I own a 1996 CE Coupe, LT1.
I'd like the forums insight on what I can do to gain manual control over gears.
I hear what I'm looking for is a shift kit but I'm not entirely sure what it does so if you could educate me on it that'd be appreciated.
Anyways, when I drive around town I shift from 1-4. When I get to a red light, and am completely stopped, I put the tranny back to 1 and repeat. I don't downshift for fear of hurting the tranny, however, I did experiment with mostly 3-2 downshifting and blipping the throttle at the right moment to keep from upsetting the car. Is that does hitting and blipping bad for the tranny?
Main question is: what are my options for my transmission? I'd like complete control of the gears if possible. I know I know, better off trading for a manual but that's not an option for me. I've done a bit of digging on the topic of course and found that a transgo shift kit stage 2 would be exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

I have a Transgo kit in my '88 and love it. I have not modified a later year electronic transmission such as yours. You might get the same results with a programmer instead. Also I am not shy about downshifting it and it has been raced for years. Hasn't broke yet!

 

Someone will probably try to tell you that it's "bad for it", but I don't buy it. Especially if you have a knack for "rev matching" it to the point that the shift becomes seamless feeling -if you can't feel the shift occurring, it's hard to believe that there is much stress on the trans!

I had an '83 Trans Am w/a 700R-4, Now it was stock (145hp LG4), but I drag tracked it (ran low 15's), beat on it, I manually shifted it ALL the time, up and down, I towed an 18' boat with the thing on a regular basis...I sold that car w/200,000 miles on it, original trans. The person that I sold it to sold it w/245,000 miles on it...original trans.

I don't think that prudent downshifting hurts anything, any more than upshifting does. You're engaging and disengaging clutch packs...either way.


.

 

I believe I'd look into PCM tuning for the 4L60e trans maybe. There's always been conversations about Caddy "tow package" shifts and on and on and on .....

4L60e programming in GOOGLE might do you well. A "plug in" OBD2 device is a maybe also which is what I'm assuming AARDWOLF meant. Maybe try the OBD2 device before "tinkering" with the PCM, cost and maybe the competence of the "tuner" could be suspect.

Shouldn't be any problems with any TransGo package. I've had a few and have one in my current 4T65E-HD SSEi.

 

This plug in device, what does it do? Would it be reprogramming the tranny to shift when i want it to? Ill look into it a lot more of course, just want to know what you know.

 

That's a relief! So satisfying to rev match haha. Thanks for the input man

 

In the "old days" before transmissions were electronically controlled - many of us would install a "shift kit" into an automatic trans. That kit would raise the line pressure, and alter the fluid flow to speed up the shifts. The engineers that designed the tranny had to compromise between a hard & fast shift that would upset the sensibilities of the typical Buick and Caddy customers, and one so slow that the trans wear would be horrible (a soft "slow" shift means applying the clutches and clamping the bands inside the transmission slowly, thus causing more slippage - similar to slipping the clutch on a manual trans - which causes more wear). The shift kit would bias the shift speed towards the performance side - sometimes shifting hard enough to "chirp 2nd" on full throttle upshifts.

However - today things are different. Transmissions have electronic controls, so altering shift speed/firmness is now achieved (at least in part) by programming rather than changing fluid flow.

As far as hurting a transmission - heat is the biggest killer of Auto trannies by far. Supposedly life is cut in half by every 10 degrees over 180 fluid temp. So - controlling trans temp and changing fluid & filter on a regular basis is the best way to keep the tranny alive. I doubt that a few extra downshifts will make much difference in the life of your trans - do it every single time, and sure - you will wear things out more expeditiously. (remember - the factory has the tranny shift down a very low load whenever possible).

IMHO - get in touch with Trans-Go & B&M (I'd call them) and ask what they have to improve the shifting in your tranny (increasing line pressure to some extent may be helpful, and that is not something programming is going to do). I'd also talk to a couple of tuners, and see what they can do to help the shift "quality" of your trans. Some others on this forum are far more knowledgeable about the specifics of the PCM tuning - but I believe I've seen some areas that impact shifting can be "tweaked" in the PCM.