Shift kits for automatics?

[Nafunu32]

Is there any type of shift kit that would help out 1/4 times for an automatic? My roommate mentioned something about a Stage 2 shift kit for about $500. Any truth in that?

[Nemesis]

I wouldnt waste your time.

[Nafunu32]

14.4 with an ATX... nice... do you have a website with all of your mods? or a post perhaps? Thats a nice lookin time.

[Nemesis]

I have an old video of my 14.6 run. However the only thing I have from my 14.4 is my time slip somewhere at home.

[Nafunu32]

Show me the video. :)

[BigBalledOX]

Is there any type of shift kit that would help out 1/4 times for an automatic? My roommate mentioned something about a Stage 2 shift kit for about $500. Any truth in that?

Something you should do before listening to anyone's advice about these cars is request credentials. "Stage 2 shift kit"? What? I've never heard of any kind of "Stage 2 shift kit". Now, I will grant you, I have a five-speed, so I know very little about the CD4-E transmission. Regardless, I think he's blowing smoke up your ass.

I have heard of a shift kit which is installed at the time of a rebuild, but my (granted limited) understanding of it is it is not a performance part, more like an OEM upgrade. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

There is a company out of New Jersey called Level Ten. Level Ten DOES sell the performance upgrade kits for the CD4-E. The effectiveness of these kits had been widely debated, but I believe cost will be in excess of $1000 for the kit and in excess of $2500 for the a whole transmission.

[Nafunu32]

Wow... for an ATX? Swaps are cheaper and more efficient than that. Yeah, I wasn't sure what he was talking about. Someone at work mentioned it to him. He says it pretty much shifts at peak RPMs when drag racing. I said what about daily driving? He said only works if you get on it.

He also said it was like $500. I was thinking yeah :bs: but wanted to make sure.

[B3NN3TT]

A Level Ten automatic is just as good, if not better, than a stock MTX-75, performance-wise.

Your best bet is to find a good high-stall torque converter.

[Nafunu32]

But $1000 is a lot. Guess its cheaper than the $3k for MTX swap. May be a long term plan. I still have to get exhaust, headers, and cai. lol

[jaged]

it is possible to break into the 15's w/o nitrous. AEMcougar did it, and im knocking at the door(16.15) if i ever go to the track on a cooler day and get some lighter rims and drag slicks

[Logan Motorsports]

I can significantly improve the performance of your automatic with computer tuning. You may not believe it, but I can control line pressures in and out of the valve body, I can control converter lock-up points, as well as shift points. We have seen a tenth and a half on mustangs with just trans tuning. I don't know exactly how much is to be gained on the cougar, but ford sets them from the factory to be pretty plush, and I can get rid of that.

[Nafunu32]

I'm getting an ADC chip made for my 3.0l swap. They are getting pretty aggressive with the timing... I will have to run 91 octane now. I think thats the highest we have in this area. Some pumps may have 93, but for the majority its 87,89,91

[jaged]

the tune on my chip from adc in my atx was agressive enough that the car would spin the tires a bit shifting into 2nd. but then the trans gave up on me, but it does have 150k miles on it though and thats on 87 octane

[Nafunu32]

i told him i had an atx... my atx has been takin out once by my uncle, cannot remember why they took it out... but the car has 120k miles on it. Blackcoog said with the escape build and escape cams i'll spin through 2nd gear... anyway to prevent this?

[Clutch]

feather into the throttle. cars with alot of Hp dont do burn outs all the time

[james99]

there is a shift kit for the cd4e, i think its called the transgo jr. shiftkit. it was on the level 10 site, cant remember the price. you can try emailing them, i have sent them 2 or 3 over the last couple of months and havent got a reply on any of the, so good luck.

[Strife]

Should do research before I post but as far as I understand the Transgo Jr. kit is not designed to make the CD4E shift any faster (ie. faster 1/4 mile) but just a far better aftermarket design for the valves and such compared to OEM.

Long standing opinion is that the CD4E is a decent lightweight albeit inefficient transmission in stock form that suffers from heat problems if used in a hot enviroment.

If you want a ATX to last longer than the average ATX get an additional transmission cooler and for god sakes hope that someone changed the frickin' fluid at 30k / 60k + whenever it needed to be changed.

[Nafunu32]

I dunno, I bought it at 118k miles and I haven't done anything to it. Do I need to change the tranny fluid when I replace the motor? Where can I find a tranny cooler? Someone care to explain what it is/does? I haven't even seen one before. heh

[BigBalledOX]

If you don't know maintenance history, you'd probably wanna go ahead and flush the tranny with that kind of mileage on it.

As for a tranny cooler . . . well . . . it uh . . cools the tranny. A cool tranny equals a happy tranny. You will definitely want this with your 3L or you will shortly have the FLASHING TRANNY IDIOT LIGHT OF DOOM, which is no good.

You can pick one up at a local NAPA, should be around $60ish.

[Nafunu32]

I know it cools the tranny but where do most people install them? lol, I tried searching for "tran cooler" and got like 2 results from posts 2 years old. Is there a how to, or FAQ about it? I know this is noobish, but I know nothing of trannys and little of motors.

[mond12345]

I know it cools the tranny but where do most people install them? lol, I tried searching for "tran cooler" and got like 2 results from posts 2 years old. Is there a how to, or FAQ about it? I know this is noobish, but I know nothing of trannys and little of motors.

Look one post down! Even has pictures... :eek:

[bensenvill]

As for a tranny cooler . . . well . . . it uh . . cools the tranny. A cool tranny equals a happy tranny. You will definitely want this with your 3L or you will shortly have the FLASHING TRANNY IDIOT LIGHT OF DOOM, which is no good.


we have a tranny light?

[jaged]

its in one of the lcd screens in the guages. its either a flashing "!" or a solid "!". I know it well :(

[Y2Kat]

Could you run a Venom 400?

[NorCalCoug]

its in one of the lcd screens in the guages. its either a flashing "!" or a solid "!". I know it well :(

It's a round gear with an exclamation point inside that flashes.

I have seen it, and it was unhappy.

It was even more unhappy $2k later into a swap for a rebuilt tranny. Go 18+ hr book time for Tranny Swap!

[Nafunu32]

Ah, that sucks. I would love to have a manual for racing but as a daily driver its easier to drive the auto. Level 10 kit probably wouldn't be a bad investment later on down the line.