[sc0tty8]

I recently acquired a 94 cougar. The fluid is pretty nasty, the 1-2 shift is some times mint and some times harsh, both cold and hot.

I read the tech articles when I had my aod based cars and read the j-mod section, even though it didn't pertain to me. I had a 00 vic, and got a j--mod article from the vic boards, and printed it off.

I googled and went to a few stang boards and read about valve bodies and such.

Now, I need to change my fluid, I am changing my pumpkin, so I am going to do the u-joint at the same time, while the shaft is out and dripping fluid all over, I want to change the fluid and change out the valve body.

Darrin said in another thread that the 1-2 accum in the 94's was junk iirc. I found a few valve bodies on the bay pretty cheap, and I see that transgo has a kit for the 4r70w, which looks like a rebuild kit. I am going with 3.73's and TL, I don't want tire chirping shifts, I am going for sleeper-style, but I want better-than-stock. I will also be adding a trans cooler.

I more or less want to built a better-than-stock valve body w/o having a ful race setup, and not break the bank. I'd like to build it myself so I can learn more about my transmission and how it functions, and what does what.

Any info or how-to's? All I found on the stang boards is a lot of people put a lot of money into an autotragic, one guy had over 1k into his valve body.

 

[Rolling-Thunder]

Skip the Trans-go, as it will hurt the tranny.

Read the articles on the J-mod, and do that. It is a do it yourself shift kit.

If you do not want tire chirping shifts, then leave the 1-2 2-3 bottom springs in.

You can also by a chip from Lonnie, and a valve body from Darrin

 

[sc0tty8]

Why will the transgo hurt the tranny? It comes with a **** ton of parts, drill bits, so you pick the firmness you want, it looks like a rebuilt kit for the valve body, new springs n junk.

Fishing for advice and info.

 

[The Great Obucina]

Why will the transgo hurt the tranny? It comes with a **** ton of parts, drill bits, so you pick the firmness you want, it looks like a rebuilt kit for the valve body, new springs n junk.

Fishing for advice and info.

sigh....just do the damn j-mod. If you dont like it, track down "SCT guy" on mod depot and tell him his design is inferior.

 

[sc0tty8]

I am just asking questions and looking for info. The j-mod is drill some holes in the separator plates/gaskets, the transgo kit comes with springs and other misc parts.

 

[The Great Obucina]

do you htink if jerry wanted those misc parts, he would have specified them? you need to change your 1-2 and 2-3 accum pistons to the updated rubber bonded models, use the 2-3 top spring, and either the lt lbue top and brown lower 1-2 springs or just the 1-2 lt blue top spring. The external EPC valve Transgo tells you to install is not a wise choice, hence the reason to do the same damn shift modification the guy who designed your transmission specified.

 

[Rolling-Thunder]

With 765 posts, you should know enough about using the search function for info.

The Transgo shift kit has been discussed hundreds of times.

Lonnie, Darrin and Dirtydog are great resources for engine & transmission issues.

Also;

I drove a 95 T-Bird 4.6 for a total of 247,688 highway/city miles. I did the j-mod at 110,000 miles, shortly after "discovering" TCCoA. The engine and transmission were original, and never rebuilt the entire 250,000 miles. Never ran an aux. tranny cooler either.

Trust the guys here at TCCoA, and they won't steer you wrong.

 

[dDUBb]

If you're looking for a "mild" kit, just do the J-mod .. the money you end up spending on the Transgo kit you could just buy a couple drill bits, some gaskets, and spend the rest of the money buying more parts like the updated 1-2 and 2-3 accumulator pistons, 96+ deep sump tranny pan and filter, and get a cooler for the price you would have paid for the Transgo Kit.

The Transgo involves removing a Check ball ( bad idea ) and installing an external pressure relief valve ( unnecessary ) .. some of the springs for shift valves in the valve body arent necessary. The 1999 Valve body comes with a 2-3 capacity spring which cannot be bought seperately from Ford .. I imagine this is simular to something the Transgo kit comes with, but the overall design of the earlier style valve bodies is inferior to the later model and since youre not going for an all out race application, I wouldnt worry about it too much.

- Dan

 

[sc0tty8]

If you're looking for a "mild" kit, just do the J-mod .. the money you end up spending on the Transgo kit you could just buy a couple drill bits, some gaskets, and spend the rest of the money buying more parts like the updated 1-2 and 2-3 accumulator pistons, 96+ deep sump tranny pan and filter, and get a cooler for the price you would have paid for the Transgo Kit.

The Transgo involves removing a Check ball ( bad idea ) and installing an external pressure relief valve ( unnecessary ) .. some of the springs for shift valves in the valve body arent necessary. The 1999 Valve body comes with a 2-3 capacity spring which cannot be bought seperately from Ford .. I imagine this is simular to something the Transgo kit comes with, but the overall design of the earlier style valve bodies is inferior to the later model and since youre not going for an all out race application, I wouldnt worry about it too much.

