Question I haven't really seen addressed yet:

Say you have X amount of money.
You can either get injectors, fueling box and guages, maybe even turbo.
-or-
an aftermarket transmission upgrade capable of handling the above BOMB's.
Either-Or, not both.

Knowing full well it will be at least a year before you have enough money to get the other.

Do you:
A- get the fueling mod's and not fully enjoy them for a year.
B- get the aftermarket transmission and mate it to a stock motor.

Is an aftermarket torque converter and valve body too much for a stock engine to handle?
Or even a completely new aftermarket transmission.

Will it bog the engine down trying to turn everything?

Or will you just see power at the rear wheels that should have been there from the factory?

Will underpowering the transmission shorten it's life, or break anything?
Will a stock motor see any wear and tear mated to an ATS or DTT tranny?
Will the grin factor be enough from the tranny to last a year?

Most people on here have gone with the fueling Bomb's first and ran them till the transmission died,
but will it last a year at a reliable daily driver level? guarranteed?

I will be facing this dilema soon and not sure what way to go.
(if even possible to go one way or the other)


thanx
phox

 

I would pick which tranny I wanted to use then get a VB and TC and skip the turbo for now. That way your tranny will atleast have a fighting chance until the full upgrade. Also it will make the upgrade cheaper when you do it.

 

[quote author=Idaho CTD link=board=7;threadid=19764;start=0#msg185724 date=1063770839]
I would pick which tranny I wanted to use then get a VB and TC and skip the turbo for now. That way your tranny will atleast have a fighting chance until the full upgrade. Also it will make the upgrade cheaper when you do it.
[/quote]

I'm hoping to have around $2,500 to spend, give or take.

Don't the VB and TC run at least $2000 bucks?
That is just about the price of the comp, injectors and guages.
(all installed, wouldn't even want to attempt to try myself)
Figuring about $500 for guages, $700 for comp, $500+ for injectors.
My target HP hopefully won't require a turbo, as I don't tow anything, just threw in that, just in case.
Thinking 400-450 hp would be good.

As guages are a must, that alone wouldn't leave enough for the tranny stuff.

Won't be happening soon, but wanted some input so I could put on my thinking cap for a while.


phox

 

If I could do it all over again, I'd get the transmission first before I'd do anything else. Having a BOMBed truck with a stock auto is absolutely pointless.

 

[quote author=BigBlue link=board=7;threadid=19764;start=0#msg185736 date=1063771920]
If I could do it all over again, I'd get the transmission first before I'd do anything else. Having a BOMBed truck with a stock auto is absolutely pointless.
[/quote]

That's what I'm thinking.
The stock transmission is useless.
Mine slipped big time drag racing this last weekend.
Probably took 10 years off it's life too.

I just want to make sure I don't hurt the engine any by doing the transmission first.
Or lose any of the little power I have already.


phox

 

Go in steps as money is available:

1) Valve body, increased pressures keep the clutches from slipping, the TC clutch is the strongest assuming no internal leaks.

2) Gauges to get a baseline and to control the following upgrades.

3) Box.

4) Exhaust and intake.

5) Torque converter.

6) Injectors.

7) Turbo(s), if towing heavy or you want lots of power.

 

phox;
My choice whould be trans up grades. Your stock trans won't hold up, and the trpl-loc. is in my opinon the the best no slip, no wasted pwr. this spells efficiency. Then gauges, your not going to hurt the engine by increasing the amount of pwr you get to the ground.

ramguy

 

trans.

 

My stock truck is in the shop as we speak, soon to be ATS equipped!

 

You will have to have a trans. It is cheaper to upgrade a trans before it goes south, (hard parts are expensive). Gauges, Comp and Injectors can be had cheaper than you listed. I can tell you from experience that the HY turbo on your 2002 auto will have to be replaced. With 4" exhaust, and Scotty II, I could not use past level 3 with the comp and stock injectors, on the same truck, after a turbo upgrade I am ;D. I have some items you might be interested in, give me a call or send an e-mail.

 

Kinda depends on how much control you have. When I put my PM3 on I had the stock tranny. It only saw over level 2 once (level 6) to see if the injector pump could take it, before I got my ATS tranny.
The tranny upgrade will make the truck so much surer in the shifts and lockup I have heard people say they are glad they got the tranny even if they weren't gonna bomb it.

Chris

 

definitely the trans. The stock power won't hurt it at all. If you get a lower stall/tighter TC your truck may seem a little laggy right off the punch from a standing stop, but it's not at all harmful and easily corrected with more power. Basically, you'll have a tranny that will live forever behind stock power.

John

 

I disagree with WTTD. I ran comp box, injectors with stock hy turbo for 8 months and my truck ran fine. EGT's werent an issue. I ran mine at the track numerous times with this set up and egts never got over 1100 Degrees. I would go with:

tranny
guages
intake
comp
injectors

Now if you go with level 3 injectors then to get all the HP you can then I would go with a turbo.

 

I already had the BD 60hp fueling box on my 215hp truck. I went ahead and got the suncoast setup. Went with very low stall as recomended by suncoast as far as the future mods that I told them I would do. LOVE the tranny!!! ;D Finally got to tow my boat & then the 5ver, it shifts like a standard with an air shift. 8) Now. With the BD unpluged, lots of turbo lag with my 215hp. But. My 60 MPH time is the same if not a little bit faster than before, even with the heavy turbo lag. Would I do the the tranny first again. Yes. Love the way it drives and shifts. Can't wait till I get money for mod's.

 

You can't hurt a trans with too little power, and the trans upgrades don't sap any power off the driveline. OK, technically it takes a little more power to drive the oil pump because of the higher line pressure, but you can't feel that little bit SOTP. The firmer shift quality will be fun, and I think you'll like the feel of the tighter converter. I've driven a couple of stock automatics and I felt like they were letting the engine rev too much and wasting torque.