turbo action?

[drumcat440]

Want to get my 727 shift"n, I am thinking turbo action manuel/automatic valvebody, is this the set up? can i do an install? is there something better? any and all advice would be great,car is street 440 challenger,
thanks.

[ArthurRAiken]

It depends on how your going to drive the car. If your looking for something to street around in the manual automatic body can become cumbersome. Remember you'll ALWAYS have to manually shift down when comming to a stoplight and visa versa. A buddy of mine put a B&M in his 72 charger and while he admits it is quite fun, it is no replacement for the real thing. He also said that he only saw minor performance gains in his quarter mile times (+2 tenths). If the tranny is already out of the car (and I would recomend taking it out if it already isn't) then the install should be pretty simple. As long as you have a good place to work in and some patience, it shouldn't take you more than a weekend to do provided T/A gives you good instructions. Personally I'd just stick to a simple shift kit. Their easier to install, less of a burdon and a good stage II kit should knock off about the same Q.M.T. as a comparable manual valve body. But if you like to shift... best of luck to ya!

Arthur

[DartGT66]

I think the " manual/automatic" valve bodys are just ordinary valve bodys with the shift kit already installed. Then there are full manual valve bodies that need to be shifted manually. So I think that the manual/automatic valve body doesn't affect driving any more than a shift kit does. Changing another valve body, wether manual or automatic, can be done easy with the trans in the car. If you have decent tools and have used them occasionally, it shouldn't take you more than an hour.

[hemi-1]

A manual/automatic valve body just lets you shift down into low gear at any speed. The original valve body can be readily modified to accomplish this. I modified the valve body in my 67 Hemi Charger with a B&M Transpack kit back in the mid-70's, because with the stock valve body you could not get the thing in low gear if you were going over 30 mph. It wouldn't kick down into low and moving the lever into low wouldn't do it either. So from a 35 mph roll, a stock Duster 340 would eat it up--not good. With the manual/automatic valve body, low gear was there when you needed it. Worked so well that I converted my 73 Duster 340 (which, sadly, is long gone). Bad move. I didn't really need the feature on this car, since you could manually shift into low up to 45. Plus, the shifter was sloppy enough that more than once when I tried to downshift from drive to second at 65-75 mph (kicks down quicker when you shift manually), I accidentally downshifted into low, which wasn't too good for the A/C belts and other more expensive things.

I'd say that unless your transmission has the problem that my 67 Charger did, you don't need the manual/automatic valve body. All you really need to do to the valve body is just bump the line pressure a bit, which you can do for free.

[Hemi Mike]

I installed a Trans-Go shift kit into my torqueflight, set up for stage two firmness and installed a quality rebuild kit(clutches,bands etc). I leave it in "D" and it hits VERY HARD, by itself. Much harder than the fully manual torqueflights i've been in. The govenor can and must be set to shift at the RPM you need it to. A&A has a variety of govenor weights to customize the shift points.
Also, lighter throttle gives softer (but still quick) shifts. Great for a dual purpose ride.
Since this kit is in a car that my wife sometimes drives, I did not install the "low gear at any speed" feature. It'll kick down to first just fine when I mash the gas below say 35mph.
Just my personal experiences. Best of luck!
-Mike