4R70 valve body kit questions

[HwyCruiser]

Darrin,

I recently bought a '94 Mark VIII and the previous owner put in a Transgo shift kit and cooler within the past year or so. The 2-3 shift is ok, but the 1-2 shift bangs way too hard at anything other than feathering the pedal. I hate it. Not knowing what all the Transgo kit (or he) did to the original valve body I'm thinking I just need to replace it.

Anyway, I saw that you had a 4R70 valve body kits and upgrade components. Do you have settings for an upgraded valve body that just provide "easy on the neck" improvements in shift firmness that a decent tune provides? Thanks.

[HwyCruiser]

I've been doing a bit of searching around online for what all the Transgo shift kit involves and found that it is a lot more intensive than the "J-Mod", replacing many of the valve body springs and a few of the valves inside of the body. If anyone has some time to kill and see what's all involved see the AODE/4R70W video here: http://www.txchange.com/tgpvid.htm

Anyway, from what I understand the kit comes with 3 washers for the 2nd accumulator instead of the large spacer shown at about 24:25 in the video. From instructions found elsewhere you can choose to install 1,2 or 3 depending on how firm you want the 1-2 shift. As hard as this thing is shifting on the 1-2 I assume they put all three washers in and I'm tempted to just drop the pan and see what's in the 2nd accumulator. Like I said, the 2-3 shift is fine. If I'm looking at it correct on the video it doesn't look like you have to drop the valve body to get to it.

Comments and/or advice welcome from anyone out there.

[Darrin]

You aren't going to be able to get that to shift the way you want it to if one of those kits have been installed. Taking out those parts will mess things up because of what else has been done in the valve body and the installation of that plug in the case. The only way to get it right is to start over and remove all of that kit.

I can set you up with a modified valve body which will shift the way that you want it to and tell you what all needs to be undone on what you have.

My kit comes with some really nice and detailed instructions to make the job a breeze. And, with mine it is pretty much plug and play and you don't make any 'bad' modifications to get what you want.

Don't put spacers or washers in your accumulators. Those block off the accumulators to prevent them from functioning. The accumulators are there for a purpose. On an older non electronic race transmission where you want it to bang hard all the time on all the shifts, thats fine. On a newer electronic contolled transmission like these where you want good shift feel for daily driving, you really don't want to do something that prevents the computer from properly being able to modulate shift firmness. Kits like that are not the way to do this.

Darrin

[Blk Mamba]

You aren't going to be able to get that to shift the way you want it to if one of those kits have been installed. Taking out those parts will mess things up because of what else has been done in the valve body and the installation of that plug in the case. The only way to get it right is to start over and remove all of that kit.

I can set you up with a modified valve body which will shift the way that you want it to and tell you what all needs to be undone on what you have.

My kit comes with some really nice and detailed instructions to make the job a breeze. And, with mine it is pretty much plug and play and you don't make any 'bad' modifications to get what you want.

Don't put spacers or washers in your accumulators. Those block off the accumulators to prevent them from functioning. The accumulators are there for a purpose. On an older non electronic race transmission where you want it to bang hard all the time on all the shifts, thats fine. On a newer electronic contolled transmission like these where you want good shift feel for daily driving, you really don't want to do something that prevents the computer from properly being able to modulate shift firmness. Kits like that are not the way to do this.

Darrin

I'm going to have my trans done this summer, plus put in 4.10 gears, can you explain to me what your kit does, as opposed to the J-mod? I will be using this as my daily driver, to church on Sunday, and I want good shift points, not slow, sluggish changes. I don't want to break my wifes neck when she does ride in it, but I do want to feel a difference.

[HwyCruiser]

Darrin, thanks for the response. I'll give you a call when I get over the sticker shock on the car purchase.

[Embassy]

Darrin, thanks for the response. I'll give you a call when I get over the sticker shock on the car purchase.

What happened to purchasing that '60s Continental? :D

Congrats on the new ride.

[HwyCruiser]

What happened to purchasing that '60s Continental? :D

Congrats on the new ride.

The one I was looking at disappeared. Just as well, the Mark is pretty nice other than a few age-related issues. It's got a 32V 4.6L in it and I can feel a little bit of the Marauder, aside from the neck snapping 1-2 shift (that's gotta go) and the lack of boost (never going to happen on this car). Just something to play with for awhile.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

those are nice cars as long as the air ride works and doesn't leak

[HwyCruiser]

those are nice cars as long as the air ride works and doesn't leak
It's been converted to coil-overs and lowered 1-1/2 inches. The stance is what sold me on it. Not knowing what one drives with with a functional air ride system I'll say that this one still drives pretty nice.

BTW, I installed the new 2nd accumulator springs, piston and cap and the 1-2 shift is a lot better. The transmission shop that the previous owner had install the shift kit didn't read the instructions right (or thought they new better) and put the spacer in the wrong side of the piston. Here's the junk I pulled out of there:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll105/LincTudor/Mark%20VIII/Transgosprings.jpg

The expansion spring is still a mystery to me. I still wouldn't have done a shift kit but at least now it's tolerable until I get around to replacing the valve body.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I used to borrow my friends' 90s Mark w/ the DOHC 4.6. His air ride leaked down but it worked when the car was running. It was a soft riding car but had good power.