- Dan

Does anyone have a parts list or a how-to on how to do all of the above? I never tore into a valve body, I plan to buy a used one to build, so if it doesn't work, I have my stocker. Would I be better off to buy a newer tb and do the j-mod on that?

do you htink if jerry wanted those misc parts, he would have specified them? you need to change your 1-2 and 2-3 accum pistons to the updated rubber bonded models, use the 2-3 top spring, and either the lt lbue top and brown lower 1-2 springs or just the 1-2 lt blue top spring. The external EPC valve Transgo tells you to install is not a wise choice, hence the reason to do the same damn shift modification the guy who designed your transmission specified.

Where does one find the part numbers for those parts you listed? Is there a how-to? You don't know until you ask.

With 765 posts, you should know enough about using the search function for info.

Yeah you spend an afternoon to get a hazy idea about something, so much of the threads don't go into detail, its just "do this like this" I want to know why its done that way.

The Transgo shift kit has been discussed hundreds of times.

Lonnie, Darrin and Dirtydog are great resources for engine & transmission issues.

Also;

I drove a 95 T-Bird 4.6 for a total of 247,688 highway/city miles. I did the j-mod at 110,000 miles, shortly after "discovering" TCCoA. The engine and transmission were original, and never rebuilt the entire 250,000 miles. Never ran an aux. tranny cooler either.

Trust the guys here at TCCoA, and they won't steer you wrong.

I just want to make sure I am getting the right answers.

 

[dDUBb]

There is a huge article on building a bulletproof transmission .. goto the Techincal articles link on the main page of the TCCOA and the Transmission Section .. there is a Transmissions 101 with everything you need to know about updating your transmission, with a couple sections on modifying the main controls ( valve body ) .. including all of the part numbers, drill specifications for different applications and pictures.

Honestly, you're best off buying a whole new transmission. The 1994 is one of the worst years for the transmissions as you will see when you read more into Jerry's Thesis.
Aside from doing the shift kit, you may run into more problems later on if you dont already have some updated parts on your transmission, including the Torque converter, MLPS sensor, etc etc .. so I wouldnt worry too much about making your current transmission into a high performance part .. just get as many miles out of it as you can before it fails eventually.

Im looking for another new transmission for my 1994 .. the first one lost 3rd gear after 77k miles in 1998, replaced that with a 1997 transmission and that just blew a few months ago at 155k miles .. so im looking to buy a 99-01 from a Mustang GT for a replacement so I dont have to tear into it to replace more internal parts. There are also people here that can build you a transmission to your needs if or when that time comes.

- Dan

 

[sc0tty8]

So just j-mod it and let it die....

What year should I buy a trans out of if it does fail?

I don't plan to race the car or anything.

 

[94TchikinV8]

I just scored a 99 Grand Marquis transmission with torque converter and 84K on it for $150 with a 90 day warranty. Try car-part.com it's where I found mine. From what I have read, the 99+ transmissions are supposed to be the best. It seems they upgraded them every few years. I'm probably just going to Jmod mine and might have dirtyd0g play with the TC, while I continue to save to 5spd swap it.

-Rob

 

[cjchevez]

96 and up .

 

[sc0tty8]

$150 is not bad.

I just priced the parts in the most requested parts thread in the parts counter sub forum, its like $100 for all the parts.

I think I am going to find someone that does valve bodies and see what they need for a valve body with the work all done. I gotta check my money drawer and see whats left in the car fund. I blew a large portion of it on getting a pumpkin built and remote start.

 

[The Great Obucina]

oldest i would recommend is a 98 Mk8 which as also the easiest of the later models to mod. It has the stronger Mechanical Diode One Way Clutch instead of the older roller clutch.

 

[sc0tty8]

Back on topic, since I got a 94 trans and they are shat, I have a harsh 1-2 shift and thats a bad accum?

Of the parts in the parts thread,
Mild J-Mod Parts list
1-2 accumulator $12.18 (retail $16.12)
1-2 top spring $3.73 (retail $4.93)
1-2 bottom spring $28.32 (retail $37.47)
2-3 accumulator $6.17 (retail $8.17)
2-3 spring $8.85 (retail $11.70)
Tranny filter $17.95 (retail $33.32)
Reverse servo $12.97 (retail $17.15)
2.7" O.D servo $19.45 (retail $25.73)
2.7" servo spring $5.05 (retail $6.68)
Seperator gasket $1.59 (retail $1.94)
Seperator gasket $1.47 (retail $1.80)

For me, I am guessing I need the 1-2 accum, 1-2 springs, and the 2 separator plate gaskets?

Trans has 112k on it, I'd rather had a 5 speed when it does let loose.

 

[FordFanatic]

could be, or you could have a broken spring. you really need to read the tech article about 10 times, it would answer alot of the newb questions your asking.

 

[sc0tty8]

Either way, I need to get in there. The 1-2 shift takes a while to come and its a sharp shift. The shift from 3-4 is another harsh shift, sometimes it feels like you hit a patch of water or something, just jerks like the car hit something ya know...

The trans fluid is nasty and I need to fix it so it works better, its my daily driver.

I am also putting in 3.73's and TL.

 

[KrAzyT]

wow someone needs to calm the **** down