Has anyone taken the tabs off the stock weights (.100") to raise their shift points? Is this to much or not enough:



This is on my '88, looking for a small increase from stock. 5200 RPM tops.

 

I don't see the "tabs" to which you refer.

I have a B&M kit that has a varity of weights which I believe vary in 1gm increments. That should be your target increment, IMO.

 

It took a few tries to get mine correct for my mod combination. Then later on I went to a Miniram and had to do it again.

 

It makes sense to just take a little off the stock weights, I am wondering how much. Anyone done that instead of experiementing with weights? This is what they normally look like:

 

My governor gear broke and I didn't get to test this. Ah well I do have the B&M kit so I'll start trying weights.

 

FYI, Contrary to popular belief, you will find that going with lighter springs will end up not letting your car shift at all. I ended up with springs only about 1 step lighter than stock in mine and my part throttle shift points are still way too low. If I lighten the springs up any more it won't shift at all and bounces off of my 6500 rpm rev limiter. (Scary on a stock bottom end) As far as weights, the B+M shift kit only comes with 6 weights and they are all different. The 700R4 needs 2 inner weights, and they need to be the same. I ended up using a dremel to modify 1 of the weights in the B+M kit to make it the same as another. I think I modded the #4 so I have 2 #5's. That is giving me a shift at about 6200 rpms. You can buy a new "double diamond weight governor" on ebay for cheap if you need to go back to stock. To jump up from your stock shift points it doesn't take much weight removed, but the higher you get the more weight you need to remove to make a difference. Still, I'm surprised that just those little tabs being removed made THAT MUCH of a difference. My setup is way different than yours though, I'm running a high stall converter and a B+M shift improver kit and many other things that change shift points and characteristics a little. I had mine in and out about 8 times till I got what I wanted, and still I'm not happy with the part throttle shifts but I guess a full out shift kit is the only way to change that. If there is anything I can help you out with let me know, I still have extra parts from my B+M shift kit and from my extra governor.

 

Are you telling me that try as hard as you had (8 times), you couldn't raise your PART THROTTLE shifting points? I'm in the same position with the same problem. There must be someone out there who has been successful.

 

It's OK to use different weights per side but it is preferred to keep them equal. The directions even say it's OK to use one inner weight instead of two. You can guess what this would do for wear but hey they last a long time.

I was surprised at that much change as well but that is the end of the weight. The directions say to take some metal off the corners. I was reading an old thread where Pete K mentioned trying 11.2 grams. That is closest to the #3 weight from the kit so I am going to try leaving one stock modded weight and the #3 weight.

I'm not changing the springs at all just experimenting with a little more RPM. I may pick up the diamond gov just to swap changes easier instead of getting out from under the car and changing weights. It'd be nice to swap the new change right back in.

 

I modified mine substantially. I took masking tape and went from where the piece bends at the square corner out diagnally to the tip on both sides where the little square tap is. I then ground off the metal with a bench grinder. It is now shaped like a triangle.
This was done based on Dans0617's recommendation.
Under wot 1-2 shift is now at 5700rpm. 2-3 shift is now at 5500rpm. This is with the stock springs and only removed 1 time. I haven't played with the springs yet. I may take some more material off the weights to see if I can get closer to 6000 with the stock springs.

Thanks Dan!

John

 

After reading that it seemed doubtful the small amount I took off mine would make that great of a change. I found my gear busted when I went to make another change.





What the hell happened there? I was very gentle with the part, there was no issue putting the gear back in.

Can the plastic be easily cleaned out enough from the trans? What is the best way to clean this up? I ordered a new PATC governor. I would like to get a new gear for this stock one, Pete do you have any?

 

Here is what it took for a new stock 89 governor to shift at 6100 rpm from 1-2 and 5900 rpm 2-3.
This with the stock springs. The weights have been modified substantially.




Here is what it took to shift at 5700rpm from 1-2 and 5500 rpm 2-3.



This is on a 383 HSR with a 700r4 automatic, 3000 stall & 3.07 gears.

As a very important side note, when I cut the tips off of the triangle for the 6000 rpm shifts I noticed some binding on one side when I pushed in on the inner weights with my fingers compressing the springs. The edges of the inner weights were sticking slightly on the edge of the holes for the outer weights. I had to trim slightly on one of the weights to stop the binding. So one is trimmed sligtly more than the photo depicts. Make sure you check for binding prior to re-installation into the transmission!

Cheers,
John

 

Awesome pics! I'm stuck in testing, I think parts of the broken plastic governor gear are affecting the valve body so I'm going to pull that.

 

Man that is not good! I'm am really sorry to hear that this turned out so bad for you. I replaced my governor when I noticed some wear on the green gear. Now that I see yours I am really glad that I did.

Cheers,
John

 

How do you know what RPM to set it at?

Don't you need to dyno it first to see where your HP peaks?

My Vette seems to shift too soon and bog down a bit. I'm thinking of increasing the shift point too. Why did you choose 5200 RPMs?

I have a superam and I think I should be shifting much later.

 

You can hold it in gear and shift manually at a drag track and compare RPM vs times. A dyno would be faster. I really just wanted to try an experiement with modding the stock weights. But then my gov gear broke. I took down the pix since I thought this thread had died out, now I wish I hadn't! I could take more though, it's easy to upload. Mine could use a little more RPM, I've added LT headers, LTR and base, and am collecting parts to do a cam. What I found the worse was on a road course it would upshift to fourth at like 4300 and I'd rather stay in drive for a few seconds more as the corner isn't far off.

 

Yes I agree dyno or track will work. I did both. Presently my motors peak h.p. is at 5500 RPM. That is why I was looking for 6000RPM.
Really anything over 6000 is OK for me. The HSR intake makes good flat power up above 6K. No big drop off like the TPI! I was manually shifting at the track but I feel I can pick up some time letting it shift itself.
Anyway I added the photos because I felt it would be a good addition to the post.

John

 

John,

Did your times improve when you shifted manually? I was told it's best to leave it in D for the 1/4. My trap speed was a little low. My best et was 13.7. That was with leaving it in D.

I'll try going to the track and shifting at different RPMs. That should give me a good idea of where to go with the weights.

 

Yes my times were better in "D" with the TPI and mildly modded TPI motor. Once the peak h.p. went above 4600 rpm shifting manually produced quicker e.t.'s.
The Stealth Ram obviously peaks higher than 4500 rpm so I started shifting manually. I have noticed that my transmission shifts quicker by itself than when I do it manually. I believe I can pickup .1-.2 in the 1/4if I get the trans to shift itself at the right point. Thats why I went after calibrating the governor for 6000 rpm shifts.
Also I have a push button on the shifter for the nitrous which creates a multi task situation when shifting manually. I am trying to reduce the number of tasks that I perform to reduce the possibility of human error.
Errors are not good when injecting nitrous!

John

 

When you replace the cap for the governor, be sure not to smack the center of the cap. The center of the cap has a factory dimple to set the endplay of the governor. Hammering the center of the cap will dent it, eliminate the endplay, put the governor in a bind, and explode the gear. I normall shoot for approx .150 end play we
hen I set them up. Up to .250 or so is fine, but I prefer .150 ish.

 

The gov cap looks OK, I would like to check for sure though. How do you measure the .150?