help building automatic shift box

NYSpeed Automotive
1

I made a thread on SHOforum a while back because I would like to have a manual shift box for my turbo car instead of allowing the computer to shift for me. I am not going to pretend I know how to build such a thing, but I do have a extra valvebody laying around to preform testing on.

I would like the final produck to have 5 buttons. One button for each gear and the 5th button or the converter lock. If possible to have it changed back to PCM shifting that would be neat but i’m not that picky. Any thoughts other than get a different car or swap it to stick?

this is the info I gathered from SHOforum

[quote=“hawkeye18"”]

As very heavily formatted from the manual:

Solenoid Operations Chart-ax4s

Gear Selector----Powertrain-----Eng Brake -ss1-ss2-ss3
—Position-----Control Module
----------------Commanded
-------------------Gear

P/R/N--------------P/R/N----------NO–OFF(a)-ON-(a)-OFF
(D)------------------1------------NO—OFF—ON-----OFF
(D)------------------2------------YES–ON----ON-----OFF
(D)------------------3------------NO—OFF—OFF----ON
(D)------------------4------------YES–ON----OFF----ON

W/ OD OFF (in D)

1--------------------1------------NO—OFF—ON----OFF
2--------------------2------------YES–ON----ON----OFF
3--------------------3------------YES–OFF—OFF—OFF

2nd GEAR MANUAL

2--------------------2 -----------YES–ON----ON----OFF
2(b)-----------------3 (b)--------YES–OFF—OFF—OFF

1st GEAR MANUAL

1--------------------1------------YES–OFF----ON----OFF
1(B)-----------------2------------YES–OFF----OFF—OFF
1--------------------3------------(c)—(c)----(c)----(c)
1--------------------4------------(c)—(c)----(c)----(c)

(a) - Not contributing to powerflow.
(b) - When a manual pull-in occurs above a calibrated speed the transaxle will downshift from the higher gear until the vehicle speed drops below this calibrated speed.
(c) - Not allowed by hydraulics.

[/quote]

2

Get a programmable chip with 25 outputs and 5 inputs.

3

I was under the impression controlling the shifting of an auto tranny not designed that way caused gear shifts with low fluid pressure basiclly causing clutch packs to burn up quicker.

4

BING

level 10 transmissions made a kit for doing this but it looks like they discontinued it…

it does nothing to imporove performance except let you hang gears longer… it would be QUITE easier to just swap in a manual

5

I know kits for other cars…Just make the transmission run full line pressure all the time or use vacuum to control line pressure.

I don’t think you will be able to pull this off and have it be at all reliable.

6

there is 5 solenoids in the valvebody. 3 for gear selection which are on/off solenoids, one to control converter lockup which is variable, and one to control line pressure to the clutches which is also variable. I would have to imagine that the one for the converter and the one for line pressure could be run near their max most of the time to reduce heat from friction by reducing clutch slip. The PCM cannot react fast enough to shift on time in first or seccond gear on my car. I have the 1-2 shift event starting at 5500rpm at WOT and it isn’t complete untill 7000-7200rpm most of that time is slip so a fair part of the powerband gets wasted in first gear. It is not as bad in seccond but it does bother me.

Get a programmable chip with 25 outputs and 5 inputs.

I am not famaliar with such a device can you give me a example?

7

I had a similar issue with my Formula with the big stall and a lot of gear…it just took a lot of tuning to get it dialed in…

8

I will keep at it with tuning it but I think part of the problem may lie with the 17mhz processor in the PCM.

honestly I would be happy with getting the converter on a switch. If anyone knows how to find out what needs to happen to trigger a solenoid to make this whore lock it would solve my overheating problem.