Manual shifter for my auto trans

[1GawdJunkie]

I want to first start by thanking Joe, seeing his dedication to putting together an automatic shift box has inspired me to move my ideas from paper to reality. So this is mine, I tried to incorporate some safety measure as it is very difficult to shift from 4th to 1st with my box. The top switch was to switch between the TCU and the box, however the TCU does not seem to like this so I may eliminate it. The problem is that once you take over the TCU goes into safty mode and stays in third until the car was turned off and on again. I used quick connects inside the cab to be able to easily disconnect the box and hook it up back to stock.

With all four gear switches down this allows the user to be in second gear. Mainly for staging and getting through the pits. When the 1st switch is moved to the up position the LED above it lights up and we are in first. I can say the shifts are violent with maybe a 100 to (200 at most rpm delay)between the shift. At which point the 2nd switch is moved to the up position. We now have switch one and two up, the first led turns off and the second lights up, indicating second gear.

When two is topped out I flip up 3rd . Now I have the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd switches in the up postiions, the first two led have turned off and the third is lit up. This is where I made my discovery, That crappy shift lag that most of us 1G guys complain about between 2 & 3, well it’s not there. This leads me to believe it is an electronic issue in the TCU and not mechanical, or in the trans. And again, another violent shift between 2 & 3. Anyway 3rd to 4th is the same and I am extremely happy.

A special thanks goes out to my buddy Mike W. who also has 1G auto that has always tried to talk me out of a manual swap. I would also like to thank Mike (Qwklil4) who was also a strong advocate of the auto trans. I cannot tell you how happy I am with this trans now.

At this time I would like to request 2 local volunteers near buffalo grove il near the NW chicago suburbs. With 1G awd with UN-modded trans as near stock as possible who are experiencing this 2-3 flare. I would like to test this on your vehicle to see if it eliminates it, please pm me.

 

[Car Cannibal]

I drove in his car and all I can say is holy crap. I have an IPT 1g trans with their shift box and even with the box on 2, Junkies controller KILLS the IPT's shifting. So much for $3000 when his stock 77k mile 1g, black springed shift kit and his manual box kills it.

The thing is even idiot proofed so you never have to worry about 4 to 1 shifts. I gave him a few suggestions and when he is ready with it, it will be a must for all automatic guys.

You can now dyno the car and not worry about it kicking down with this box, no problem.

 

[twack]

Looks awesome, i cant wait to try one of these on my auto. You should post up the wiring diagram

 

[1GawdJunkie]

Cannibal and I are going to hit the dyno with a few other dsmer's tomorrow. I'm hoping someone brings a camera, I would also like to take a few for a spin.

It is just wild how crazy it shifts, the only thing I know is a neighbor of mine had a built small block in an 80's chevy with one of those b&m shifters in it. He had given me a ride in it during this past spring and that thing shifted crazy. I think mine is right up there with it.

 

[420a-t]

Sweet! Things are gonna sell so easily I have a feeling. One of you guys should make the dimensions of it so it can fit clean somewhere in the car like under the cd player, in place of the ashtray and cupholder, etc. I'm getting a tranny built by IPT in two weeks and would like to see what that does along with the "magic shift box" haha. Let me know asap when you guys start selling these.

Josh

 

[1GawdJunkie]

Thanks 420, at this point it will be a little while before I would sell anything. I really want to try and make it as fool proof as I can. For example right now 4th to 1st is near impossible. With 4th engaged 1st,2nd,and 3rd are dead, you can flip them any which way and they don't do anything. but vise versa if your in first and hit the fourth switch it dumps into forth, better than 4 dumping into 1 though.

The other thing is that the tcu will never work seamlessly with the box. If you are using the TCU and want to use the box you need to be at a complete stop. Then switch to manual mode and take off from there. However while in Manual mode the TCU obviously has lost control and therefore will throw a code, rendering it useless if you were to switch back from manual to TCU mode. To clear the TCU from the safety mode I have to (in manual mode) come to a complete stop, turn off the car, switch the box off of manual mode into the down position and then start the car.

the only way I thought to bypass this was wire so when switching to manual mode it completely kills the tcu, simply turning it off. So during manual mode the TCU is just off, unfortunately this caused a safety issue because the driver if accidentally is in manual mode in a high gear and mistakenly switches the from manual to TCU, the TCU is turned on from sleep mode and not knowing what gear its in may automatically switch to first.

At this point I am considering just eliminating the option of switching between TCU and manual.

 

[Car Cannibal]

One cool thing about this is that at the dyno today we were able to in 2 minutes, literally, unplug TCU, attach quick connects and plug in box to cig adapter. Then stick it on the dyno and take off from 2000k in 3rd gear and not worry about it kicking down.

At minimum I would get it for just the track and dyno, but holy hell did this thing kick wicked hard with my IPT at a 2500rpm shift. This is the poor mans tranny rebuild.

Last thing to do is ditch the stock restall converter and say hello to all the pissed away HP.
Can you say slippage.

 

[420a-t]

What numbers did you guys get?

 

[1GawdJunkie]

Sweet! Things are gonna sell so easily I have a feeling. One of you guys should make the dimensions of it so it can fit clean somewhere in the car like under the cd player, in place of the ashtray and cupholder, etc. I'm getting a tranny built by IPT in two weeks and would like to see what that does along with the "magic shift box" haha. Let me know asap when you guys start selling these.

Josh

I had looked at a number of locations and unfortunately under the CD player seems a bit far depending on how long your arms are. The coin holder area is just a bad place all together.

The ashtray does not provide enough room. The switches used in order to provide some level of safety are pretty big, as many as 10+ contacts on the back of the switch. These switch take up an area of 1"w x .75"L x 1"d.

I will figure somthing out though.

 

[1GawdJunkie]

What numbers did you guys get?

At this point I will have to go back, a poor tune at WOT and a wategate that appear to not stay closed at 22 psi did not do my vehicle justice. I will update my profile when I get these issues resolved.

 

[1GawdJunkie]

So how long till we can buy one..

At this point it will be a little while. Although I could omit any of safety factors, use cheaper swiches, and have them ready to build to order next week. I feel our community deserves better. Over the next 2 months I will be experimenting with different
safty options to make it as difficult as possible for a user to screw anything up. When I have exhausted all my options, I will then begin to take orders.

During this time I will be looking into the 2G application as well.

 

[twack]

If your going to take the time you should figure how to do push button shifting, so 1 button for up 1 for down. If you could do that so many people would want it

 

[1GawdJunkie]

If your going to take the time you should figure how to do push button shifting, so 1 button for up 1 for down. If you could do that so many people would want it

I agree this would be a very good idea, and I have tossed it around. My objective was to bypass the TCU, and do it in the most economical and safest manner for myself first.

I know there was a system out there for a short time, I believe "tceugo" if I am not mistaken. but, I basically wanted something like the IPT shift box, so after seeing the picture on there site, and being the cheap ass that I am. I spent some time going over the TCU schematic and logic behind the valve body and there you have it. I had to add the LED above the gears because I can never remember shit.

 

[1GawdJunkie]

A good questions was brought up that I would like to address.

Q: What if the cigarette lighter looses power or the box shuts off?

A: The box will engage third gear automatically

 

[420a-t]

You need to get on this for the 2g's. Don't leave me hangin! Is it really that different?

 

[1GawdJunkie]

You need to get on this for the 2g's. Don't leave me hangin! Is it really that different?

I definitely won't leave out the 2G if there are enough people interested in general, it can't be that different. I would just want to be a 100% about the wiring. I also want to look into adding a switch to engage the lockup during 3rd for drag purposes.