shifting manually

[loudmouthzls1]

DONT do it. your car was not meant for that and in the long run u will kill ur tranny u might not realize it now but ur tranny does. all the people with real fast auto cars ive dealt with have warned against it.. ur actually slower becuase the computer can shift the car better than u can.. this is just a heads up for the new people

[camarogrrrl]

u finally figured that out!!!

[loudmouthzls1]

no i didnt figure it out ive known.... i do it once and a while to make noise or for burn outs lol not for racing i just keep it drive for that

[Vendetta]

Really? How am I supposed to move my WRX then? ;)

Yeah I know what you mean. Kids who've done that have always annoyed me. There's just no point to it, you should have gotten a manual.

[1970judge]

Buy a shift kit or get a manual.

[loudmouthzls1]

shift kits are fun... i love how much quicker u get through the gears it seems like u wait forever with a stock car at least IMO

[LS1 power]

get a manual trany if u like to shift ur car so much..... just some info for ya

[loudmouthzls1]

i meant when u floor it goes through gears quicker ... do u understand how shiftkits work ?? for some reason people think it means that u can shift gears with an auto..wrong. in increases line pressure in ur transmision to firm up and quicken urshifts. i like having my auto .. but i do wish i had a stick sometimes ..but i feel either one u have at one point ur gonna want the other

[TheRoad64]

DONT do it. your car was not meant for that and in the long run u will kill ur tranny u might not realize it now but ur tranny does. all the people with real fast auto cars ive dealt with have warned against it.. ur actually slower becuase the computer can shift the car better than u can.. this is just a heads up for the new people


What about if my tranny isnt computer controlled?
(1993 4L60)

[Phoenix57]

the only reason i don't put it in D is if im going down my crappy dust road or if i want to make it stay in high rpms for a bit of fun on back roads. i never go though the gears. pointless

[loudmouthzls1]

id still asume it wouldnt be good for ur tranny...my take on things if u have to ask if its not good for ur car then ur prob right

[1970judge]

What about if my tranny isnt computer controlled?
(1993 4L60)

Still not needed your not going faster. And still no because although not comp controlled your stil moving your trans faster than it wants to. My good friennd is guilt of this in his 99 z28. Hell put it in first in a parkign lto and jsut rev rev make the tires screech. I cant explain to him enough how thats not good. Just put it in D and go put it in D3 to race.

[F-Bobby]

i have manually shifted all my automatic cars, and so do most people who race, wether they have a manual Valve body or not. It will not hurt the transmission one bit. i dont know where you got that from. if anything you are just revving the engine higher then normal. the transmission doesnt care.

[1970judge]

If your transmission does have a weak point you will damage it. Its liek cancer itll find the weak spot and exploit it. Most of the time youll lose 3rd gear. In a 4l60e 3rd gear is a bad gear so most of he time you will lose 3rd. If you get a shift kit it will not enable you to shift a car by increasing line pressure but your not as much at risk anymore.

[loudmouthzls1]

understood

[Fenster]

If you have the parts you can shift it yourself no issues. Main issue w/ shifting it yourself is killing the overrun clutch pack. Going over whta the computer/tv cable wants to shift w/ hits those overrun packs and they are only paper clutches... not kevlar like most aftermarket pieces. I HAVE to shift mine w/ the stock governor spring in there b/c it will shift at 4800 rpm if not... so I need a little more RPM than that to get down the track!!! ;)

[phelan]

That reminds me. I never shifted my van manually on my 700-R4 but I still managed to break a band and lose 3rd & 4th gear (drive and overdrive). It royallly sucks! I think I'm gonna replace it with a TH 400, if I can make it fit.

[Jaberwaki]

i shift mine manually.... its an auto.... it wont shift by its self :P

[phelan]

i shift mine manually.... its an auto.... it wont shift by its self :P

So I take it you have a manual valve body? Or is just a f***ed up auto body :lol: .

[Vendetta]

I still don't see why people do it. There's absolutely no need for it. The majority of people I see doing it are the young high school guys who own an auto, have never driven a manual, and want to pretend that they're great drivers and that they're cool.

