so ive been reading up on this and im pretty much interested in doin it, but i see it done to mostly 4th gens. now ive searched and the pics that were once up dont show anymore..sooo if anyone has any info and pics on not only how to to the mod but the switch that should be used, and a comparison to having a toggle switch/ or an on and off switch / or the infimous wot switch, i would greatly appriete it.. thanks in advance

 

you can find the resistor itself under the hood no problem. Its a silver box w/ 2 wires going up to it on the drivers' side shock tower.

as for a switch, all you gotta do is have one wired up to either of the wires to un-do the circuit.

 

so exactly how would i wire it up ??

 

Exactly as you would the 4th gen version, as I'm sure you've seen in your extensive research. .

Only item to remember is that the 5.5 gen does not have any throttle linkage, so if you're looking for a WOT switch, it would have to be under the pedal itself.

 

The pictures no longer show on in the 4thgen forum... I'm tring to see wat the switch looks like and how its mounted

 

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1.../switch002.jpg
There's where I mounted my switch. Just cut one of the wires leading to the resistor. Wire in the switch in line with the lead you cut. Then you can turn it on or off as needed. Just be aware that if you leave it off for a while the check engine light will come on. I turn mine off for the track, and when I drive home I have to reset the check engine light.

 

I've serched also but all the pics are gone so which wires need to be cut before or after the connector, ie. black/grey wires inside the mount (after connector) or the wires leading to the connector?

 

Is that a toggle switch?? So pretty much when u take off u flip the switch ?? Do u have any pics of wat the switch looks like from th bak?? And where do I get one from

 

You can use any kind of switch...it looks like just a generic switch...I got a switch (w/ red "on" led on it) for my CCFLs for $2.99 from The Source down here in Canada....I would say try Circuit City or Best Buy in the states..

 

If you want a WOT switch, you will need an NC (nromaly closed) switch. Which can be found @ radio Shack for very cheap.

 

It's been a couple of days...Didn't know if you found what you were looking for as far as what wire to cut. Find the resistor on the shock tower. There's 2 wires connected to it. Pick one wire and cut it leaving a few inches on either side. Wire in a toggle switch so that the wire you cut must go through the switch to either activate or disable the resistor. Then whenever you want to get rowdy just disable the resistor. Piece of cake. There's a small rubber plug on the driver's side firewall that you can take out giving you access into the passenger area for the wires. As far as the switch I used...Its just a small toggle switch from radio shack. Nothing fancy. I drilled a hole in my spare switch panel plug as you can see in the picture. The radioshack switch came with a nut to secure it. Hope that helps you.

 

and what does disabling the resistor do ?

 

I'm still confused where do I cut? Red or Yellow?

 

Run the switch from either the red or green wire you have circled in yellow. Break the circuit by cutting one of the wires, run one side through one switch terminal, run the other side through the other switch terminal, and then back to the other side of the wire that you cut. Too easy.
You will, however, get a MIL when you break the continuity (switch off), but the transmission will shift at full line pressure when this happens.

 

I forgot to mention that you only want to break that continuity when you are going WOT. You could do serious damage to the transmission if that is not the condition, or if you're downshifting or going between states (Park/Neutral to Drive/Reverse, etc).

 

+1

It doesn't matter which wire you cut guys, you are breaking the circuit to that resistor.

 

Ight I've been away for a lil bit so I had to bring this bak up cause I'm gonna do it when I get bak from cali...
I went to radio shak to check out their swtiches and I told the clerk I needed a normally closed switch he had no idea wat I was talkin about..lol so all I need is a switch that have two points for connection wire that up the way that is stated above and boom I'm in buisness correct??
How long have u guys had this hooked up for??

 

Just letting you know, I did this and it shot my tranny. I had already been having low spikes in gear shifts so it was already hurting but this finished it off. I really don't recommend it, you will maybe gain a tenth or two from this mod. You can gain the same by doing a basic weight reduction before a time trial at the track and not risk your tranny in the process.

 

I bet your dumb *** just left it off all the time.

The mod works fine for WOT shifts and thats it. Otherwise you are gonna end up like the village idiot above.

 

I had a switch, nice try though.

 

Did you guys have a tranny cooler??? Also with low spikes I would be scared to try this mod.... but I've read that a tranny cooler is recommended with this mod.. the thing I'm wondering is how does it perform on the high way??

Still looking for picks on the back of the switches...also I would be running a 12 volt source to this to break the current correct??

 

plug it back in when your doing your regular day to day driving

 

whats this mod for?

 

Im sure you did. But which trans was it? The first one you blew up with all that horsepower you were making with the sweet hoodscoop and sti badge or the one you had rebuilt?

NO. just use the switch to interrupt the circuit.

Cut one of the wires on the drop resistor, extend the wires to the cabin. Put the switch between the 2 ends of the wires. And yes i have a trans cooler.

Hell if you want leave em bare and twist em together for when you want to keep it normal and tear them *****es apart when you want to.

 

To the OP...I wouldn't worry about hurting your tranny with this mod as long as you use it for what it is intended for. Use it when going wot only such as when drag racing. When going wot a quick shift is what will actually prolong the life of the tranny. A slow shift is what will kill it. If I'm not mistaken Jime, who is the Maxima quarter mile time record holder, uses this mod with much success on his otherwise stock transmission...That's all the convincing needed for the benefit of the drop resistor mod.

 

The stock one. Talk **** all you want, when he kills his tranny and comes on here asking for help I'm gonna love to rub it in your face.

