Transmission question(sort of)

Matt_aka_Dale

SCCoA Member
After a night at the strip, I met a fellow Thunderbird enthusiast. It was the first time I've actually gone to the track, so I had some questions. One thing he said sounded odd to me. In an automatic, the best thing to do is a '1-2-1' shift. Does that sound right?
I'm curious to know if that actually IS the best shifting procedure for an automatic at the dragstrip?
 
So basically it does work, but can nuke the transmission if done too long. Well that sucks...and a manual swap isnt in the budget..or on the list.
 
It won't nuke the trans. The response in that thread talking about the fluid flow through the valve body is under the mistaken impression that moving the shifter from 1 to D will cause it to immediately shift into 3rd gear, and that pulling it back into 1 then causes a downshift back into 2nd. What actually happens is you start off in 1st gear with the shifter in the 1 position. This position will lock the trans in 1st gear if done from a stop, or will lock it in 2nd gear if done from a roll. When you are ready to shift to 2nd gear, moving the shifter to D will allow that shift to 2nd to happen. Now if you again move the shifter back into 1 before the shift to 3rd happens, your trans will stay locked in 2nd gear, until you again move the shifter to D, which will allow the shift to 3rd. Now the only reason to do all this is to make the trans shift at a higher rpm, which is fun, but on a stock engine, likely not any faster than letting it shift on its own, and transmission damage can occur not from the 1-D-1 shuffle itself, but if you rev too high you can balloon the torque converter and also possibly damage other internal transmission parts, but those are things that a different valve body will not solve either.
 
Yeah. What MadMikeyL said.

I don't see how the direct clutch gets involved before the intermediate (2nd gear) clutch because this is a 1-2 upshift ... And the O/D band shouldn't matter because you're not letting it hit 3rd.. and at WOT, the O/D shift is locked out. They were discussing an earlier model AOD as well.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top