[Jaberwaki]

So I take it you have a manual valve body? Or is just a f***ed up auto body :lol: .


th400 reverse manual valve body....wit da T brake :D

[camarojoe1991]

Well, if you modify the computer, cant you make paddle shifters?

[ewingr]

By letting it shift, are you saying that you should program the transmission to shift at the RPM that you want/need, and just leave it in D?

I'm considering an LS1 and 4L60E tranny conversion. I'm not driving it yet.

My current drivetrain is a 350 with 700R4, and it shifts way too early if I just leave it in D and let it auto shift.

[Jaberwaki]

actually you want to put it in 3 not d ,

1. in 3 it uses all the clutches
2. you dont wanna chance it shifting into OD at WOT

[ewingr]

Ah, yes, makes sense.

Was my comment about setting shift points in software accurate? Even in 3 on my 700R4 (which of course is not electronically/progrmatically shifted), it shifts too early in WOT. So, it sounds like you an actually program WOT shifting in the newer tranny.

[Jaberwaki]

yup, you set the MPH that you want it to shift at, at WOT.
its all in the tune :)

[phelan]

WOT Good :drool: . Except when your tranny is still breaking in :( .

[NOSTYLS1]

DONT do it. your car was not meant for that and in the long run u will kill ur tranny u might not realize it now but ur tranny does. all the people with real fast auto cars ive dealt with have warned against it.. ur actually slower becuase the computer can shift the car better than u can.. this is just a heads up for the new people

I have been telling people this for year's this for years and they still dont believe me.

[jpsartre12]

I have been telling people this for year's this for years and they still dont believe me.

I've got a 94Z w/396 stroker. It has a TH400 w/reverse manual valve body, Tbrake and 4k stall TC. It's manual shifted only for the past 6 years, driven daily in nice weather and runs high 11's on motor, 10's on spray.

My son has a 94Z as well. He went through 3 rebuilds to stop his 4L60E from bouncing off the rev limiter going from 2nd to 3rd shifting automatically before dumping it in favor of a TH400. His is also manually-shifted w/TB and was built to go low 9's.

The downsides are no speedo (can be done but it'a a pain) and no OD. :candlesad

[95_TransAM]

shift kits are fun... i love how much quicker u get through the gears it seems like u wait forever with a stock car at least IMO

Would the shift kit do any good if I already have a Trans Perform button :rolleyes:

[loudmouthzls1]

yes it would def helo a lot... im not exactly sure how much that button changes when u hit it... but im assuming no where near as much as a shift kit...

[LT1-TA]

well the only reason i would "shift" my car is that it wont kick down into first when im rolling down the road and stomp it.... EVER... maybe it is sometype of "traction control" setting, cuz im sure shifting into a first at and that rpms goign to 4 grand at WOT can't be good or traction. But if im rolling somewhere and someone gets next to me, i need to go down into first. Because stomping it and it going to second does give me a quick of a run. Hell if the tranny grenades it's self then awe well. lol. Life will go on.

This is the first auto i have ever owned. all other cars where standard

[Pro Built Automatics]

The 700R4 can be manually shifted if it has the right parts in it, such as the "modified" Trans-Go Performance Shift kit, Corvette servo, large boost valves, & a small diameter torque converter. This will help alot in keeping this unit together. And when you downshift, you MUST give it throttle when you backshift the lever. Once the rpms "match" then you can let off the throttle. It is similar to double clutching a manual transmission. With the 4L60E, you will need the "modified" Trans-Go Performance Shift kit, Corvette servo, & Vacuum modulator. The vacuum modulator allows the front pump to "see" vacuum changes right now, thereby "matching" main line pressure with engine load (torque) instantly. By the way, if you have the transmission in "D" the overrun clutches are not on till it goes into 3rd gear. Leaving it in 4th gear ("OD") will let the 3-4 clutches come on with less pressure loss on the 2-3 shift. I hope this helps.

[Hark_Z]

I didn't read everything in this thread so exscuse any ignorance but it is way more effective to shift my A4 while racing, but I realize it could be bad.

[Raptor285]

i have manually shifted all my automatic cars, and so do most people who race, wether they have a manual Valve body or not. It will not hurt the transmission one bit. i dont know where you got that from. if anything you are just revving the engine higher then normal. the transmission doesnt care.
your tranny isn't computer controlled, my friend shifts his 4.3 '88 s-10 like a mofo and it has 170,000 miles on it, he can hold it way past redline, good for racing...not good for computer controlled trannies

Hark_Z what kinda car u have?

