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Stay Auto Or Go Manual


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Im at a crossroad right now I have an 88 Starion equipped with an auto. I have a complete 87 conquest 5spd donor car. already have the larger 88 manual lightened flywheel and an ACT clutch and PP.

have m6 head, JE pistons, have two ECM either using my F.A.S.T system or my Haltec. trying to sort out the distributor part now might just have a trigger wheel made on the front pulley dont know yet.

Also I have the engine out being built now having rods race prepped also have a custom intake manifold with 1000cc injector which i think is over kill.

custom exhaust manifold with T3/T4 stage 3 turbo no exhaust yet.

I have been reading the posts auto the auto holding up but dont know which route to go seeing how i have both ready to go and was kinda wanting to have some drifting capabilites in the end for weekend sporting events.

I was planning on running 25-28psi.

Came out with a HP target of 435 whp. so the engine will be close to 500hp.

so have anyone made close or higher hp numbers with the auto and still drive everday if needed? if this engine dont do what i want im going 4g64 or ford mustang GT engine. but wanted to keep the car light as possible withhout making it an all out racer still want to make road trips to events

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With that kind of HP target, the 87 5-speed tranny might not survive long. The 88-later 5-speeds have a beefier set of 1st and 2nd gears and a thick "waffle" looking bottom cover plate bolted to the tranny in place of the thin stamping on the 87-earlier trannies. That beefy plate stiffens the tranny case. Case flex is one of the causes of busted trannies... as is old or somewhat worn bearings inside the tranny. Whenever the tranny is subjected to big engine torque (especially "shock" loads like dumping the clutch) the shafts inside the tranny try to walk over each other... the case & bearings (try to) hold the shafts in position. The more out-of-position the shafts get, the less meat of each gear tooth actually makes contact with its mate leading to busted off gears.

 

Freshen that 87 tranny at least, and try to find the 88 plate for it. Or just have a beefy aluminum plate (about 1 centimeter thick is the 88 style) made up to replace the thin stamping. A freshened 88-later tranny will probably hold up better. A few folks have switched to beefier trannies from other cars; use the SEARCH function to look for adaptor plates and other ideas.

 

mike c.

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For a drag car don't be stupid, Stay auto.

 

Look into being an innovator and running a manual valve body and a transbrake on the stock tranny.

 

Unless you buy into franks tranny GB your POS stock tranny will grenade.

 

I believe the stock autos can be built stronger, and a lot cheaper.

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there is a company in Australia named KEAS. They build the JATCO 4spds to run 10s in the quarter. reliably. you can get anything and everything from them including full manual VBs with trans brakes, high stall Torque convertors, and internals. they have a vendor in Florida so you wont have to pay for overseas shipping. KEAS is found here

they are very helpful and usually respond to your emails in 2 business days

 

KEAS Customer cars

Edited by TWCDrift
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  • 3 weeks later...
i'd go with manual, since it feels more racier compared to a auto. for an auto all you gotta do is just press the gas and go, but thats just my opinion :P

 

While you are sitting there 'feeling racy' that automatic will beat you at the track. 2 of may reasons..

 

1: Full boost shifts without losing any boost at all!

 

2: Can't out-shift an automatic (u think your quick? ..)

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While you are sitting there 'feeling racy' that automatic will beat you at the track. 2 of may reasons..

 

1: Full boost shifts without losing any boost at all!

 

2: Can't out-shift an automatic (u think your quick? ..)

 

yep! What he said!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
i was actualy thinking of swaping my 88 palermo. should i stick with the auto. it was just rebuilt 4000 ago

 

just in case you are interested i have a 88 auto tranny (swapped mine to manual) just sitting in the garage taking up space. if you want it to build it up on the side you are more than welcome to come pick it up.

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just in case you are interested i have a 88 auto tranny (swapped mine to manual) just sitting in the garage taking up space. if you want it to build it up on the side you are more than welcome to come pick it up. by the way, was your car up at cottman transmission a few years back? i remember seeing an auto starquest there (buddies dad owns the shop).
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I was seriously thinking about swapping to manual when I first bought the car. All the cars I drove were manual up to now, even my other car is manual. I will most likely be sticking with auto on this one, but changing the ring and pinion gear set to meet my needs.
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keep the automatic.. you'll actualy miss it...

Only reason to EVER swap one of these cars to a manual is if you cannot afford to have the automatic rebuilt and you have all the 5 speed swap parts sitting there so its a free swap..

Otherwise KEEP THE AUTO...

i rerget swapping mine over..

I have been thinking of swapping mine back to auto. Just need to get motivated. I would like to see what a good running 17c auto car can do.

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If you want your SQ to be a driver's car then swap to a manual gearbox. If you want a quicker 1/4 then stay auto.

 

Of the 5 SQ's I've owned, all have been manual. The one auto I considered purchasing was going to immediately undergo a swap to manual.

 

Decisions, decisions...

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4x1000 cc injs,, for get them,, your idle pulse width will be too low for the injs to even idle the engine

it's not recomend'd to go below 1.0 ms for fuel pulse and a set of 1000cc inj will be in the range of .50 or .60ms,or maybe even lower but if your never gona be idleing below 2k go for it

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

well im back on schedule folks i hope been stuck overseas working for a few months hopefully i can get started. with time being an issue im starting to re think the auto to manual swap even though id love to do it. maybe later once i get everything else working and tuned

anybody doing the magna conversion i still need to get mine done just in case i decide to go that route insted of the big polished manifold

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if you are building a 1/4 mile car, trust me the auto trans is the way to go. any good tranny shop can re-stall your stock converter, replace/upgrade the internals and up the line pressure.

 

you WILL want a new trans cooler, most all performance one will work just fine

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  • 3 weeks later...

I take it you've never driven an auto with a reverse pattern manual valve body. $25-30 more in parts and you can have electronic control over the shifting and when the torque converter locks up(think engine braking).

 

Paddle or joystick(slapshift, push/pull) shifters are easy to find and utilize.

 

And yes, it will all work on our Jatco auto.

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going to 3:90 rear gears will make that auto car come alive and any like equipe'd 5 spd don't stand a chance in the 1/4 mile

useing a 5 spd speedo gear& houseing will correct the speedo after going to a 3:90 rear

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but Shelby, I did this swap a few years back. 87 motor and 5 speed into an 88 auto shell, complete with 88 rear end. Do I need to do something to make my speedo correct? I just assumed it was all ok.

 

BTW, I'm a clutch lovin kinda guy. Even if the auto trans in the car would've been ok, I'd have pulled it and swapped in the 5 speed.

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