhp for several years now on a daily driven 2004 truck that I tow/haul with often. Besides my torque converter I put in a few months ago it is still a bone stock transmission. There is no physical difference between my transmission and yours, just the tune.

 

Some guys must beat the **** out of there trucks to have trans problems I have over 100k on mine with no issues Im with FATHERFORD your tune must be crap.

 

at the OP who installed the valve body? was it properly torqued 100 in/lbs if not, you could loose pressure and that could cause slippage, between shifts. it may also be the tune.

if you go with a local trans shop make sure they have a good rep, and experience doing built trannys.

here is a good trans guy http://www.bcatransmissions.com/album1_011.htm i know that klitch has one of this guys trannys in his truck, and loves it, i will also be having him build one for my GT.

 

How do I check to see if its the tune? Just install the original Whipple tune back in? I have the Diablo Predator and Im pretty sure the guy who tuned it used the Predator to pull the Whipple tune from my truck to put on the computer so if I use the predator to set the tune back to factory would that set it back to the Whipple tune or stock factory tune? Just dont want to drive it without proper tune in it.

Also, do you feel the boost a pump would be fine going to only 10psi or would I need something bigger?

 

I had a guy at my Dad's shop install it and he's good at following directions so I have no doubt its torqued properly. Thanks for the link, I will look into it.

 

Also, I should mention that part of the problem and really the main problem I am havin with my truck has been occurring from the get go, even before the tune. When Im cruising on the highway and go to speed up gradually my truck will start vibrating badly between 2300 and 2900 rpm, but if I floor it its fine past 3000 rpm. What could be causing this? Could it be the valve body? Or I had to use smaller O-rings on install do to ripping the ones that come with it, could that cause the problem? I will have to see if I can take a video with my cell and post it so you can see what happening, might be of more use then me tryin to explain it.

 

You might consider a faulty coil with shorted turns causing the issue.
If so it won't set a code because it's not a hard fault.
Finding which one is difficult.
During light throttle with EGR is called to operate, and the A/F ratio usually goes lean.
If a coil can't fire it, a missfire occurrs until you get on it closing the EGR from working with more throttle and/or a downshift..
Good luck.

 

Thats interesting, I have had to replace 2 coils that have gone bad since the install. The mechanic at my dad's shop was wondering if there was an issue with the computer that was causing the coils to go bad... Would it be easiest to just replace all the coils with aftermarket? If so, which brand?

 

Use the factory coils. The aftermarket ones are junk. The factory coils will provide you with plenty of fire to well over the hp our engines can stand.

 

On the 97-04 board, I have written a lot about coils and how they act.
Heat is the biggest problem with coils because of where they live on the engine, being subject to heat from the heads, cooling system and exhaust and the normal heat of their operation.
The coils are wound on a bobbin with enamel covered wire.
Heat expansion causes wire movement and wears enamel off and a shorted turn condition can occurrs. If the winding is tight at the internal lugs, the wire breaks off and coil goes open, an easy code to see for thar failure.
When this happen on an intermittant basis, missfire can come and go in relation to heat as well as to normal lean mixtires that occur during engine opertion under light load such as in OD and light throttle that cause the EGR to open.
A/F ratios as lean as 20 to 1 are often present in stock motors and may be present in a modified motor depending on how the program was set up to handle fuel ratios during those times.
Aftermarket coils are often no better dispite who markets them.
We all like to place out faith on a 'name' but it is no proof the coils are any better given who mfg them, these days.
A word about coils; all coils must have reserve output to handle the highest output needs of any motor design.
On the Ford systems the highest output needs are usually during the EGR operation when the A/F can approch 20 to 1.
Any coil output very much higher is of no benifit. Reason is the spark jumps the plug gap as soon as the mixture will 'allow' break down. That means out of 40 k volts, the breakdown can occurr as low as 8k, waisting the the rest of the reserve voltage, but the reserve is still needed for the very lean times.
An aftermarket coil claiming higher HP from voltage alone is miss leading because high voltage by it'self does not make any power.
The difference in voltage needed at the plug tip is determined by the "density" of the charge in the gap area, for breakdown voltage required.
Said another way, more sicentific, is the molecules of fuel dispersed in air is the density. When the A/F is lean, the density is lower and requires higher voltage to breakdown the path from tip to ground at the plug.
Other items that affect the breakdown point is the center electrode physical sharpness and the ground sharpness.
High voltage favors jumping from sharp point so affects the point of breakdown.
This is one reason new plugs as opposed to old plugs often make a motor feel a bit sharper.
Hope this shines a bit of light on the tech of the subject.
Most look at all this from a distance and never see the substance of it, then have a difficult time when an issue arises.
As of the moment, stock coils are about as reliable as you will get until some one can 'prove' an aftermarket coil is made better in quality.
After all, Ford quality is about all we have to bank on being a represenitive of the company's product in there cars from the first Lincoln motors to use them as far back as 1993 in the Mark 8.
The thing people have a hard time with is expecting the coils to work nearly forever and not treating them as a maintaince items same as spark plugs, tires, shocks etc. Their cost times 8 is the biggest thing to get over, in the 'head'.
We think little of spending $500 on tires that may last 50,000 miles but have that hard time with replacing coil.
Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info Bluegrass. So are you saying it would be easiest to just replace the remaining 6 coils that have yet to be replaced? I have just been replacing them with the ford ones from NAPA.