[Slims00ls1z28]

Whats the life expectancy of a 4L60E normally then? I manually shift mine alot. I do it at the track especially when it spins and shifts by itself into a higher gear. If I don't hit the limiter I've always gotten a higher MPH by manually shifting mine. So needless to say with close to 80 track passes and numerous street battles my tranny has held up good and I almost have 140k miles on it (139636 to be exact). Also with the True duals I like to make noise alot so I'll hold the gears to get more rpm out of it normally driving some times too, especially when theres competition or rice around.

[CamTom12]

I have a buddy that was telling me if you launch in 1 you'll have not only the 1st gear clutches but also the manual shift clutches engaged. He said he'd launch in 1 and almost immediately slide it to D.

He's running 10's cam-only if anyones worried about his credibility, haha

[Executioner39]

when i race i drop into "2nd" my car doesnt have the "1st" gear option on my center console. I mainly do that from a dig then bump to 4th at like 2-3k rpms. my last Tranny chewed up the first gear and ate all the clutches up an i usta run it from a roll in "2nd" but i wont do it ne more it lasted 2 years with me doing that tho

[razorguy]

My friend got his automatic transmission rebuilt (not computer controlled), and the guys who did it told him it was better for you to shift it like it's a manual because there is certain stuff in it that's never used if you don't and it'll extend the life of your tranny. They were some shady guys, though, so I dunno. :confused:

[GuardianAero]

I used to do this back when I first got my Firebird. It helped with a few annoying things. Like the tranny would shit and odd points sometime while acelerating, I basically had a bad habit of tricking the transmition into over drive and then out of it really fast, and shifting manually would obviously keep that from happening. But after about a 2 days I could feel the tranny getting rough and stopped, about a week later all was good again and never did it again unless I was stuck in snow or on ice, which is what is for.

[oaeyeo121003]

well outside of overdrive, such as when you put it in d 1 2 or 3 you engage the overrun clutch at the same time which is good due to the load speading on all of the clutch packs, so in a way it is prolonging the life of your trans, not to mention everyone here has a manual valve.....allowing you to select park reverse neutral or forward gears....next every thing below overdrive on your selector are just lockouts to keep the trans from upshifting past that gear....remember an automatic is just that - an automatic computer controlled or not the powerflow is the same in the 4l60e as in the 700r4 or 400

[freakshow]

It might take a toll on the tranny but i've never killed one doing it. The only way to get the RPMs higher and push the car the way it was made to is to go through them gears. I never down shift always up.

[mrcadillac]

I've got a 94Z w/396 stroker. It has a TH400 w/reverse manual valve body, Tbrake and 4k stall TC. It's manual shifted only for the past 6 years, driven daily in nice weather and runs high 11's on motor, 10's on spray.

My son has a 94Z as well. He went through 3 rebuilds to stop his 4L60E from bouncing off the rev limiter going from 2nd to 3rd shifting automatically before dumping it in favor of a TH400. His is also manually-shifted w/TB and was built to go low 9's.

The downsides are no speedo (can be done but it'a a pain) and no OD. :candlesad

If you know how to rebuild a 4L60E, you can have it live behind anything you can throw at it. Problem is, more guys know how to screw them up, than make them live. There's many floating around, behind 500hp engines(many of them Probuilts... Guy knows what he's doing!!), living thru 20k=-30k miles easy. One of them, was built was a car with 400hp, and it keeps kicking, in a very low 12's caprice, that weights 4000lbs+. I also know of them in stock 180hp chevy trucks, that can't live 10k. *cough* local rebuilds.
:)

[mrcadillac]

Would the shift kit do any good if I already have a Trans Perform button :rolleyes:

Yes, it will. The trans perform button, all it does is delay upshifts while your cruising(few mph), make it down shift sooner(few mph), and command more trans pressure. The camaro is always it trans performance mode. It's a joke of a feature. You can Program the PCM to command ALOT more pressure, which is a good thing. But it doesn't fix all the issues that a transgo shift kit addresses. :)

[mrcadillac]

Whats the life expectancy of a 4L60E normally then? I manually shift mine alot. I do it at the track especially when it spins and shifts by itself into a higher gear. If I don't hit the limiter I've always gotten a higher MPH by manually shifting mine. So needless to say with close to 80 track passes and numerous street battles my tranny has held up good and I almost have 140k miles on it (139636 to be exact). Also with the True duals I like to make noise alot so I'll hold the gears to get more rpm out of it normally driving some times too, especially when theres competition or rice around.

