Thread: Shift kits...

I have the transgo shift kit in my impala, and i love it, shifts nice and hard at wot

Shift kits DO NOT shorten the life of a transmission unless someone has severly harsh shifts. Every performance transmission has one no matter who it comes from. Basically a shift kit is designed to shorten and quicken shifts which is much needed on near any stock transmission especially when adding more power as it was not designed to live with added power. A shift kit will prevent clutch slippage when set up properly which extends the life of a transmission, not shorten it. The idea is not to have hard bangy shifts which could potentially cause broken parts, the goal is to make a shorter and quicker shift to prevent clutch slippage that will burn up clutches over time. As far as which type of shift kit to use that is preferrence and there are a lot of options out there though only a few are really worth using. Shift Kit is actually a Transgo name that everyone has taken themselves to use on there own over the years but is a general understanding of what it is supposed to do which is correct shift problems and often to firm up shifts.

The basic Transgo 4T65E shift kit is a good kit but is not going to provide you with a much firmer shift over stock though it will help quicken the shifts a bit at WOT. The Thrasher/Transgo performance kits work well and give you adjustability as well as the Intense shift kits. Those two are the better ones to go with for firmer shifts and are very complete.

Originally Posted by Merlin

Just a quick question about shift kits vs hp tuners.

can i avoid buying a shift kit if i have hp tuners. can i get the same effect with changing line pressure?

I was wondering the same thing.

It is best to use both, that way you dont have to turn up the line pressure as much which is all around easier on the trans. You can certainly get good firm shifts with some tuning though so you dont have to use a shift kit, it just depends on the trans condition and what kind of power you are making. I mildly modded car will work fine with some pcm changes.