I've been thinking about adding the Stillen supercharger to my Max for quite some time now. If I do, I'll most certainly get the valvebody mod on my tranny. My question is...if I'm also thinking about getting a 5-speed conversion down the road some day, should I just go ahead and get the conversion now? Is it any more difficult to get a 5-speed conversion AFTER the supercharger has been installed? I definitely want to go SC, but if I can do that first and then get a 5-speed later, that'd be great. But if adding the SC adds any more complications for doing it later, then I'd just assume do it now.

Tony

 

I just put a s/c on my car its auto. My plan is to gather the parts little by little and wait for the transmission to (blow) hopefully I will have every thing I need by then and just do the swap. The only thing I have done to my trans. is put a cooler and change to synthetic fluid it needed the fluid change anyway. I might do the drop resister mod it takes way too long for the 1-2 shift. I don't think I would spend $400 dollars on a valve body mod to make the car shift hard all the time and also knowing I am going to swap it anyway.

 

For how long have you been driving your SCed maxi?? And how hard do you push it. Do you accelerate up to red line or less??
I gat auto tranny too and i thinking about SC.

 

You can get a bullet proofed tranny.

 

the auto trannies seem to last a long time, years, with a VB mob and tranny cooler on the SC kit

This have been proven by many. Some even pushing 9 psi

 

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Still one question, though: Is the 5-speed conversion going to be any more difficult or expensive after the SC has been added vs. doing the conversion beforehand.

Tony

 

I wouldn't think so. Maybe just pulling off the charge pipe and MAF to give more working room. Its tight down there by the slave.

 

are you saying that i shouldnt put the 2.87 with my vb'ed and cooled auto?

I really want to see what kind of numbers it puts down.

I guess I'll see how it holds up. I just got offered a 2001 AE VLSD 5-sp for a mildly reasonable price on friday.

 

i ran 11psi on stock tranny before i got a level ten, even then the tranny was running fine minus a little draggy at times. i only replaced the tranny because i was gonna run s/c and nitrous. but for all you stock tanny guys the vb mod and cooler will do wonders for your tranny and help keep it running under boost.

 

i got my vb from jeff (who installed it himself) way before i got my s/c. it was my favorite (NA mod)

 

Not at all. I honestly can't think of anyone running more than 9 psi, off the top of my head, on a SC'd auto. Actually, what was shadow running?

And Cmax, just said his is fine.

 

Shadow isn't SC'ed anymore is he? I thought he was TC'ed.

Steve, I think just run it till it goes and then swap. Its not like your gonna be able to sell it to any rightminded person. Just pawn off the cooler and VB and that will help with a bunch of the swap cost. And since you're getting a beater the downtime won't be a big deal.

 

I think Shadow is TC'ed now for sure...

 

he is Turbo'd now, he was sc'd for like 2 years though

 

I am seriously going to get a built tranny. I've been chatting with Rob at NRH a lot lately. I have decided on a 4.10 final drive, a 3300 tach stall torque converter (I only have a 2600 high stall now), a lock up switch for my torque converter while at WOT, and the ability to lock my car in 3rd gear while on the dyno. This also has a lifetime warranty if I stay under 480whp. And the power loss to the wheels will be about the same as a manual transmission. It is going to be nice to be able to turbocharge my car without any worries of my tranny being the weak link.

 

^Wow. That lockup sounds like the best thing. How is the stolen power reduced?

 

its just based on the gearing and the material used. I have looked at the NRH and Maximum Tuning trannies. I almost got it when I still lived out east.

 

He was S/C'd w/ the 3.33 pulley. We stripped the screw on the S/C so we never got on the 3.13 on there. That and it wasn't as fast as he wanted but that was the fuel system problem from a poor shop install.

There aren't any major downfalls to leaving the auto and running the S/C. It's already in the car and not worth much selling it so why not run it till it dies. On a turbocharger it makes a very big difference. The auto tranny is much wider and lower making it much more difficult to fabricate a turbo system for it.

As long as you can deal w/ the possibility of getting stranded should the tranny go (can happen w/a manual as well), then getting the S/C should be perfect for you. Just remember any FI setup can lead to things breaking if you're not careful. Knowing that going into it and you'll be fine.

 

Well, the gearing isn't what makes this tranny as efficient as a manual. But it does help a lot! Rob was saying that the power loss percentage goes WAY down with the parts he uses. He said the stock tranny is shimmed in certain places and those shims absorb power. He said he fabs up certain parts custom and cryo treats them and installed them so the clearances are much tighter, which results in less power lost. So basically, he said he makes all the clearances tighter and that helps out. He said, just by the tranny alone, you could see a 6-10 HP gain. Then add the higher stall, 4.10 gears, lock up function of the TC and I am going to see some nice gains. The gearing is my biggest worry. I wouldn't mind going with gearing shorter than 4.10. I told Rob to research the shortest gearing possible without compromising the integrity of the tranny. So we'll see what Rob decides on using for me.

 

I think the 5.5th Gen final drive is like 4.08 or 4.03 anyway...IIRC

 

Aren't you gonna have some major traction issues? 4.10? What is the stock final on the 3rd gens?

5.5 gens have a 4.something? D@mn! I guess that extra gear makes it bearable at highway speeds. Or is this in the auto? Are they 5Spd auto's?

 

No, AFAIK, the 5th gens have a 4 speed automatic. But 2nd gear can stretch to almost 95mph!! That's some LONG gearing. So they may have a 4 something final drive, but the gearing of each gear makes for some REALLY long gearing. My 2nd gear can only do 80mph.

4.10s won't make me have major traction issues. Well, on the street it will. But for the track, I will get slicks if my drag radials no longer hold the power. The higher stall almost makes traction a lot harder to attain. But the 60 foot can go from 2.2 to 2.0 overnight if you have traction.

The stock final drive of the VE Auto is 3.64.