Tanner's 4R70W Conversion

[Natural1]

Thanks, I will be more detailed when I assemble it. I rushed to get off work and still ended up having to stay over a bit. By then, I was just ready to "do work" and have it disassembled.

 

[Matt D]

Nice work man! Not a fan of auto's but I am a fan of a good build up

 

[TexasBlownV8]

Excellent job and writeup! Looks real good

 

[TexasKyle]

Good luck Tanner. There are clearly alot of differences in the openings of those gaskets. I am hoping that the correct one is all you need to get it running correctly.

 

[Natural1]

Thanks guys!!

Good luck Tanner. There are clearly alot of differences in the openings of those gaskets. I am hoping that the correct one is all you need to get it running correctly.

Yes, there are. I just have to confirm that those differences would cause me to not have 3rd and 4th. Really, 3rd is the direct and without it there is no O/D, as the forward clutch releases and the overdrive band applies, while the intermediate clutch holds. Also, I noticed that 3rd never applied. The converter was set to lock in 2nd and that was what we felt before the actual shift to 3rd,
which neutraled out. We will get this sucker fixed, I guarantee.

 

[Natural1]

The transmission is going back in. The valvebody gasket, was the correct one on the bottom (blue stripe). The one on the other side of the seperator plate had the white stripe, as it was supposed to. The disassembly and inspection of the transmission with another pressure test, revealed no problems. While it was out, I enlarged the cooler feed/return and also had new cooler lines made up with -8 fittings and 1/2" line. We will install those this time instead of the hose clamps and bull that was on it at first.

I did, however, find a problem (very small)outside of the transmission. If this fixes it and I believe it will, there will be many details to come.

 

[Natural1]

It's bad ass! I love my car now! For those of you who are still on the fence with the 4R, do it! Oh, there was nothing wrong with the transmission, we effed up the initial tune. Problem solved!

 

[TexasKyle]

I will eventually be doing this conversion I believe. I would really like, if your willing, to take a ride in your car with the 4R in it.

Glad you got it sorted out and running great.

 

[Natural1]

Sure thing, we will set something up and actually, you can take a seat behind the wheel. I get around Houston/Katy often enough.

 

[Shades]

Good Job!!

A quick few questions Tanner, what gears are you running in the rear? and what RPM's are you turning around 70 on the highway when in Overdrive? I want to see if this can actually be put into a car that needs to be driven everyday..

 

[94tbird]

obviously you got some other stuff done, but wait a sec? The problem was the tune? It wasnt in the trans at all? So you ripped it apart for nothing? damn man lol

 

[Natural1]

Good Job!!

A quick few questions Tanner, what gears are you running in the rear? and what RPM's are you turning around 70 on the highway when in Overdrive? I want to see if this can actually be put into a car that needs to be driven everyday..

Yes, it can and I have put 65+ miles on it since 11:30p last night. I run 3.55 gears but would be better off with say a 4.30 until I get the turbo on. The 4R has a .70:1 overdrive ratio and I turn ~2100rpm at 65, I think. It is not much different than the 3660, that has a .67:1 overdrive.

obviously you got some other stuff done, but wait a sec? The problem was the tune? It wasnt in the trans at all? So you ripped it apart for nothing? damn man lol

Tell me about it.... but that's about the size of it, that and the wrong wire for the assending voltage on the pedal (TPS). I was not happy at all.... but I am now! I just doubted myself and jumped to conclusions too quickly, shouldn't have done that.

 

[94tbird]

Yes, it can and I have put 65+ miles on it since 11:30p last night. I run 3.55 gears but would be better off with say a 4.30 until I get the turbo on. The 4R has a .70:1 overdrive ratio and I turn ~2100rpm at 65, I think. It is not much different than the 3660, that has a .67:1 overdrive.


Tell me about it.... but that's about the size of it, that and the wrong wire for the assending voltage on the pedal (TPS). I was not happy at all.... but I am now! I just doubted myself and jumped to conclusions too quickly, shouldn't have done that.

as long as its fixed. Glad your enjoying it. I still miss rowing the gears, but manageability and the track times speak forthemselves

 

[Natural1]

Well, I just clicked over 1K miles since this swap and all is well. While we were out of town with the car (yes, we took it on a short trip... no worries), I woke up early Saturday and finally fnished fine tuning the controller. It is great and I still wouldn't change a thing.

I should have the tune on the car itself later on in the week and I plan to make an additional upgrade to the valve body, at that time.

 

[TexasKyle]

Well, I just clicked over 1K miles since this swap and all is well. While we were out of town with the car (yes, we took it on a short trip... no worries), I woke up early Saturday and finally fnished fine tuning the controller. It is great and I still wouldn't change a thing.

I should have the tune on the car itself later on in the week and I plan to make an additional upgrade to the valve body, at that time.

What are you doing to the valve body?

 

[Natural1]

Well, I made a few small changes to the VB when I built the trans initially. I wanted to keep it basic so that there weren't any additional variables to study, should there have been a problem with the transmission. When I built it, I removed the wave plate in the forward stack so I could fit an extra clutch and steel in it. The problem with this is that, it causes a harsh apply of the forward clutch when the car shifts out of overdrive, it's a minor thing but I don't care for it. (OD - band applies and forward clutch releases and on 4-3 downshift the band releases and fwd clutch applies). Luckily, I have a fix for it and it won't be anything major. I also need to enlarge a few holes in the seperator plate and "shrink" one of them. I have a couple of springs that I need to replace a valve that needs to be upgraded. You can basically call it a "shift kit," which is kinda my spec and homemade. The trans shifts awesome driving around but could be more firm and responsive during higher RPM shifts, this will fix that as well. After this, I will have to go back and adjust the shift points because the holes I drill will allow the accumulators to fill faster causing the clutches to apply sooner...

Think of it like this: When you are at the track, you leave at the last yellow on your way to a perfect reaction time.. Well the trans kinds works like that too. If I set a shift point at 6250rpm, it will command the shift at that time but remember that you have hydraulic circuits which have to fill and apply. This takes time and you would be bouncing off the limiter by the time the shift actually occurred.. So basically, the transmission has it's own reaction time and you must account for that.

 

[RetroGT2006]

Badass thread, great write up and great info!

 

[Nickoli]

glad to hear you got it going! I also have no wories with a 4r70w as a driver. I drove mine about 160 mile round trip the other day.

 

[SilentScope]

awesome work Tanner, thanks for the great read!

 

[Natural1]

I appreciate the kind words, fellas! We will see how it goes after I make the changes.