A friend of mines last to nearly 240k in his roadmaster. and before you say it was a grandma car, from the time he got it at about 100k, he drove it hard. On the flip side, mine was toast when I got the car at 110k... In the county Squad cars, they would last until about 100k-150k, then the motor pohl would rebuild them with shift kits. All of those cars went to about 200-240k before they were sold off. :)

One thing a Great 4L60E rebuilder told me, was replace every bushing you can, and set the clutch packs as tight as you can & stil have them spin freely.

Dana... Can you explain why the Vac mod is a good idea? I've got a trans that has a transgo kit and vac mod(pretty sure it came from you), in a burned up trans(it was a junkyard trans from an F-body, So I was told when i bought the car that way. I don't know if I should get a vac mod for the newer GM serta I have to go in the car.

[red_z28]

My son has a 94Z as well. He went through 3 rebuilds to stop his 4L60E from bouncing off the rev limiter going from 2nd to 3rd shifting automatically before dumping it in favor of a TH400. His is also manually-shifted w/TB and was built to go low 9's.


Just put 1/2 to 1 quart more oil in it. Common thing to do on 4l60E's. I was told this by my friend who went thru a couple of them and figured that out. Most people don't even know this.

Again it was tested on a 99 Z28 that runs high 10s with a built 4l60E. His rev limiter would bounce then it would shift. My friend said just over fill it some. Now it shifts dead on every time.

Good job going thru 3 rebuilds btw lol

when i race i drop into "2nd" my car doesnt have the "1st" gear option on my center console. I mainly do that from a dig then bump to 4th at like 2-3k rpms. my last Tranny chewed up the first gear and ate all the clutches up an i usta run it from a roll in "2nd" but i wont do it ne more it lasted 2 years with me doing that tho

There is a little piece of rubber that won't let you shit all the way into first in your console. You can cut it out then it will.

[ncschall]

Ive always manually shifted my auto. I did it on my 300zx and on my T/A. I dont do it because I think it makes the car any faster. I do it because I love having the power of the high rpm right on hand. If I had my choice, I would have a manual. But when I heard Ls1, I had to get it. I was told that manually downshifting an auto puts uneccessary pressure on the clutch, as well as the bands between 1st and 3rd. and 2nd and 4th). I have also had to have both these trannys rebuilt.... so ide say take it easy on it :)

[JYNX 95 T/A]

If you are cruising and someone pulls up to ya i usually just drop it down a gear rather than wait for my tranny to down shift plus it jumps the rpms up so i am right in my power band it seems to pull way better than if i were to just let my trans down shift then go? IDK HELP !

[93B4C]

Shifting manually will NOT hurt your transmission, the valve body can be altered to be full manual. You can also buy a B&M manual transpak for almost any trans to give you full control of your shift points. I had a th350 that had the manual transpak and the stage 2 shift kit and the transmission lasted a long time under heavy abuse. Also I have never shifted manually in my 93 camaro and the trans just bit the dust and it only had 96,000 miles on it. I plan on getting a ratchet shifter and manual transpak with a new 700r4 asap. It's not whether you shift manually or not it's how much you abuse the trans.

[wingback]

what about putting it into 3rd for getting upto speed quik mine seems like it goes into 4th to fast

[CamaroIshZ28]

what about putting it into 3rd for getting upto speed quik mine seems like it goes into 4th to fast
i do the same thing in my 94 z28 but my problem is that i takes too long to shift 4th when i floor it...

[red_z28]

i do the same thing in my 94 z28 but my problem is that i takes too long to shift 4th when i floor it...

Good way to burn up your overdrive band...............

[CamaroIshZ28]

well, this used to happen before i rebuilt the tranny, and now it still does it...