So i just had my timing done on my vg and the last person who done the belt must not have installed it properly if it was even done at all being the engine was a low km engine from Japan. The inside of the belt was wore down nearly about a quarter inch or so. I hadn't done the belt when the new engine went in almost 2 yrs ago. Everything ran fine until one day i was getting a bad misfire and an oil leak which appeared to be the rear cam seal. I took the car into my friends shop where he did the timing belt, tensioner and both camseals. The car ran great with no more misfire but soon after it started leaking oil again from the same place. Im hoping i dont have a bad camshaft. Its now being looked over and have the seal re done if thats the problem. Also noticed a small leak at the rear main seal. So it looks like im getting the rear main seal done too at which time i figured would be a good time to put a transgo shift kit in while the tranny is out aswell as have the valve body and shift solonoids done. Anybody have any good results or feedback with the shift kit in an auto vg?

 

I can't remember anybody offhand who had a shift kit in a VG here. I think if any did, they're probably long gone. Shift kits are supposed to help prolong a transmission by shortening the shift time, which alleviates wear on bands/clutches. Are you merely going for longevity on it, or are you actually looking for a performance upgrade? I suspect a plain "shift kit" may be almost negligible in terms of performance.

Dan might have had one in his VG before swapping to manual, maybe he'll chime in if so. Or he might have probably even had an actual upgraded valvebody rather than just the "shift kit".

I had an upgraded VB about 15 years ago in my original VE auto, but thinking about it now I honestly can't even remember what became of it. There was a guy here, Don something, who was sort of renowned in the Nissan world for his upgraded valve bodies and he did mine. But there was some sort of issue with it and it wouldn't shift out of second gear or some such. I remember being pretty pissed about it. I can't remember if he replaced it for me, or if I just said no thanks and got a refund or what. That's crazy I can't remember what the deal with that was.

Anyway, I also installed an external cooler along with it. I think if you're merely looking for longevity that an external cooler may be more beneficial.

VE autos have a harness on the driver strut tower for the line pressure for the valvebodies, and if you unplug it you get full line pressure in the valvebody and have instant/hard shifts. It's a poor man's valvebody upgrade. Definitely not to be used that way permanently though.

 

Not to hijack your thread but it's been bugging me not being able to remember the deal with my valvebody. After much searching I found my own post from 10 years ago it. It was a guy named Don Cooper, and his company was called MobileTek. Good times. Good times indeed

"A few years ago Don did my valvebody on my old VE auto. Of course before I installed the valvebody he was really quick to respond to e-mails and helpful etc. When I installed the valvebody and the 1-2 shift was actually worse than stock, he blamed it on my solenoids and claimed it was my transmissions fault. I debated him for a while and then he just started to ignore me plain and simple. Now, I was 90% sure that my transmission was in perfect working order, and that he screwed something up, but since I was no trained transmission expert I couldnt prove it or be 100% technically sure that it wasnt my transmissions fault or the solenoids. So I just lived with it for about a year.

Then I got my VE 5spd so I gave the valvebody to my bud Aaron92se. I mean it should work great in his car since it was my transmissions fault right? Well, the valvebody did the exact same thing in his car. Hmm.. the problem was MY transmission huh? Long story short Don wouldnt fix the valvebody and/or even live up to his inadequately performing vavlebody or even admit the slightest bit of fault or liability. Aaron eventually sent it to those guys in NY (cant remember the name) who also do VB's. They ended up fixing Don's shoddy work. There were missing ball bearings and some other inexplicably retarded things with the VB that Don worked on.

I do believe there was some drama concerning that situation with myself, Don, and Aaron92se that was played out here on the forums. Someone could do some searching and find those old threads if they were really interested.

A good amount of people seem to have no problems with Don at all. However, he's also seemed to have screwed a bunch of people over the years and seems to like to ignore customer service situations when they dont go his way. Go figure."

 

Thanks James, A good friend of mine has the car on his hoist at his shop and made the suggestion that it would be a good idea since i was planning to have a shift kit put in to have it done when he does the rear main seal while the tranny is out. The tranny shop id send it to is just around the corner and local and atleast i know the the person that would be doing the tranny work should anything go wrong but shouldnt be the case since to my knowledge he's a good tranny specialist and has rebuilt a number of RE4FO2A's in his time. Being the tranny's not blown and has been working o.k he would just be doing the valve body, shift solonoids and putting in the shift kit. He told me it would firm up the shifts but not to have too high of expectations performance wise. He said most of the RE4FO2A's would go out due to some pins that would break and if they went down into the planitaries? would ruin the tranny. For now my concern is why the rear cam seal is leaking but i should be finding out soon. The only dilema is i park the car for the winter and the guy who's doing the tranny work isnt back until mid january so being im here in Canada im hoping the snowy weather holds off awhile longer otherwise i may have to just get the cam seal leak dealt with and wait until spring to do the rear main seal and tranny. The rear main seal seems to be only leaking minor but im not sure if its still o.k to drive with it though i'd only be driving short distance from the shop to home and back to the shop in the spring if the weather doesnt hold up.

 

Re-reading your original post it seems that you didn't replace the rear main seal when you got the JDM engine first place? (Why didn't you by the way?)

If it's the original rear main seal, it's pretty normal that it would be leaking by now. Unless it's POURING out, I would have no qualms about continuing to drive it. Of course, if you leave puddles everywhere you go you want to top off your oil level as appropriate.

 

Yes i should have replaced it for piece of mind before the engine went in but at the time the seal appeared to be o.k and wasnt leaking so i figured leave it alone but now i kick myself in the butt for what the seals probably worth. At the moment its just a very small drip and not pouring out. I was told being its an auto i shouldnt have to worry about any contamination. Im going to see if i can hunt down the seal and hopefully if the weathers not bad by mid January i can just get everything done one time otherwise if i have to wait until spring i'll just have to get the cam seal leak dealt with and get the rear main seal and tranny done come spring time.

 

yeah i had the transgo kit.

was it the miracle cure...no. it helped with some of the faults of the RE4F02A. the slips and bumps or the delayed down shifts.

i did the transgo with a heavier rebuild - better friction? (so the shop tells me) and a higher stall TC.

the TC killed my MPG...but it was great on launches..haahaaa. around town i was struggling since it needs to wind up a little.

if you have close to 100K on the current transmission..have your guy rebuild it. swap out the friction and etc. clean the filter...once you open the VB you're pretty much in there. yeah the pan is up top but the pump seal rings are a lot better than stock in the transgo kit.

James...Don was a crook. there were MANY complaints. he had no way to test these VBs when he hacked them together...and i doubt he had a lot of experience with the VBs.

the guy in NY was Jeff...he didn't do the VBs himself..he had a local shop do them too that actually knows transmissions.

 

Ac, I strongly encourage you get the seal from the dealer; I learned that the hard way.

 

Are you refering to the rear main seal? I got my crank and cam seals from the dealer. If i they can still get the rear main seal then i'd probably get it from the dealer aswell. What kind of seal did you have a bad experience with aftermarket?

 

Thanks for the heads up DanNY, The tranny specialist said not to have high expectations performance wise but it will firm up the shifts and like you mentioned the slips and bumps etc.