Hello, I have a 2003 N/A Monte Carlo SS, and after losing a race to a tuner 4 cyl ricer because his shifts were faster I got interested in shift kits. This car is still my daily driver, so I need it to last 200,000 miles or so, but I had been looking and at www.3800performance.com they have a Thrasher shift kit, you can buy it directly from Thrashercharged.com for $89.99, and I read a few reviews, no bad stuff so far, one guy said it took .4 seconds off his 1/4 mile. I talked to a transmission mechanic and he seemed skeptical on any real performance or life enhancing qualities, but agreed to insall it for approximately $135. Really all I want is the transmission to last longer, and shift a little faster when racing. So will this kit really extend the life of the transmission with no bad side effects? Currently the car has 61,000 miles, don't know if adding a kit this late would do more harm than good...And also, will it make the car any faster? Quicker shifts seem like it would, but I'm no mechanic. All answers and suggestions are greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

Well Quatermain shift kits to my knowledge main purpose is mainly just to make ur shifts kick in harder if your looking for quicker shifting i would recommend just tunning ur pcm.

https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_...=182&catid=107

Thes are the Feture to it.....

FEATURES:

Speed limiter removed
Raised rev limiter
Raised shift points
3-1 and 4-2 skip shifts
Programmed for race pellet timing
Transmission line pressure increased
185F fan turn on
90 second fan on at key-off (this feature activates when engine coolant is 180 degrees or greater)
MAF calibration is year specific
WOT fueling richen to reduce KR
Removes lag by changing downshift tables
Correct VIN number programmed in
Part throttle KR issue fixed
Torque abuse modes are modified to eliminate bog at launch
Shift KR is remapped for modified vehicles
Power enrichment tables modified for cars running increased boost
P0128 code removed for running drilled or 160 Tstats on newer cars
Torque converter lockup tables modified to improve transmission life and eliminate converter lockup hunting
Fiero PCMs have all codes deleted for use in the Fiero, 1.0 features, security disabled, ABS disabled, etc (use the year of your engine on the drop down and all 9's for a vin)
Sand rail PCMs have all transmission settings disabled, all codes deleted that need to be, security & ABS disabled (use the year of your engine on the drop down and all 9's for a vin)

This would be my recommondation for you if you want better shifting and wut not IMO

 

the idea behind shift kits is less slippage between the clutches due to higher line pressures. therefore, that's what gives you faster/firmer shifts. as far as the tranny goes, this is a good thing and prolongs the life of your clutches. the trade off is more stress on the external hard parts of your driveline such as cv shafts, etc. they take the brunt of the force and can POSSIBLY wear out quicker.

the thrasher kit (and other kits too) allows for different levels of firmness which is nice so you don't have to worry about breaking something and still have some driveability. i myself have a thrasher kit not installed yet, but i did lots of reading and figured if i used the medium shift firmness level i would pry be ok. check out the search function on here like i did and do some googling to develop your own opinion. i think they have more benefits than drawbacks if you use it right, but just be sure you know the pros and cons before you put one in. good luck!

 

Scratch your ideas of becoming faster that way. It's bad for the engine and transmission to do runs without being properly set up for it.

If you want your car to LAST, do things right. (Look at my car, same engine, 9 years old and running 162,000+ miles)

Start with some of the basics for your engine if you want it quicker. First, stop doing your races with crappy tuners right now, the stress and cost to fix things is going to be EXPENSIVE. Next, let's look at your goals. You want the car to be a nice reliable car, but to (every now and then) show off what's under the hood.

Well then let's start with some things that will help your reliability, your gas mileage, and your engine. Get yourself a nice cold air intake. There are plenty on the market that come as kits, expect those to cost $200-300 but it is an EASY do it yourself job. Or if you feel more mechanically inclined to make your own fenderwall intake, those will work better and be cheaper. DO NOT get a hot air intake off of ebay, always make sure you are going to have a heat shield, and a good quality filter (such as K&N)

Now your engine will feel and sound much more "throaty", and it should help your MPGs if you drive with caution. Next let's talk about your downpipe. Stock is very restrictive, and doing hard runs has the exhaust gasses not being thrown out properly and giving lots of back pressure. If you get yourself a nice 2.5" ZZP downpipe with a high-flow cat you will lose all of the restrictions of the downpipe. There are still some exhaust restrictions, so if you aren't in the market for headers, at least couple the downpipe with a Front Stainless Steel Powerlog (also from ZZP) (that one isn't as important as the CAI + Downpipe combo, though it HELPS a lot)

Next, if you want your transmission to last, stop racing it, period! Don't floor it from a dig, don't constantly do downshifting etc.

If you can't do that, then I would look into getting yourself a custom tune. Go on forums for HPTuners, ClubGP and go to the regional sections and find a good reliable person that tunes 3800 series engines. They can fix your transmission line pressures, fix the trim levels for your modifications that you have already done, all the things that the shift kit will do plus more and you keep your current PCM without swapping it out for $200 (there's a $100 core fee you could get back) and because it's tuned FOR YOUR CAR the benefits will be 100x better than a "canned" PCM from a company.

Those stupid 4-bangers won't be able to mess with you now. And your engine shouldn't suffer from any long-term effects with those modifications.

You can go further than that, but that's your bare minimum.

[/thread] lol

 

I'd definitely call BS on that one- if it takes almost 1/2 a second off your 1/4 mile, then your transmission is in really bad shape and all your clutch packs are probably toasted.

If your main goal is reliability, then stop racing the car. If you're concerned with achieving high mileage, racing around is not going to help.

 

Downpipes are like a cheap alternative to headers I've heard. I did some research on the ZZP downpipe, it looks good, costs about $180 or so for the 304 Stainless Steel and high flow cat. Only thing I'm concerned about is losing low-end torque. Most people claim is just moves the torque to a higher band in the RPM, if so, then where? If it's still at like 2,000-3,000 I don't think I'd mind. And what are the costs to have a downpipe installed? Also read something about it throwing a code with your O2 sensore if you don't move it correctly. Lastly, does this help gas mileage at all, and give your exhaust a better tone?

 

A downpipe is not an alternative to headers, its only a small part. A powerlog, ported rear manifold, and a downpipe would be more of an equivalent to headers (albiet much more money for less gain).

Since you're NA, get the 2.5" downpipe and you wont notice any low end torque loss.

No one should charge more than $20 IMO, its seriously 4 bolts and an O2 sensor; you could do it with a jack and jackstands in 20 minutes, if you had access to a lift- less than 10 minutes.

 

10 minutes, unless your bolts are COMPLETELY seized and you don't have the tools to fix that problem :P

I had to go to a shop for mine

 

If you think its gonna be a problem, soak all 4 with PB Blaster a couple days before, and then right when you go to start the job. I've had some that were pretty hard to get out, but I've not had one break yet, luckily- I just grab my longest breaker bar.

 

That was the thing. I tried the PB Blaster, but with 9 years, 160,000 miles, and 8 harsh winters of salt and everything. I was screwed. I knew I was, and it just would have made me go out and have to buy certain tools just to do the job, so I cut my losses and paid for the install.