 

Here is my response from Whipple to what you said:

Im not sure whats wrong this doesn't really match anything I have seen before.
I would think if the coil was a problem it would also show up at wide open throttle as well
usually with the supercharger if we have problems with spark plugs or coils we get misfiring in boost since it takes more energy to fire plugs under load and boost
Im guessing you havent had any codes set on the computer
do you have any way to tell if the converter clutch is locked while this happens
im not familiar with the valve body you installed did this go on before the whipple or at the same time ?
Have you talked to the valve body company to see if they have any ideas?

 

Some thoughts.
How do we know your A/F is not going lean under boost?
This will certainly open the possibility of a missfire.
It's not all just boost that causes missfire.
10 psi boost on a street motor is a good amount to be running.
You seem concerned about fuel supply; is there reason to be concerned?
Next, what kind of fuel system are you using?
A. larger injectors with the program altered to use them or.
B. a boost controlled backup regulator in the return line to force the injectors flow more.
A 'boost a pump', would be usefull with both types of fuel control.
When you get above about 5 psi of boost on a stock motor, then you need to go to the next larger injector, then dial in the fuel to match.
There are several ways to approch all this so it pays to gain an understanding of what each does so you can work with a combination that will meet all the demands from starting to max boost and RPM.
The first place to begin is to find the stock fuel injector flow rateing at it's rated fuel pressure in lbs per hr. and what max HP that flow will support safely.
Then figure how much HP will be added with 10 psi of boost. Rule of thumb, 1 psi netting about 15 to 18 hp. Next select the fuel injector that will flow enough fuel to safely supply this power level without going lean at the stock 40 psi.
If using a backup regulator systerm, find out how much extra fuel a selcted injector can be made to flow under elevated fuel rail pressures.
You can see that the two ways to go can result is different size injectors and final tuning procedures.
In both ways, you need a higher volume fuel pump to flow well more than the max the system will need under max boost.
Be awhere the backup type fuel system control will have another parameter of concern. That being when the back-up system begins to restrict the fuel flow as a means of raising the injector pressure to force more flow, the volume goes down. There is a point you can't cross without going lean even if the injector pressure is high.
Back to the missfire, at light loads and a missfire with no code set is nearly always a faulty coil that may also missfire under boost.
The coil fault of this type is very often shorted turns that lowers the coil output without setting a code because it is not a hard fault failure that comes and goes.
There is a lot to know about fuel systems and engineering them to fit a specific application.
A missfire under boost is usually a lean condition providing no ignition fault is present.
Or both are present to cause confusion.
A miisfire solely due to boost is usually not enough coil voltage or even an over rich condition flooding the plugs.
So either way you deal with a fault in the ignition.
On the AA top fuel dragsters, you will most always see dual ignitions running at the same time. Reason is the tremendious amount of fuel forced into the cylinders is nearly in liguid form. If it does not fire, hydraulic lock in a cylinder will force the motor to physically blow apart.
Just some extra insight into how far things can go.
Good luck.

 

op may have missed this but what o rings did you tear