Your altering the shift patterns of the stock tranny in a way it was not intended, thus the chance for damage is fairly high. It may never break or it may go in a week. Why take the risk when you can get better, safer gains. You'll get the same or better just from things like a K&N, some nice tires, cat back, weight reduction before a run.

Drop resistor should be on the lower end of mods to do.

 

car shifts a bit harder and faster

 

You clearly demonstrated how much you know about what the drop resistor does. It does not alter shift points and should not under WOT (wide open throttle). It makes your transmission's solinoids operate at full pressure. So it just shifts harder. Jime and many others have attested that helps preserve the life of your transmission under WOT because instead of the gearchange hanging inducing wear on the clutch packs it happens fast and appropriate for the condition. Also the mod does not make your car noticeably faster, I will attest to that. You will probably get about the same gains as you would with a catback on a stock 3.0.

Stop posting in this thread with incorrect information about the topic at hand. If anyone reads this thread and questions your credibility all they have to do is look at the pathetic threads you have created in the past.

 

i dont see why everybody keeps jabbing at this guy... o.k he clowned around earlier, move on... he's actually right, it can wreck your tranny whether u leave if off or not... my old 4th gen's tranny went after taking it off for the first time for 2 runs... i got banned for saying anything close to swearing so watch out, though im pretty sure i would be the only person banned for saying that same line

 

he may not know it's purpose, but he actually does know about it well enough to know that it can cause ur tranny to slip...

 

Bro, like stated in the past on these forums and countless forums, harder shifts are full pressure are really only better in theory. In real world application you aren't going to "preserve the life of your tranny." Yes in theory a quicker shift would be better but naturally the tranny isn't always going to shift the way you want it.

You also have to realize the circumstances in which you would be using the switch. I don't know if you've ever ran at the track before but not every run goes perfectly, even for autos. All he needs is to bounce of the rev limiter once by accident and mess up a manual shift and the tranny is going to hit hard and cause damage.

Sure I've made stupid threads in the past, but regardless your talking to someone who did it properly and lost their tranny within months of doing the mod. Sure there were other factors as to why it went as my shop told me, however they did say they were 90% sure the switch played a role. Not only that, but my 3 year warranty on the rebuilt tranny would get voided instantly if I did the mod again.

You can argue its better all you want at WOT if you want but your leaving out too many very likely situations in which the car could get ruined.

He could accidentally leave it on after using it, he could have a bad run, the wires in the switch could become loose, the list goes on.

To the op, just find another mod. If you really want to lose that extra .05 off your quarter, at LEAST make sure you put the switch in the **** pit. Run two pieces of auto wire from each end that you splice off the tranny wire into the cockpit and into the switch, I'd say mount the switch near the dimmer. That way you can turn it on only when your already in gear. If you have to stop and open your hood every time its going to require you to shift at least from drive neutral and when you put it back into d yours going to feel the whole car bang because its shifting too hard.

And btw the unnecessarily hard shifting will even add wear to your mounts too, if their stock mounts of course.

Just think, is less than a tenth REALLY worth over a grand? Hell no! If you blow that tranny, regardless of how you fix it, your looking at $1500 minimum even if you find a used junkyard one. Why not take even a 1/4 of that potential cost and get some bolt ons?

 

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone tried using a lower or higher rated resistor to see if that will bump line pressure without making it too harsh?

 

Just to shed some light on this mod, I did this about 5 months ago. Not sure when I began to realize it but I found my 1 -2 and 2 - 3 shifts to be a bit harsher to the extent where I found it noticeable even when the switch wasn't being pressed.

I had cut the wire, run two wires to a normally closed switch in the cabin.
So recently I changed out all my tranny fluid, looking to fix my harsh shifts.

Then I thought about this mod. I undid the wiring and like magic, my auto tranny is shifting like butter again. Call me crazy but I found the increased resistance of the 8-10 feet of 18 gauge copper wire I used, caused enough increase in resistance to cause my tranny to shift a bit harsher even when the button wasn't being pressed(or I had a bad normally closed switch that had a lot of resistance)

 

Jime used/played with various resistors and none seemed to make a notable difference.

 

This is interesting. I'm wondering.... If you installed a Potentiometer that was 0 Ohms -to- (enter stock resistor value), then couldn't you essentially 'turn up' the pressure with the Potentiometer?
Or does the Trans ECU read direct on/off when the resistance is met?

Gregs note below makes me think it's possible.

Well, to start, that was an uncalculated wire gauge choice

Just raggin on you, most guys probably run 22 gauge.

I wouldn't run anything but 14 AWG that far, especially considering the fact that you're modifying a resistor based circuit, that is carefully calculated by the manufacture.

 

Yea I didn't really put too much thought into it, I thought the resistance was negligible. Especially considering the wires I was connecting into were like 22/24 gauge.

 

Yup they are about 22 AWG, but that's calculated into the equation when they made it, so adding an extra few feet would throw that in the garbage. Ideally, you need to add a minimum of 12 AWG over 10' in a previously calculated resistor based low amperage circuit. Even then, you're affecting it, but the impact is so small it's almost unmeasureable for that application (12 gauge for the Drop Resistor switch)

I think 14 would be ok, as you're likely only running about 5-8 feet.

 

Jime tried that, and it didn't make any changes. It's been years and years but I believe that's what was concluded.


Considering all of the "raw" pioneering both Jime and SR20DEN and a few others did back when these things were new, they were innovative breakthroughs at the time. But now, years later, we have the options that they essentially grandfathered that are available at a little bit higher price, but with better resolution & control.