this thread must be a godsend. i am in desperate need of a fix for my tranny problem.
please tell me more about your manual valve body.
- are the shifts extremely hard?
- how much did it cost?
- where did you get it?
- can you just put it in drive and go?
- can you select any gear manually?
If you shift low, they are not hard. If you shift high, they'll chirp certain gears and snap you back in the seat. Depending how the valve body is built, this may or may be the case for whatever you buy.
$3000 for the full build, plus whatever the cooler cost and I also had to buy an MLPS, proper valve body shift arm lever (well, we made one ourselves because we couldn't find the right one from Ford), and we also had to make our own harness to connect the Fox Body electronics to the new electronics on the 4R. With an SN95 as the vehicle, you won't need to spend on the extras and it should be a plug and play situation. I was retrofitting it, and it was not plug and play.
With a full manual valve body, you don't put it in drive and go. You shift every gear as if you were driving a manual (just no foot clutch). The shift pattern now becomes
PRN321. You shift where you want and the computer DOES NOT do anything for you in regards to shifting. Overdrive is switch-controlled, which I have on my console. It also locks up the converter at the same time.
You can, however, get manual control valve bodies that have the option to also "put it in D and just go", I just chose not to bother.
Mine was built by Broader Performance in Texas.
www.broaderperformance.com He came recommended from some trans. builders over on Corral, so I talked extensively with him about my plans, goals, requested build parts, etc. and he gave it to me. Then we figured out our own problems later on during the install, but like I said that's only because I was putting a newer transmission in the older car that had no provisions for some of the wiring. we had to make my car smarter.
Like gcomfx said, you can go 'simple' with gears, stall converter, trans cooler and shift kit and be all set. it'll wake the car up somethin' fierce. I just like to take my car the extra step if you aren't familiar with me
