So I HAVE to keep the auto. No manual swap in question.

My transmission is slipping so I need a new one or get mine rebuilt. I can't afford a bullet proof transmission. Level10 wants 3200 and NRH is around the same with shipping. So I was thinking a low mile VLSD auto with a stage 2 VBmod and a high stall TC. But I don't know if that will keep my transmission lasting longer. I know it will shift faster, thus less heat; theoreticly letting the transmission last longer. But I need to know if it can handle the power. I know Jime and others have been running the stock transmission w/o problems but mine failed and I don't abuse it(no neutral drops, just a few redline shifts.)
Does anyone know if the level10 PTS rebuild kit is anygood? Or does anyone know anyone in the SE that does rebuilts with quality parts? What should I do? I need a stronger transmission that will last a long time. Last time I dyno'd I made 191WHP and 201 WTQ. I know it is not alot of power but over time it killed my current transmission. I only have 124000 miles on it and I have had a tranny cooler for over 60000 miles.

The PTS kit I mentioned above is here:
http://www.levelten.com/store/import...rts_nissan.htm
http://www.levelten.com/pts.htm
It is less then $600 but I don't know the quality of the product or how long it will last.
How much do you guys think it would cost to install that?

 

My question is, what do you do the most? 1/4 track runs? racing from a roll?.. if all your into is 1/4track runs, then getting a vlsd/drop resistor/mobil 1/cooler will be enough to last for ever (like jime, grey99, myself). now if you do alot of street racing or autox or anything that make your auto downshift under alot of power all the time, then going with VBmod stage 2 is good idea, i dont think you have to go all out and get a built tranny just for 200whp range.

The reason most auto's start to slip is because when you floor it, your downshifts. Inbetween that down shift there is alot of heat buildup and slip (specially when ur putting down more power), so thats when the VB mod can help alot by downshifting quicker. now from a stop ,there is no downshifting involved therefore less heat buildup when shifting (IF it shifts quick enough) thats why we use drop resistor because it provides an instant shift almost, probably quicker than vb mod.

 

I do a lil bit of 1/4mile racing but I down shift when I pass cars alot. Alot of 2lane hwy's back home. I read that a new TC will make my midrange better, is this true? What else can I do to make the transmission have less drivetrain loss?

 

Well as far as TC, Aaron, Jime, and Grey99 can shed more light on that. But to have less drivetrain, I dont think its possible. The most that can be done so far as far as i know is TC, VBmod, Drop resistor, shiftmod... now what i have done lately is put my WOT drop resistor switch to about 50% throttle. so i use full line of pressure when i go over 50% throttle. That will help tranny last longer since i dont have VB. Maybe u can do the same. Also, having drop resistor disconnected allows for constant full pressure and no slip therefore reducing drive train loss. grey99 says that its noticeable at the track compared to having it set at WOT. problem is, u cant drive around with it off. downshifts are too rough. this is just my input on this, im sure others can give u better information.

 

I've used and abused a VLSD automatic for 1 1/2 years on the strip, and it still shifts like new. If you want to play on the highway, you would be a perfect candidate for the pushbutton version of the "shift_fast" transmission controller some of us have built.

This thing (a Jime creation originally) will let you select UP or DOWN shifts from a bank of four pushbuttons. The shifts are immediate, hard, and very positive. It requires no internal mods to a stock transmission. I built a 3-gear manual version using a toggle switch and tested it for a while - awesome.

If you install a lo-miles VLSD tranny, install a tranny cooler, switch to Mobil1 fluid, and build the shift_fast controller, you could rule the highways. This mod engages and dis-engages with a switch. You don't get any overdrive, or gentle shifts, just an immediate shift with no slippage when you select a gear.

I've gone on to build a 8969-MSD controlled version (Shift_Fast) for the drag strip, which I really like, but it wouldn't fit into running on the highway. The manual version would. And it's a simple concept....

 

Yeah I saw that mod, I guess I will do it. I just need to make it look better
I have been using mobil1 fluid for a while. I think I have found a low mile VLSD tranny that I will swap in. What is the best way to determine what stall speed I need?

 

Well, no one's ever accused me of making beautiful mods ...... heh.

Stall speed - with an Edge torque converter, they can build what you want. If you're not going to beat up the strip, then high stall speeds are not for you. The Edge also tightens up the power loss the stocker has, and they are built with much stronger internal clutch plates. No reason for you to ever go beyond 1500, IMHO.

Call them up, talk to Andre, the torque converter wizard and discuss what you want to accomplish, and he'll help you pick the right one. They cost about $450 as I recall.

I can still take out the bottle, put street tires back on the front, and drive 478 miles to Dallas TX on one tank of gas. (27 mpg) And I have a 2800-stall Edge installed, for over one year now. Good stuff.

