You do not even have to change the shifter to manually shift the transmission. Give it a go and I am certain you will be suprised at the results.

What exactly do you think will happen or NOT happen?

Richard

 

It'll stay in first. At least it should, you'll probably bang the rev limiter. After you try that, try putting it in 3rd and stomp on it from a stop. You'll be suprised by that as well (don't do that though, probably not good for the torque converter to start out in 3rd)

Our transmissions function pretty much like a manual valve body transmission as best I can tell. (though I guess it's all electronic now...) if you put it in 2nd from a stop, it will go into 2nd. The problem is that the shifter easily glides from all the gears with no positive stop. If you are going down the mountains and want to pop it into 3rd, it's very easy to accidentally pop it into 2nd instead. Or if for some reason you wanted to try and move the stock shifter by hand when drag racing, you could skip from 1st to 3rd easilly and miss 2nd all together. That's where an aftermarket shifter would be handy, a positive click on each gear change, with no possibility of over stepping to the next gear. I feel that Ford really should have put a better shifter in our cars, the transmission is pretty much ready to go, but no way of really doing a 'tip tronic' type shift with our gliding shifter. Seems silly of them not to have implimented a 'tip tronic' type shifter, when it seems like they were 1/2 way there already with the transmission.

Who knows, with some adjustments to the computer, the transmission might not have as much lag on the shift when you jam it up or down a gear. As it is now, there is a 1/2 second (or more?) lag from the time you move the shifter, to the time the transmission starts to change the gear. Maybe tuning can shorten that time.

With that in mind, it's probably not going to benefit drag racing very much, as a delay in shifting isn't to good (unless you take that delay into account?) But for mountain driving and road course driving, it would probably do nicely, where you want to hold it in one or two gears, versus running through all the gears to the red line as fast as possible. My guess anyway.

 

Exactly. The LAST thing you want to have happen when rolling into WOT through the apex of a corner is to have the trans do that "hiccup-pause" then double downshift and suddenly have a LOT more torque than you were expecting. That would usually result in a bit of ***-end-first offroading, and my car is lowered a little bit too much to make that pleasurable...

Level 10 has a paddle-shift setup that works with our trans, but it requires that you install an intercept box between the trans and computer harness, and completely eliminates the automatic function. I think if somebody came up with a tiptronic-style control box, and an accompanying shifter or paddle setup, it would sell...

 

I couldnt agree more.

RIchard

 

I think the point I was trying to make is that just by adding a new shifter, you can't bypass the functions of the transmission computer.

Sure, you can move the shifter to 1, 2, 3, but unlike a manual, the auto isn't just gonna crash into whatever gear you tell it. Try going 80mph and then slamming it into 1st. The tranny will try, sure, but you'll hit that rev limiter like a brick wall. The computer is still in control, therefore it is still a factor.

In order to get more freedom and keep the gears in for longer, I no doubt expect that some tweaking of the computer is going to be needed. This will probably especially be the case if you want to power shift at points outside the factory rev-limiter settings, which are pretty soft as-is.

And as for TCI's claim of no-lag between gear shifts? That is probably only true so long as yer not butting heads with the computer.

So is TCI going to offer a special tune for their shifter?

 

Where is the line lock switch?

 

Never mind your obviously missing the point. And your example of dropping it into 1st gear while doing 80 MPH is a bit lame, and unrealistic. Who in there right mind is going to do that?

Richard

 

 

I was just trying to think of a clear example of when the rev limiter would kick in while driving.

So the new shifter overrides the rev limiter. Fine.

 

The Rev limiter has nothing to do with the transmission shifting. When the Rev limiter kicks in it cuts fuel and spark to back the engine down.


Richard

 

In any case, it's all computer controlled, so whatever it is you are wanting to get rid of, it would probably just take some work by a tuner to get rid of it. If you don't want the rev limiter, I'm sure it could be removed, or raised higher beyond what it's already set at. Computers just do what they are told, you just have to have the right instructions :-)

doug at bamachips has apparently been working on the auto transmission stuff, and the torque converter. I'm sure once there is a different shifter available, he (and others) will be on to working out a tune that will best the stock transmission's setup.

 

But the stock shifter in the Mustang as it stands you can miss a shift when going through the gears there is no POSITIVE engagement which is what this shifter provides. Again your missing the point of the shifter.

Richard

 

I agree! I think a number of folks are confusing performance enhancement/computer over-ride with the underlying benefit of a rachet shifter. A road course driver with an automatic needs to be able to manual shift between gears without missing a "stop" or hanging between gears. The big draw to me is being able to shift from 3rd to 4th without going passed it into neutral. Dang that smarts!

 

me missing the point? I think you quoted the wrong person (unless I totally miss understand you! haha!) The shifter puts postitive clicks/stops where the factory shifter will just glide on along with a subtle bump at each gear. I'm explaining/thinking that there is still transmission tuning that needs to be had, because there is a bit of lag when you move the shifter from say drive to 3rd, there is a 1/2 second or so delay before the transmission actually starts to shift. I'm assuming that it's a computer thing that is causing this delay.

 

Doh!! You are correct my apologies kind sir.

As for any delays when using the stock shifter I myself have never experianced any.

Richard

 

I have to say I agree with Error404. There is a noticeable lag. It is nothing major, but it's there. I wouldn't say 1/2 a second, somewhat less, but I know what he means because I get it all the time. It is present.

 

Yep! me too!

 

I'm pretty sure I can get this to work well with a tune. We are a TCI dealer so I will get one ASAP. I can start working on the tune right away.


Ken

 

Ok, I've been working on this some today and have made some progress.

Also talked to TCI today about the shifter and their new transmission. We will be installing both of these on my car as soon as they are available. You will also be seeing a writeup about it one of your favorite mustang magazines.

 

Cool, did they give you an approximate release date