Manual Valve Body guys ... talk to me!

[BlackVert]

I have decided to go to a manual valve body, so you guys with manual valve bodies, please tell me:

1. from whom you did you get yours?
2. how much did it cost?
3. do you have the vacuum hookup to soften the shifts during part throttle?
4. would you recommend your valve body to others?

thanks,

chris

 

[2000xp8]

What are you doing with the car, race car, street/strip car, DD?
Every single person i know that has had one on a daily use car has destroyed the trans within months.

 

[BlackVert]

100% street, 9 months mostly daily driver

i know 3 people who have manual VBs and they drive their cars alot, not one of them has ruined his tranny

what kind of trannys are those that you are talking about? fords? chevys?

 

[Yellowpnoy]

i drive mine on the street all the time with a MVB. Just make sure you dont downshift to slow the car down and make sure that you put it back in first before you take off. That was the hardest thing for me to remember when you are used to driving a regular auto. Good luck!

Anthony
427w

 

[2000xp8]

100% street, 9 months mostly daily driver

i know 3 people who have manual VBs and they drive their cars alot, not one of them has ruined his tranny

what kind of trannys are those that you are talking about? fords? chevys?

All AOD mustangs.

If you know three people, why didn't you just ask them?

 

[BlackVert]

um, i have talked to them. i wanted to know who has them in their cars, from whom they got them and if they recommended the people from whom they got them

what ... should i not ask for other people's input?

 

[KAILUAZ]

All AOD mustangs.

If you know three people, why didn't you just ask them?

Geez.

 

[Deleted member 87397]

I had an Art Carr Manual/Auto in mine and that damn thing hit so hard when it shifted it was like getting rear ended by a semi. So much fun. I paid 3xx for it. There's also Performance Automatic, and Lentech. I hear Lentech makes some of the best you can get, but they are not cheap. Good luck.

 

[BlackVert]

I had an Art Carr Manual/Auto in mine and that damn thing hit so hard when it shifted it was like getting rear ended by a semi. So much fun. I paid 3xx for it. There's also Performance Automatic, and Lentech. I hear Lentech makes some of the best you can get, but they are not cheap. Good luck.

rear ended by a semi ... dang ... i don't want mine to shift like that all the time ... this is a 100% street car daily driver. i will probably putter about like an old lady most of the time, only really stepping on it to embarass people who test me

yeah, i'm an old guy

 

[ninety15.0]

Well i dont think a MVB is the right choice for you then. If you are going to DD this car....i dont know if you are going to like the hard shifts and jerky light load shifting. Perhaps you should just switch to a 5 spd if you want to change gears yourself?

 

[BlackVert]

not all manual valve bodies have to shift really hard like that. that is what the vacuum hookup is for, to soften the shifts during part throttle cruising. here's how it works:

engine vacuum is used to increase the size of the accumulators so that the line pressure on the clutch plates is applied gradually instead of all at once. the more the throttle blade is closed, the higher the vacuum ... the higher the vacuum, the larger the accumulator ... the larger the accumulator, the softer the shifts.

here is a great description of how it works:

http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny/transmission/page3.shtml

make sense?

 

[Yellowpnoy]

Depending on how loose a converter you get it shouldnt shift that hard. I have a 3600 in mine and under normal acceleration it shouldnt shift that hard. The harder you are on the throttle the hard it shifts. I missed the part about you daily driving the car, if you are going to do that i wouldnt go with a MVB. If you do get one, get a reverse manual, makes it easier to shift especially when racing.

Anthony
427w

 

[BlackVert]

Depending on how loose a converter you get it shouldnt shift that hard. I have a 3600 in mine and under normal acceleration it shouldnt shift that hard. The harder you are on the throttle the hard it shifts. I missed the part about you daily driving the car, if you are going to do that i wouldnt go with a MVB. If you do get one, get a reverse manual, makes it easier to shift especially when racing.

Anthony
427w

please don't try to talk me out of a manual valve body ... i have my reasons. i'd rather not get into it, but if you are curious, feel free to read these:

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=711468
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=705384

i have yet to find someone who makes a reverse pattern manual valve body for a 4R70W. if you know someone, please tell me who he is so i can contact him

 

[71swing]

I would recommend a Lentech Auto/manual valve body for a daily driver.

I have had a lentech street/strip terminator in a past mustang that I loved but They are not cheap.

With the Auto/Manual valvebody You can shift it manually, and it will shift hard every gear.

Or you can just leave it in drive and it will shift for you like normal.

But the great thing about the valvebody is the overdrive lock out. You can turn the overdrive off with a flick of a switch.

SO it is similar to the stock valvebody but with greater line pressure for fast,chrisp shifts. Also has the overdrive lockout feature. So 3rd gear can be really a true 3rd gear and not just 3rd/overdrive.

You will lose overdrive in a stock tranny very easy by letting it shift into overdrive while racing.

So here is the brake down
P= park
R= Reverse
N=neutral
D= 3rd/overdrive with the choise to turn overdrive off at any time, Making it a true 3rd gear.
2= will not shift higher than second, But if you dead stop it will start back in first for you, than shift to 2nd and stay there.
1= 1st gear only

 

[2000xp8]

Are you going to use a manual valve body to try and fix an issue you're having with the trans? Not sure if that's what you are trying to say.

 

[BlackVert]

what i am saying is that the guy who installed the motor and trans probably did something wrong when he did the conversion from manual to automatic. i have no hard feelings though because is a really nice guy and he didn't charge me hardly anything for all the work he did. but he is 2+ hours away and (1) i don't want to take it back to him, (2) i can't find anyone local willing to look into it, and (3) i have no garage or time at home where i can do any work on my car. so i am going to have a manual valve body installed as my "plan b" for how to deal with this situation. if it still doesn't shift correctly even with a manual valve body, then i'll come up with a plan c, probably getting the 4R70W rebuilt and using the manual VB. at that point it had better work. then i can get all the other stuff done to the car that i have planned, like new seats, paint ... but right now i just need to get this jalopy on the road.

then later, if i don't like the manual VB, i can put the standard valve body back on and get a baummanator or something

 

[Yellowpnoy]

please don't try to talk me out of a manual valve body ... i have my reasons. i'd rather not get into it, but if you are curious, feel free to read these:

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=711468
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=705384

i have yet to find someone who makes a reverse pattern manual valve body for a 4R70W. if you know someone, please tell me who he is so i can contact him

I dont know of anyone that makes a MVB for the 4r70w but there has to be someone out there. I am not talking you out of it at all, i love mine, but mine is not a DD, if that is what you want go for it by all means, not like you cant change it back if you dont like it.

Anthony
427w

 

[71swing]

I dont know of anyone that makes a MVB for the 4r70w but there has to be someone out there

Anthony
427w

All thow not sure what the difference is, but I believe a 4R70w is just a AODE.

Here is a link to Lentech's site they list the AODE/4R70w valvebodies as the same.http://www.lentechautomatics.com/aodproducts.html