 

OT question
I heard the high stall torque converters are not good for regular day to day city driving b/c you end up using more fuel to get the car to move. Is this a myth or factual?

 

where is the thread for the pushbutton shift mod???

 

Kinda - it can make city driving a little less responsive, because the TC doesn't tighten up as soon as stock - but the car moves well before stall. I don't notice the difference in normal driving with the Edge.

It's what you want that matters - if it's fuel economy driving around town, then you don't want to be making performance mods anyway.... There is no free lunch.

 

I think this is the latest thread talking about the mod:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=499738

There are more threads, but no one has assembled everything in one sticky - yet.

 

My previous car (3rd gen eclipse) came with an 2000 stall torque converter stock. I replaced that with a 2400 stall torque converter and loved it. Normal street driving with easy gas was not noticeably affected at all, I just noticed the improvment when I really gunned it on a launch. I do not know what the maxima's stock torque converter's stall is.. but I wouldn't go below 2000 if you are going to go through the hassle of getting a custom/aftermarket one installed, it wouldn't be worth it in my opinion.

But then again, I don't know half of what grey99max does, so don't take my word for it, lol.

 

I was thinking about 2500 stall or so, I'll see what Edge says tomorrow.

 

You guys think a stock VLSD Auto with all the mods you have mentioned could take 700 BHP?

 

streetzlegend says:
Sorry, but ur question is not too clear to me. Being sarcastic or your actually asking?

 

First answer - " h*ll, no " - then, if you're talking crank HP, and you could reduce power during shifts, I think it would - for a while.

My free online Maui track HP calculator says I'm making about 386 HP at the crank, but now that I'm reducing power during the instant the tranny shifts, it handles the power nicely - you can feel the hit when it shifts.

I'm using a 8969 MSD controller to stop 2nd-stage spray when RPMs hit a preset point, the same point where the Shift_Fast controller shifts the transmission to the next gear. Come to think of it, it's a lot like letting up on the pedal as you shift a manual transmission into the next gear. Reach the desired RPM, let up on power, shift to the next gear, apply power again. Hummm....

I suppose you could use the same trick to cut ignition-coil power in the same way for SC and turbo and NA cars... Well, this might be interesting - and useful....

This will be Shift_Fast_2 . I might need to start building these....

 

Hey grey, an observation i have been making while using my wideband. is that when our auto shifts, at the shift theres no fuel. it just spikes up to uber lean.. which i think supports what i showed you about not spraying inbetween shifts. dont kno just an OT comment lol.

 

Are you sure? I don't think the ECU imposes fuel-cut when shifting - I sure couldn't have been spraying while shifting with a fuel cut = BOOM. That's gotta be wrong.....

Not spraying during the actual shift - yes, that's a Good Thing. I'm doing that automatically with my Shift_Fast_2 , you know! ( new name )

 

Here is an example of wat im talking bout. This was before doing any a/f correction or smoothing out the a/f but u can defently see where the shifts are. spikes to lean.

 

OK - I see what your talking about, but since there's no fuel cut during ECU-controlled shifts, what I think you see there is the A/F change due to the sudden drop in RPM and air-flow.

Does this mean you have dyno-run data to share ???

 

Nah no dyno yet till Sat. This was using my wideband and laptop to log.

 

That's interesting data - that's WOT A/F, yes?

 

yes. its at WOT the newer graphs are very smooth compared to that. like this latest run i did. this was a 3rd gear run, let off at about 5500 or lil less. This was done after making some adjustments on the vafc.

 

What do you use to log?

 

I have a LM1 Wideband. comes with a plug and serial cable to hook up to laptop and I use the software that came with it called LogWorks2. Thats the only thing i could log though, just a/f. Dosnt even show RPM. =(

 

Your A/F graph looks good.... but without RPMs, ???? Any way to add something to the LM1 to log RPMs ?? Guess I could look it up and answer my own question...

What do you think of the Shift_Fast_2 concept of shifting the auto while running with monster motors, by cutting spark or fuel or nitrous during the shift? I know it make a heck of a difference to my car. I wonder if it could save automatics in most high-HP cars ??? I think this could be important, but what do I know ?

 

I have an idea for the shiftfast mod that will look better. First I need to find another tranny because I find hard to believe that a 1995 tranny has 10k miles. I asked them if it was a typo and was suppose to be 100k but they said it has 10k

 

Yes you can add this RPM module crap they sell but you gotta buy it with another device, which in total would be bout $400 bucks!!! lol. so i rather guesstimate where the RPMS are. i already know the curve by memory and know where each point is just by doing it over n over again.

in the case of n/a or boosted, we would need to cut spark and fuel. because if there is no spark but still fuel its goign to just flood the cylinders wit fuel. But i think it would be awsome project. in the case of nitrous, like I showed you. letting off nitrous when car shifts, helps alot (i actually had better run doing that than spraying the shifts by .01 but its something lol, with highershot it would be more noticible, and shifts are just nicer/solid). this idea of shiftfast2 would be also great if we can do it while car downshifts. that way not sooo much power is being putout by the motor while car is downshifting and slipping. can save alot of auto's

 

The LM1 looks good - but expensive w/all the options..

