What happened to the post on the ebay shift control box?

I have one on the way and would like to post a review when I get it installed. I am going to guess that won't fly as its a non-sponsored thing?

Thanks.

The OP decided he wasn't getting any answers he liked, so he took his ball and went home. Apparently the idea of asking the guy building them for information, instead of all of us who'd never heard of it, didn't set well with him.
The rest of us are still curious about the gizmo. A review would be quite in order, and much appreciated.

I have talked to the guy building them several times and he was always fourthcoming with function and application ?s.

I should have one here shortly so I will try it out and see how it works.

Thanks.

I'm interested to see how this turns out. Could be a flop, could go somewhere.

Until then, I'll stick with the $40 Manumatic Mod.

Interesting that the price had dropped from the original auction's $100 to $50 in the second.

If the builder comes around these forums, we'd like to hear from him.

The unit should be here tomorrow and I should have a chance next week to get it installed and write up a quick review. The builder says he thinks he has a way to enable push button gear selection and will include that option when it is finished. So far the process has gone well, he is helpful and quick to respond.

Install appears to be a simple process of wiring a power source for the box and splicing into a few wires at the TCU. The box is a lot smaller than it appears in the Ebay listing. I think it would be advantageous to use a more elegant package. McMaster or Digikey have a huge selection of boxes that would be more compact, and attractive.

I will provide a link when the review is finished.

-Travis

OK, I've got the unit, which is surprisingly heavy, but I have not had a chance to install it yet. Look for an install article later this week.

Beauty, keen to hear about it. I see the current auction's back up to $60.

alright its 730am you should have had that installed by now, hows she shift?

, well its sitting in the back seat. My garage has an old Ford in it getting a lift kit so I don't have shop access at the moment and its hard to do it outside in the rain. With any luck I'll be able to roll the truck out tonight and get started.

The shift is already quite firm from the Translab Shift Kit and the new IPT Manual Valve.

Sorry for the suspense but I'm working on it. It looks like the builder is also going to add adjustability to the shift pressure and he is going to send me an attachment that allows you to do that when it is done.

:cheers:

OK so I ventured out into the driveway to get things hooked up. The amount of wires is very low but access is a bit tough.

As it turns out my 2G TCU looks nothing like the ones in the preliminary instructions and the wires listed are not on my connectors... So things are at a bit of a standstill until I get some more information.

Thanks

http://www.lpmmotorsports.com/travis/talonauto/TCUConnections.jpg

Well I still have the box sitting in the car, just have not had the time to mess with it. I won't make any promises on time frame but I will try to work on it this weekend.

I WILL post a full review when I get to it, so sorry for the delay!

We'd still like to hear from the maker.

I'd like to know what you all are talking about. What gizmo is this? Link to auction?

OK, I finally got a chance to install the "shift-box" off of eBay and do some testing, with more to follow.

First off, the primary purpose of this unit is to enable user-selectable shift points and to increase shift firmness. It succeeds in both areas.

The following picture is the basic layout of the install, which may vary by application. The TCU in 97+ cars has the following location/pin-outs, earlier models may vary so don't take these as the defacto standard for install. The kit comes with instructions. These are my own pictures/instructions.



There is a nice open location above the TCU to locate the box in. The box has been revised but I do not know the new dimensions. The location used in this picture should work for any box, there is a lot of room.

Install

You basically need to patch into two wires coming from the large connector on the TCU. One is a yellow wire with a blue tracer and the other is a blue wire with a yellow tracer. You need to provide a regulated 5 volt power source and a switched 12 volt source to turn the box on.

The TCU connectors are fairly well buried and the connectors are kind of hard to get to, but a quick trick is to use one flat screwdriver to push the lock up from the bottom while using another flat screwdriver to pop the connector out from above. It works really well and will save you the frustration of trying to get your hands back there (unless you have unusually small hands).

