Hey, im new to the forum but not so much to Camaros, as the Jacksonville PD and my chain of command can ruefully attest. I just purchased an 81 Z28 with a TH 350 and a shift kit, and Im somewhat confused as to what exactly a transpack does. Is this required to put in a ratchet style shifter, or does the shifter itself change the way the linkage is actuated? Any help would be invaluable.


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A shift kit is referring to making an internal modification to the trans. The basic is a shift improver kit which replaces a plate in the valve body, plus makes a couple other minor mods, and it gives a bit firmer shift between gears. A trans pack goes a little further, and you can choose how far you want to go from firm to tire screeching extra firm shifts. Either one has nothing to do with the type of shifter you have, stock or aftermarket. You can use a ratchet shifter on a stock trans, or a modified one, makes no difference.

 

nice car man.

 

Thanks, man. I just stole it off ebay, im still in Iraq and havent touched it yet. Im just planning it out now, i think i see a nitrous kit somwhere in my crystal ball. Just to make sure- a ratchet shifter on an automatic lets you manually shift gears?

 

Basically, but you can shift manually with any kind of shifter. Different makes and models of shifters work in different ways. Some shifters have a normal mode that works like a regular straightline shifter,then depending on the model, you can either push the handle down, or pull a trigger, etc. to make it work in ratchet mode.In ratchet mode and starting out in first,you can slam the shifter as hard as you want and itgoes into second and not beyond, and the same for third. Others come as a ratchet only, but I don't like that as much. I also like the idea of a dual gate shifter, and want to put one in my 91. That one has two gates next to each other, one normal straight line, and the otherratchets. I have a Cheetah shifter in my 69, which is different yet. It isn't a ratchet style, the gate is in azig-zag pattern and the shifter arm stops at each tab then springs over to the open channel to be slammed forward to the next gear. My trans isbuilt up pretty well, and it also has a manual valve bodywhich means whatever gear I put it in, is what gear it's in. At a stand still, if shifter is in 3, car starts out in 3. No putting in "D" and going, I have to shift manually.

 

a shift kit will firm up your shifts but it isn't really good for the transmission. while it does firm up the shifts, it does nothing to beef of the transmission itself. it is kind of a cheap fix for a little fun. you have to be careful when people try to sell a"high performance" transmission with a shiftkit. a true high perf trans is built tougher and can take the abuse. a shiftkit actually does more harm that good.

it used to be that a lot of guys would put them in cars just before they sold them, to give the illusion of a tight tranny, only to have the tranny fail a couple of months down the road for the new buyer. if a transmission is on it's way out, a shiftkit will definitely make it fail sooner than it would without it

 

That's one philosophy of thinking. The other philosophy is that a shiftkit applies extra internal pressure which in turn reduces slipping of the transmissions' friction materials, slowing down internal wear. So flip a coin on what's going to benefit or get hurt!
One concern is to be sure you have heavy duty u-joints and a strong rear diff to be able to handle the snaps.
One added thought: I wouldn't go beyond a shift improver kit for a stock trans. A killer engine is going to have (or better have) a well built trans that can handle a more radical shift kit.

 

you first say this in response to my post.....
and then you go and say this? this kind of backs up what I was saying in the first place.

 

OK, I can see why you're confused 1969 SS. I didn't expand on my added thought. My concern with a hard banging trans would be more with the rest of the drive train, not the trans itself. It goes without saying that if you're building a killer engine, you need the whole drive train (trans, driveshaft, u-joints, rear end) to be able to take the punishment. I just neglected to mention what went without saying! A shift improver kit will be gentler on the stock drive train than a full blown trans pack would be, that's all I was trying to say.

 

that makes it clearer. I pretty much understood you, for the most part, but a lot of kids on here really need all the info to make better choices.