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After thinking about my car for a long time and thinking if it was worth it to loan a srt 4 next year and just stop with everything on my car and end up selling it.

After alot of thought I think I want to attempt to make my 3spd quick w/o doing a 5 spd swap.

First Ideas of making the biggest impact with bolt ons, would be an obx header and downpipe, This making the improvement from replaceing the header and also deleteing the cat as well. This should give me some more low end power from the header ?

The next must I think would be the Mpx 60mm Tb EVerything I read about them was positive and good gains, and I've read it was a must in the automatic. What kind of gains Can I expect from here.

On Modern I was looking into what I can do with the auto itself and I came upon a new item which was High performance Valve bodies for a 3spd Auto 95-01. What I need to know is how much of a gain can this create.. claims it gives tire chirping shifts, And how hard is this to do ? Is it a replacement of the shifter assembly part in the middle console.
http://modernperformance.com/dcx/performance_vb.shtml

After here I would consider saving up over the winter and posibly putting a small turbo setup on it. How much can your engine handle till it would need to be bored and have engine work done to it ?

All advice comments and feedback is Apreciated.

For a 60mm TB, you will have a lot more fun driving the car. It will rev a LOT faster, throttle response will be more enjoyable...aka step on the gas and it's a little more peppy.

For the header, I think you're going to be somewhat let down. Atleast I was. The LTH didn't give me a huge difference. i was looking for. That might just be me. Perhaps in the back of my mind I thought my header was a turbo. I wouldn't get a header at all if you knew you were going to eventually turbo it. That same money can be used to buy the manifold or intercooler or what not.


Did you do a bumper swap?

Yes I did the bumper swap, With your header did you put on a downpipe deleteing your cat ?

I put a TTI Long Tube Header and a Hi flow cat...and it's still too loud for me. I had to move the cat down. It's really really crammed in there with my glasspack.l

I give you props on trying to give your atx neon some more pep! Don't waste time and money on your throttle body, intake, exhaust, or anything like that. I've done all that and I can tell you, on an ATX, it makes no difference. Do the valve body, it basically makes your transmission shift faster and harder, and probably will hold more power then your stock valve body, if you have the extra bucks go for the entire atx rebuild kit. Then look into some form of a turbo, they make nice kits for your year and you can go the srt turbo route, which will get you boosted for less than a thousand.

Adionik wrote:I put a TTI Long Tube Header and a Hi flow cat...and it's still too loud for me. I had to move the cat down. It's really really crammed in there with my glasspack.l

A long tube header will get you more top end and more output that way that is probly why you didnt feel a great difference and a high flow cat from my brother driving with and without one, A high flow isnt as bad as a reg cat but def slows it down.

From what i've heard, it increases your entire power band...and it sure as hell doesn't feel like I lost any low end...

also, with the stuff you wanna do..........bye, bye low end tourqe

I have been thinking about the valve body as well. It is rather inexpensive, and there are a few other options of brands out there for our trans. I would say go for it if you have the money, and willing to install it!

lawhon wrote:also, with the stuff you wanna do..........bye, bye low end tourqe

Explain ?

I have been looking at the valve body and the rebuild kit for my 3spd for a long time now.. but i'm still not sure about it.

And i was also thinking about doing a 5spd swap. Not sure about that yet either.

Kinda looking for opinions about this also.

to everyone with a 3 spd auto...get a TurboAction Reverse Manual Valvebody. you won't regret it, i can promise you from personal experience. it turns the auto into a whole new beast that you can, and are required to, manually shift. it doesn't do a whole lot for get up and go from a stop but damn, with a timely downshift while moving that thing will get up and go. the shifts are also ridiculously fast. they can be had on Summit for less than $200, which is one hell of a deal, in my opinion.

i'll have to check it out

essentially it turns for transmission into a slapshift. much like the professional drag cars utilize. in fact, i have seen the RMVB used in drag cars.

i think now may be a good time to chime in. If want to go turbo, dont spend the money on other parts. first come up with a plan of how you want to turbo it so you know going into it what you need to get/do. you gotta have a plan and a goal and you have to stick with it.

now when you go turbo with that atx (mine is the 3spd atx as well) with out any kind of computer system ie megasqurt, or whatnot. you WILL bog down on the lower end. hte bigger injectors that you need will give the car too much gas and the computer will lean it out to adjust. the computer eventually gets it back to stoich however that could be about a second or two. so with your turbo definatly go with an EMS, that controls fuel AND spark. made mine into a different car. got my torque back too.

auto's like turbos (this should spark some interesting discussion) in my opinion. because the throttle plate never closes when shifting so the turbo maintains the pressure and never blows it off. you do get robbed of the cool bov sound though, but meh whatever

back to the trans. no sooner did i get my ms up and running great, i blew second gear out of my auto. basically it free revs when it is in second... couple companies i have found. you have the rebuild kit from modern, for 240ish, also there is a company called level 10 performance something or other. they have stage 2 and 3 rebuild kits for i think 250 and 275 respectively. the downside is if you dont know what your doing inside a trans... it could be very bad.

the rmvb's sound like a great idea but i still like the ability to sit and cruise so i believe i am going to go with the s/s valve body you have above. -I am not saying anything negative about the rmvb- its all how you want your car to be in your plan.

