Hey Ted, you stated in a thread a few weeks ago how driving a full manual valve body is a art in itself. I recently had one installed into my new th350, and I have had mixed suggestions as to driving it. I realize I need to do my burnouts in 2nd gear, but I have two people, both of whom I trust, telling me different things about shifting. One is telling me NOT to EVER downshift it, and the other is saying as long as I am not into the huge RPM's that it is ok. Can you shed a bit of light on this for me. I dont want to screw it up. But I find it hard to believe I cant downshift at all. If that were the case I would need to stop everytime I had to shift down in slower traffic. I dont see that as working.

Q

 

I try and avoid downshifting whenever possible. My understanding is that there needs to be pressure in the tranny lines when downshifting so I treat is like I would an old dump truck that needs to be double clutched, bumping the rpms up so that when I reach the point I have to downshift, the throttle is actually rising as I shift down. I also always come to a complete stop when I need to go to first gear. This sometimes pisses other people off but usually they are too busy covering their ears to say anything.

Simply, whenever you shift have the rpms rising and stop before downshifting onto first gear. Thats about it. Not bad on the highway but a pain in the butt in New York City.

In regards to burnout, I start mine by rolling through the waterbox, setting the line lock, and spinning in first gear, then I shift to second, when the tires start to grab I release the line lock and roll through to the starting line to make a smooth transition out of the burnout and reduce the amount of crap that is picked up on the tires.

 

Thanks Ted, I actually wondered about driving it like a Semi. I use to drive truck, and rpm shifted regulary for about 5 years, so I understand completely what you mean. That is a big help. I will try it tomorrow when I drive it for the first time with the new trans.

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I down shifted my 4L60E on a regular basis using the technique Ted mentioned - only I would go into 1st as well at slower speeds. I NEVER babied the transmission. Just the oposite; I beat the crap out of it. I finally had it rebuilt ...... after 73,000 hard miles and 670+ runs down the 1/4 mile

 

I agree with Ted. My tranny guy told me the same thing on how to drive my full manul T400. Doesn't take long to get used to. In traffic (which isn't much) I just keep it in second.