I installed an B&M shift improver on mine and with it the car does much better on its own than when I try to manually shift it. It was a great โ investment.

My car has a transgo shift kit a kevlar band a different regulator, 2400 stall converter. Mine likes to be shifted manualy. I can bring the revs up real good that way and shift when i want. when the car was stock my best time was with it shifting itself.

Doug

I start ou tin 1st, hold in the brake bring the revs up and then let out the brake. I shift into 2nd just prior to redline, same with the other shifts. it seems to work good with my combination! Sometimes on the street I will start it in 2nd as 1st gear is gone real fast.

Doug

In my everyday p.o.s. auto i find better to shift manually aka slap shifting... I don't got a tach but i can hear when im gonna red line so theres no need for a tach but i find i do get better acceleration that way... then again like i said before it is a p.o.s.

I dont know if his car has it,but a manual valve body will let you do that.

You have to shift them manually.If you put it in D and take off it will be in drive.Most street cars dont go this route but a few drag cars do.

Blackbird, I have a TransGo shift kit and I launch in 2nd just because "as I stated' 1st is too short. that is why it is in  2nd. If I did the shift manualy I would most llikely not be able to shift as fast on the 1-2 shift as the trans can so I start in 2. So to answer you by it being in 2 you still start in 1 and it shifts but wont go to 3 until you manualy shift it, but 1 is too fast the way my car is geared.

Doug

see "TRANSAM auto shifting" the post below this one. Also Goat, my tranny has a TransGo shift kit a better servo, and a kevar band, 2800 stall vigillante converter. Like i said in other posts it only has about 10 passes or so on the track. So it doesn't get driven like that all the time. it rips off shifts so hard and fast. People in my car when it bans 2nd almost ######! it shifts hard and wants to go sideways if your not careful.

Doug

I know, I know, dont make fun for having an auto, but I read a post about manually shitfing with an automatic to launch faster...Since i dont have much of a choice about my transmission, does anybody know the best way, if it is even better to do??

really?? did you install it yourself? if you did, is it a big job, how long will it take? thanks in advance for the input

How exactly do you manually shift it?

The B&M shift improver took about 30 minutes to install and is very easy, you just run a wire from the switch to the computer under the hood and snap on the wires.

How would you start to shift manually in an auto tranny if your rolling, lets say 30mph?

Doug, you said something about starting your auto in 2nd on the street.  How do you get it to start in second?  I know that if I put my car in any gear(D or any other) that it starts in first, then it just doesn't shift any higher than the gear that I have selected.  Anyway, are you trying to pull a fast one and see if anybody notices or can you really start in 2nd?

Wouldn't that mean that if you have the manual valve body that you would have to shift it manually, just like a stick, except without a clutch?  In other words, it is possible to put in "D" and just drive with that set-up?

I think what Doug meant was that when he is racing he starts his run in 1st or 2nd gear.  Not that he starts his car in 1st/2nd gear.  I do the same thing.  I pre-stage in drive, stage in 1st, hold the brake & bring up the rpm's, and go.

I dono about the Older Trannys .. but the 460LEs in the LS1 cars do NOT like to be manualy shifted. They tend to die early and horible deaths. ;)  Put it in gear and let the tranny do the shifting.... its got better reaction times than we will ever have.  Just IMHO of course.

Back to the original question.  The slap-shift misconception w/ the 4L60e auto tranny (as it comes from the factory) in the fact that it might help the car.  In my experience this is not the case.  All of you who say "Oh the car loves it b/c I added this, that, a converter, and a shift kit" that’s all good and well.  But if your Tranny is bone stock, it is strictly governed by the line pressure w/in the 4L60e.  Hence, your rolling down the street, shifting "manually", and there is a very noticeable delay in your shift and the tranny's shift.  That is not b/c the car hadn't reached high enough revs, or the driver had done something wrong. (what I had originally thought before being told differently) It's simply b/c there wasn't enough line pressure in the tranny to shift.  I don't know about you, but I have my feelings about manual transmissions in a drag racing scenario to begin with as far as consistency is concerned. (for newer bracket racers)  And attempting to 'manually' shift a STOCK 4L60e is even more inconsistent than that.

I was lucky enough to get a hold of a Formula w/ the factory "Transmission Perform" button in the center console.  I hit it every time I line-up, and she shifts out at redline, barking the tires along the way.  But here again this is not a stock car.

Long story short, 'manually' shifting a STOCK 4L60e is not a practical means of shaving times or adding performance to your bird.  I'd even venture to say it does absolutely no good at all.

~Nick
LP Performance Motorsports

Nick, sorry but it is more complicated than that! the  4L60E  get inputs from line pressure and actual car speed! Who told you that the line pressure wasn't there? My car (even stock) when shifted manualy had fine shifts (no delay at all) I have driven a bunch of these cars and never experienced any delay. leave them in a lower gear let the revs come up alittle and then push the lever forward to the next gear and boom the shift happens. This is not to say that it is better or worse than it shifting automaticaly but that has been my experience. the line pressure builds and engine car speed reaches it's shift set point the car shifts, so you are saying that by going over this RPM/speed the line pressure is not there. so what happens to it after the shift should have occured  and didn't the pressure goes away? I haven't rebuilt any tranny in a long time and things have come along way but it is more than line pressure that is involved. also al your doing is delaying the shift to get that more rpm's there should be no lag in the (actual time of the shift) the whole process takes alittle longer because you push the lever forward and then the tranny shifts but the actual time of the shift should be the same. People have been doing this to automatics for ever and sometimes a transmission will take to it sometimes it wont. Also on a stock transmission your adding excess friction to your clutch paks and causing excessive wear! Oh and nick the performance button just moves the rpm/speed inputs from the computer up so you get firmer shifts (just what your trying to do by shifting it manualy) but by doing it manualy there are actually braking forces applied to the clutch paks (be in 3rd and pull down to 2 without more gas the car slows down due to gearing) so as the shift occurs there is slight braking forces that need to be overcome.

Doug