so i guess the moral to my novel up here lol is you can have all of the power in the world, but if you cant get it to the ground... its useless!

good luck with your build
J

If you are sticking with the 3 speed, try to find a higher stall torque converter. I'm thinkin' Mopar Performance offered one back in the day, but I could be wrong. It wouldn't be cheap, but that alone would give you the most bang, and help out other mods. If it is an obtainable item. Those 3 speeds were used in the turbo cars so strength shouldn't be an issue.

i forgot to mention that my experience with the RMVB was on a boosted 2.0. it would be a great upgrade for a NA, also.

i know some people don't like the idea of having to shift the auto, but it is less involved than driving a manual (no clutch, obviously). to me it just made driving the auto a bit more fun because i was doing more than just hitting the gas and brake. but, yes, i can see where someone might be annoyed with always having to manually shift the auto. if that is the case, the MP vavlebody might be your best bet.

as far as level 10 goes, they have some rly good stuff. i haven never heard anything bad about their rebuild kits (they make them for quite a few cars), however, I have never had any personal experience with them.

basically if you are looking to really transform your auto into something that can handle more power and perform better you need to look for these 3 things:
1. performance valve body
2. performance rebuild kit
3. high stall torque converter
4. transmission fluid cooler
5. transmission pan extension

those 5 things will leave you with a nasty setup...

^ I agree with that setup. i would just add the trans pan extension from modern or some thing to help keep the tranny cool
my thought is if you're doing the valve body, rebuild kit and the high stall torque converter you're probally throwing down some pretty descent power and you'll want to keep the tranny from overheating. just my .02

i forgot in my original list to add a cooler, so i added that and also added the extension like jck mentioned.

i ran a B&M cooler and the RMVB on my turbo car and I never had overheating problems, but the added fluid would always help especially when you are pushing more power.

Neon_driver00 wrote:i ran a B&M cooler and the RMVB on my turbo car and I never had overheating problems, but the added fluid would always help especially when you are pushing more power.

just a tad off topic
how much power/psi were you running on that setup?

~240hp / 10 psi

Thankyou for all the good feedback on this topic, all of it is very helpful.
I actually like the idea of shifting the auto and downshifting because its the next best thing to 5spd w/o being one. I will definately look into TurboAction Reverse Manual Valvebody as it sounds good from what your saying and is cheaper then the valve body on modern

From asof now i will probly just build a nice n/a setup as nicely as i can .. Just a question on the valve bodies where do they install and has any1 installed them theirselves ?

no problem, i hope this thread helped you decide, with a little more certainty, which route you want to take with your build.

the valvebody is a very easy install. essentially all you are doing is draining the fluid, disconnecting the shift linkage, taking the pan off, unbolting the old valvebody, popping the new one in, and then hooking everything back up. obviously that is my simplified explanation, but TurboAction gives really detailed, step-by-step directions to help you through it. the whole thing can pretty much be done with a 10mm socket and other basic hand tools.

i would also suggest that you get an external transmission cooler, i liked my B&M piece. using the TurboAction valvebody raises the operating temperature for the ole 3 spd due to the higher pressures and manual shifting. this can put a lot of wear and tear on the transmission but the cooler will help keep temps down and ensure that your transmission doesn't overheat.

remember the 3 spd is actually a really sturdy unit, you just need to make sure you take care of it and it will take care of you!

B & M coolers FTW! stacked plate's much better than a tube with some fins pressed on. IMHO!

one other concern is that I blew my other 3spd from playing around with it.. shifting, downshifting, and whatnot...
With the valve body that you shift will this eventually end up with another blown tranny ?

^^

Neon_driver00 wrote: ...using the TurboAction valvebody raises the operating temperature for the ole 3 spd due to the higher pressures and manual shifting. this can put a lot of wear and tear on the transmission but the cooler will help keep temps down and ensure that your transmission doesn't overheat.

remember the 3 spd is actually a really sturdy unit, you just need to make sure you take care of it and it will take care of you!

i decided to quote myself to answer your question, because i think i pretty much summed it up earlier in the post.

So it can wear it out but cooling the temp will help decrease the dmg on it ?

As long as the shifts are firmed up the wear on the clutches will be less and heat from slippage will be less. Heat from the torque converter may be more, depending on the load. But if you down shift from too high of a speed then you could do damage. Hard acceleration is gonna wearout parts weather you have a "shift kit" or not. I know in the older V8/6 Torqeflights it was better to manually shift because it used the clutch and the band VS just the band to hold therefore being stronger. but I don't know if this holds true for the 3 spd transaxle.

hmm, i have never heard that about Torqueflights. that is pretty interesting. i am not sure if that would hold true for the 3 spd, though, because i have heard a lot of people that have done a number on their stock transmissions.

keeping the transmission cool is the first battle. overheating caused from 'spirited' driving can play a big part in damaging the transmission. obviously you can't constantly beat on the transmission with big downshifts and hard acceleration and expect it to do no damage. however, i had a lot of fun with mine and the transmission never slipped or showed any sign of wear. after taking the transmission out and looking it over it was still in great shape, too.

as i said before, be smart about it and take care of the transmission and it will work out great for you. all the performance additions to the transmission that have been talked about in this thread just allow you to work the transmission harder and do less damage, but there is always a point when things go bad after prolonged abuse...