Sorry James, I'm not sure of the diameter of the shims but I do know that they should be 6mm deep. Apparently that is for a good balanced road car. If you had a drag only car you can go up to 8mm or maybe even more and you can use aluminium to make the shims.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 05:54 pm, by: James Johnson(Jimbo)
Cheers but I have found multiple links about doing this and have found it's 21mm in diameter. I am dropping another engine and box in this weekend so I will keep you guys updated on how it goes.
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 01:19 pm, by: Sebastian Grant(Saabg)
It would be interesting to find that, that's all that is involved in making a shift kit when you pay $350+ for them. There must be more involved but I guess you'll find out for us James. Keep us posted mate.
Friday, May 29, 2009 - 03:30 am, by: David Grab(Blastedbyasoarer)
Yeah same i know nothing about shift kits and to read that placing two shims in is what a shift kit is seems a bit off and suprizing? So what a 6mm shim is equal to a stage 1 shift kit and 8mm to a 1.5 stage? Im so out of my depth here haha
Monday, June 15, 2009 - 05:49 pm, by: Matthew Werner(Matto_888)
and considering your valve body gets stripped and re-assembled, meaning all the grud from years of abuse is cleaned out and new seals an filter.. definately worth 350+ for the confidence of bolting on a professionally reco'd unit....
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 03:01 am, by: Sebastian Grant(Saabg)
No, I'm not actually but thanks for asking. If you read the tutorial in the link I provided earlier http://re.zoink.it/4a08e670 it shows how to make a shift kit yourself and if I was sure that, that was all that was involved I would have done it myself but I'm not. What I am sure of is that Cam would know and I was hoping that he would weigh in on this then we would know for sure.
Matt Sartori wrote on Saturday, June 13, 2009 - 02:28 pm:
You CAN make a diy shiftkit with just shims however
Matt Sartori wrote on Monday, June 15, 2009 - 05:58 pm:
Are you stupid?
If it was that easy, people would be doing it themselves for $10(The cost of shims)
You are going around in circles matt. You say it is possible to do with shims earlier but now you say you can't??? In addition to the shims you would also need to increase the pressure across the whole box by adjusting the pressure regulator.
Matt Sartori wrote on Saturday, June 13, 2009 - 02:28 pm:
The valve body itself is modified also. Otherwise their would be no point in them sending a new valvebody out.
Matt thanks for the kind words mate, really appreciate it but your justification is weak at best. Just because you send them your valve body doesn't disprove the tutorial, it just means that the people who make the shift kits wouldn't want anyone else to know how simple it is, makes good business sense to me. I guess James will find out for us all when he does it himself.
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 02:01 pm, by: Sebastian Grant(Saabg)
Thanks Matt but it seems that all you know is what you've been told. I have installed the shift kit and compared a "modified" valve body to a stock one and I couldn't see any differences bar the pressure being turned up. I'd say you would be right about stripping and cleaning but again, couldn't that be done at home quite easily? If there was some porting work to do then that may or may not be difficult to do at home but I didn't see any evidence of that.
Also Matt, I think you are misunderstanding me.
Sebastian Grant wrote on Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 01:19 pm:
It would be interesting to find that, that's all that is involved in making a shift kit when you pay $350+ for them. There must be more involved
It seems that I'm not the one with the reading problem. I too would be surprised to find that it's that simple to make your own shift kit but no one has disproven it yet. Not trying to get into a keyboard war with someone on the other side of the country Matt, but I don't think I deserve to be called stupid for questioning what's involved in making a shift kit.
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 11:42 pm, by: Cihan Aday(Cihan)
The valve body internal are milled in *proper* shift kits from Cameron or MV. This is used in conjunction with a stiffer accumulator springs to reduce engagement time of the clutches.
I've done the DIY shift kit and it makes little difference, nothing like a properly modified valve body.
Thats not to say modifying the valve body is rocket science either..
Friday, June 19, 2009 - 12:34 am, by: Kim Hunt(Lxtasi)
so about the write up on shimming the springs...has any one done this to there's and it has worked without problems? just asking cause i have been keen to try it. what size shims would be best?
Friday, June 19, 2009 - 02:47 pm, by: Jeff Bedsor(Jeff_bedsor)
I talked to Michael from MV Automatics about this last year, he reckoned that you will do more damage than good by just shimming the springs. A shift kit involves a lot more that just shims.
Sunday, June 28, 2009 - 09:56 pm, by: David Tra(Bookie)
I dont think so Ali.
Thanks Peter Nitschke, I sorted it out. Gave the kick down cable some slack. Pulled a dodgy and zippy one nut, this stops it front loosening it all the way to the front.
Friday, July 03, 2009 - 08:30 pm, by: Matthew Werner(Matto_888)
a shift kit will make the bands in the box grip quicker.. so yes weather its changing up of knockin back a gear it will be quicker then standard..... depending on what stage shift kit you get...