The following picture shows the two wires that need to be spliced:




The following picture shows the orientation of the wires that need to be spliced. The "direction" of the wires is important and you need to connect the wires from the box with black tracers into the TCU. The plain colored wires go to the wiring harness.



I suggest you solder these connectors, but it isn't 100% necessary. You will find the TCU harness is very short and you will have to solder under the dash. You may be able to disconnect the ECU wires and pull the entire harness out into the passenger side floorboard, but your skill level/initiative will dictate how you do it.

Now that the TCU is taken care of you need to provide a 5 volt regulated power source, which just so happens to come from your ECU, which is pin #81 - sensor impressed voltage. The following picture shows the wire that you can splice into. It is the top most connector on the ECU.





Next, you need to provide a 12v switched power supply to the box to enable the alternative shift mode. I used the cigarette lighter 12v power, which can be seen in the following picture. I removed the connector and soldered a wire onto it, but you can cut and crimp if your in a hurry.



The last step is to connect the ground wires. I used the location marked in the first picture, but any grounded point will work.

You can use whatever switch you want, I got a small switch from RadioShack and located it beside the shifter. The position works really well as you are unlikely to switch it on accident and it is easy to get to. It is also fairly well "hidden" if that is important to you.



That pretty much sums up the installation, not hard at all.


Testing

I have not had a chance to do any quantitative acceleration tests, so all I have is SOTP results.

The shifts are very firm, borderline violent, and near instant. There is a 100-200rpm delay between the time you move the shifter to the time it shifts.

Acceleration by SOTP is greatly improved as that 1-2 shift launches the car forward a lot harder than without the kit. FYI, I have an EVO III 16g at 15lbs flowing 36lbs/min.

The engagement of the kit is seamless and can be turned off/on whenever you want. I do not suggest using this to downshift as it will shift down as hard as it does up, especially so into 1st gear. Apart from a full on TCU replacement, such as what IPT offers, this is as close as you can get to "banging the gears."

I should mention my transmission is not stock, I have installed the TransLab shift kit, the IPT improved manual valve, IPT end-clutch kit, a Precision "Dragon" Billet multi-disc converter, and Amsoil Universal ATF.

Your mileage may vary, but for the money it is a worthwhile mod.

-Travis

Here is the link to the review/install for those watching this thread.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250227

will this work on a 1g automatic as well?

What, where, how much is this product? Not enough info here

Yes, it works with a 1G auto.

My review/install is in this section of the forum. I posted the link above.

:cheers:

VETDRMS said:

Yes, it works with a 1G auto.

My review/install is in this section of the forum. I posted the link above.

:cheers:

Click to expand...

Are we celebrating redundancy?

definitiveno said:

What, where, how much is this product? Not enough info here

Click to expand...

You gave none of this info in your write up.

From the forum FAQ:

Though we don't mind our members ocassionally discussing non-supporting vendors, we may choose to remove contact info, links, URL's, etc, for that non-supporting vendor. And we may choose to remove threads started solely to promote a non-supporting vendor. If we find a member posting repeated references to a non-supporting vendor or their products we may consider it spam.

Click to expand...

definitiveno: What: Auto Shift "box" for DSM Where: eBay How Much: Auction, but less than $100. I gave all that info except the price in my writeup. Did you read it, or look at the pictures?

I was unsure of the policy of providing a link to purchase a product from a non-supporting vendor. I have no intension of celebrating redundancy, but I would have no problem with being an advocate of searching eBay, it takes no great skill.

For those lacking initiative here is a link: eBay DSM Auto Shifter

Hrmm ... basically that's the "ManuMatic Mod" conveniently packaged and preassembled. Might have to test this one out.

EDIT: Just bought one, we'll see how it works out. I'll have a review shortly as well.

ok, so all in all....is it a good buy??? should we buy it . i want to go faster

Maybe I'm dumb.... but I don't get how you shift/change gears

I would like to see the review. I bought a push button from IPT and i have had very good luck with it but seems expensive for what it is.