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B&M shift inprovement kit

ciffer

ciffer

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Southeast MN
i looking to quicken the shifting in a 700r4, mainly trying to improve the shifting for towing and overall longevity.

i am planning to install a B&M shift improvement and a B&M 2-4 servo (similar to corvette servo).

does anyone have experience with these products? i want to hear whatever people have to say.
 
The 700R4 in my 1989 IROC was built by a chevy trans tech with all parts supplied by me.

2600rpm stall with kevlar lockup clutch
corvette 1-2 servo
B&M shift kit installed as stage two levels.

best money i ever spent on the car. only thing that even came close to matching the seat of the pants difference was the edelbrock TES headers and full 3in american thunder exhaust system.
 
I've not been a big fan of B&M since the time I built a TH350 for a friend, and the kit instructions were really bad. They may have gotten better, but IMO at the time it was all about their name, certainly not the quality of the product.

Trans-go is the company the local massive transmission rebuilder uses/recommends, and I've had great luck with them, so I've had no reason to even consider B&M afterwards.
 
cant speak to the quality of the instructions, as i just didnt even bother opening up the transmission. I worked at a chevy dealership, so i just paid our transmission guy to do it on the side, he probly didnt look at the instructions either :rolleyes:
 
K5dreamer said:
I worked at a chevy dealership, so i just paid our transmission guy to do it on the side, he probly didnt look at the instructions either :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

"i am planning to install a B&M shift improvement and a B&M 2-4 servo (similar to corvette servo)."

Leads me to believe that good instructions will be an important aspect of the parts purchased.
 
no i meant he already knew what needed to be done. the guy was amazing. kinda like i dont need to look at the instructions to build ikea furnature, or change my oil, or build a bicycle, because ive done it so many times i dont need to read instructions. This guy rebuilt so many transmissions, i was saying he probably didnt even bother to read the instructions because he already knew how to do it. hence the reason i paid him to do it instead of buggering it up myself.
 
Transgo is way ahead of B&M with the shift kits regarding shift quality and trans function. However, I was happy with the B&M kit previously. If you like snappy shifts, which is not always the best for your transmission.
 
Gotcha. Agreed, if you did it more than once it wouldn't be an issue.

Since I built it out of the car, then the guy installed it, the hassle of fixing the issue (one of the valves was backwards) wasn't fun. At least it was a friend, so he wasn't too upset, just didn't like doing the work again because the instructions weren't clear. :)
 
yeah, i figured he had enough experience after he displayed his skill. He set the torque on the pinion nut of a rear axle by FEEL. using an impact gun, and his free hand to rotate the pinion and judge resistance. I called BS on it and he smiled and handed me a torque wrench, spot on the exact torque spec required. the guy could probably pick the right ball bearing out of a jar of spares durring a build and get the right one by the way it felt in his hand. :bow:
 
my past experience with B&M parts has been that they have good, detailed instructions. those of us in the ford world have a modification similar to the shift kits that we do on the 4r70w (and similar) transmissions which involves drilling out a number of holes on the valve body separator plate and in some cases also removing the bottom springs from the 1-2 and 2-3 accumulators. makes a huge difference in the quickness of the shifts and overall feel of the vehicle.

i did one 2-4 servo in the past, they are simple.
 
i installed the 2-4 servo and the shift kit in stage 1 trim. there sure is a lot more to remove and modify in a 700r4 than there is in a Ford 4r70w.

i double checked everything, looks like all the check balls are in the correct locations, everything looks to be put back together correct. i still need to torque down the bolts for the valve body, auxiliary valve body and the accumulator.

it was getting late, so i put the aforementioned parts back together and put the bolts on finger tight (the transmission is on an engine stand, not in a vehicle). the 2-4 servo went in the same as the last one i replaced but it doesn't seem to move as freely. the last 2-4 servo i replaced was in a vehicle and didn't have any debris fall into the servo housing, so i didn't wipe out the housing. i can push the 2nd apply piston and housing in just fine, but the spring doesn't seem to push it back out very well. as i mentioned, i had to wipe out the housing this time so servo might just not be moving very well because the housing is dry at the moment.

besides torquing, i need to fix some pan bolt holes, i had 4 bolts break off:eek1::eek1::eek1:. i am planning to pick up a metric heli-coil kit and fix the threads that way (one hole was repaired with a heli-coil by a previous owner/rebuilder).
 
shift kits

I've only had experience with on B&M kit, don't what happened, but i was driving along one day in 3rd gear and all the sudden it was like it was trying to apply forward and reverse at the same time, locked the wheels up, crazy scary lol. I've heard some good about B&M, but quite a bit of bad 2. I'm going to try transgo this time around, heard nothing but good things. Not the transgo offered through summit, wwwtransgocom, i'm going to try the actual reprogramming kit though, Optional Stick Shift; Shift Command; Holds 1st, 2nd and 3rd at any rpm. Backshifts to 3rd, 2nd and 1st at any rpm; Competition, Off road And Pro-street. I can't wait to try it.:D

I meant to tell you that the transgo website has a video you can watch also, might help ya some
 
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I had a stock 700r4 in my '86 IROC. I had the B&M shift kit installed and absolutely loved it. Then that tranny died, but it had nothing to do with the shift kit. I had a new 700r4 built with a whole ton of HD parts from TCI. I did not like how the TCI shift kit worked, and I ended up breaking that tranny too. Now it will have the ultimate shift kit... A T56, lol.

To sum it up, I loved the B&M shift kit. And it was cheap too:D
 
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