It's actually easy to do both fuel and spark cut when the Shift_Fast_2 hits the preset shift point - there's only one connector wire for the coils' power and one connector wire for the injectors' power. Even with my ignition booster installed. The Shift_Fast_2 could use a relay to switch off both wires at the time the tranny shifts. That's easy to do.

What might be more complicated is updating the manual shift_fast to cut spray/ignition/injectors when a switch is moved or a button is pushed, but I suspect it can be done. If I figure out the mod, do you want to be first on the block to try it?

 

The LM1 cost me 178shipped. and its worth every penny. you dont HAVE to buy the extra stuff. u can just figure out RPM how i do lol, by having someone in the passenger seat telling you "hey!! the dip we see on the curve is at XXXX rpm" etc... lol

Hmmmm, im thinking about it. lol couple questions though. when coils and and injector wire get disconnected, how do we know for how long they will be disconnected(i guess depends on wat we use to control the relay)? What can we use as a signal to tell the relay to switch both off/on? perhaps we can use the cables for the solonoids somehow. that i think would work, great. and would be even better that way because if we use shiftmod_1, it will still work since the relay will be using the solonoids as signal. hmmmm.......

 

VLSD transmission have a 2.5in axle opening correct?

 

This will require a little thinking - I wonder if we need to mess with ignition, if the injectors (and spray, if any) are cut off during shift - just like the factory does at rev. limit. In first gear, both solenoids have 12 volts fed to them. At any other gear, one or both are unpowered, or at ground. Shifting a gear will alway cause a change in the voltages on the solenoids.

First thoughts for a universal shift_fast / Shift_Fast add-on:

1. No Active Electronics. Putting a small 12-volt relay in parallel with each solenoid will give a DPDT set of contacts to work with, for each solenoid. Charging a small capacitor from each relay's contacts when the relay is picked will allow that capacitor to momentarily pick a third relay, through steering diodes, when either solenoid changes state. The third relay can serve as fuel cut/nitrous cut through its contacts. The pick-time of the third relay can be adjusted by the size of capacitor.

2. With Active Electronics. Connect a capacitor to each solenoid's wire, connect to a simple one-shot that's triggered by either solenoid changing state, drive a fuel-cut/nitrous-cut relay with the one-shot, and adjust the cut-time at the one-shot level. Pretty simple electronics.

Oh yeah, I think there's a good way to remove the built-in fuel-cut of stock ECUs as well.... Shifting at 7000 sounds exciting, eh?

 

The VLSD tranny has a different driver's side axle, with different splines. I don't know the diameter, though.

Sorry about the kinda OT converations about automatics, but something good will come out of this......

 

I like the option 2. sounds a bit simpler. another important thing i would like to bring up is the reaction time between the change in solonoid to the actual transmission shift. Because since there is a fraction of a second delay from when we shift (wether it be manual shiftfast or msd shiftfast), There might be a problem. If we use the solonoids as signal for nitrous/coil/injectorcut, then that means the power is going to comeback before the shift is completed. do u get wat im saying? for example. solonoids change state, fuel/coil get cut off, auto shifts, while its bout to complete the shift, power comes back on. We just gotta see how long that delay takes. Maybe we can use another electrical device to hold the solonoids signal for longer.

 

Good observation, but in either case, the time the fuel is cut would be adjustable by the selection of parts,so that the off-time starts when solenoids change state and stays off for an adjustable length of time, preferably until the tranny completes the shift.

This gives the transmission the chance to shift quickly without major power being applied to it. You shift gears and fuel/spray is cut for say one second and then re-applied.

I know my transmission shifts faster when not under excessive horsepower. It handles the first-stage 75-shot jest fine while shifting, but when the Shift_Fast_2 cuts the second stage at shift, it bangs right into the next gear.

 

Andre said to get a 2800 stall TC. I will prob end up getting 2600 though.

 

Any particular reason for the 2600 ?? Just curious, since there aren't any rules to go by, it seems....

Was Andre on top of your questions?? Again, just curious... you're going to join the ORGers "on the Edge" - congrats. I don't regret mine.
.

 

I don't drag too much so I don't know if I need that high. But he is the expert and said 2800 would be fine on street so I might just follow his advice.

 

wat is this auto-talk I be reading about?????

you guys are up to no good!!!

Nismology's "All Mighty Shift of Zeus" is being threatened!!!!

 

Eh ? .......................