thoughts on gear vendor

[tigerhays]

im considering putting a gear vendor in my camaro insread of a 4 speed auto... pros cons please

[ULTM8Z]

I love mine. I have it behind a TH700R4. In "8th" gear I'm doing ~2100 rpm at 80mph and getting ~30 mpg on the highway.

Pros - doubles the number of gears you have. Absolute blast to drive once you get the hang of gear-splitting. Not that difficult to install overall (notwithstanding the one con below). Practically indestructible for a typical street car.

Cons - If this is a 2nd gen, you'll have to cut out the entirety of that brace that goes over the inside of tunnel. I've had mine like that for about a year now with no adverse effects. GV said that 2nd gen owners have been cutting that brace out for years and no issues either. Overall I don't see how that brace added any stiffness in that direction of the chassis on a fully assembled vehicle. Also it's about a 25 lb unit, so slight weight increase.

Other things to note that may not be necessarily a pro or a con...

It's definitely a firm shift. If you're like me who often shifts the automatic manually, you can learn to tame it by timing the shift between the gear shift of the transmission. But it feels pretty much like a good shift kit. Also, the tighter the converter the harder the shift will be. I'm running a 2500 rpm converter and the firmness is just about right for me.

Try to get the button onto the shifter. If you're planning to do spirited driving with it, you don't want to be hitting the switch with your foot all the time. That may be fine for towing in a truck or something like that, but not for a muscle car.

The shifting in the unit is driven by fluid pressure, which is driven by a pump which operates from vehicle speed. The faster you're going, the quicker the shift. On average the shift occurs on the order milliseconds.

Since you're going to be shortening the driveshaft, definitely make sure your driveline angles are correct so as to avoid driveline vibrations. The shorter driveshaft will exacerbate any existing incorrect angles and may throw existing marginal angles out of spec.

I don't run the autoshift module, so I can't comment on that part of it. I did put an indicator a light on the dash to let me know when it's activated and it helps when going through all the gears at hard throttle.

[tigerhays]

thank you

[c4racer2]

Fwiw you pretty much have to cut that brace to fit a T56 magnum in a 2nd gen too.

I’ve thought about going that route if I pick up a chevelle with 4spd. But My next hot rod I may go big block cruiser with huge TQ and run a 3.25 gear and 27” tire and just go ahead and cruise at 2.8-3K. Won’t hurt the motor any.

[Rod]

is there a delay in shifts?

[ULTM8Z]

is there a delay in shifts?

The shift speed is related to fluid pressure in the unit, and that's driven by a pump that's driven from vehicle speed. The faster you're going, the faster it'll shift.

The longest delay I would say is if you're doing light throttle in 1st gear and you press the button, it'll take about a second to shift...

If I got hard throttle and shift at say, 5000 rpm, I'm going fast enough that it'll shift almost instantaneously.

If I'm light throttle and want to shift at say 2000 rpm, it'll take a second or so. But when I'm light throttle, average driving, I typically don't engage it anyway. I want the split shifting when I'm doing spirited driving and you learn to time it just right.

It's not ideal, but for having 8 speeds on hand, I don't mind it at all. I'm just glad there's a proven, high quality unit on the market that's relatively cheap and easy to install that can give me the effect of an 8 speed transmission. So I'm not going to complain.

But once I get into 2nd gear and am driving at some speed, the shifting is pretty much instantaneous.

I'm running 3.42's in the back with a 3.06 first gear. Compared to a TH350, TH400, or 4L80E that's the equivalent a 4.21 axle ratio in terms of final drive ratio in 1st gear.

So if you're running one of those tranny's and your final drive ratio in 1st gear is less than mine, the 1st gear "delay effect" I'm describing will "feel" less pronounced because for the same vehicle speed at which you're wanting to shift, the rpm's will be lower.

The nice thing too is that when it's off, you don't even know it's there. Quiet, no gear whining, etc. Able to use the stock rubber transmission mount, so no added driveline vibration/noise getting into the cabin.

[ULTM8Z]

Fwiw you pretty much have to cut that brace to fit a T56 magnum in a 2nd gen too.

I’ve thought about going that route if I pick up a chevelle with 4spd. But My next hot rod I may go big block cruiser with huge TQ and run a 3.25 gear and 27” tire and just go ahead and cruise at 2.8-3K. Won’t hurt the motor any.

Supposedly these units are good for 2000 hp...

[c4racer2]

Depends how much I drove it and where. I do like the 2500rpm cruising at 75 with the T56 and 3.89 gears with the SBC in my 71.
But I don't drive it a ton anyway. And if I got a cruiser w/ BB - would I drive it more? Hard to say. I spotted a clean red 72 Lemans convertible in TX with a 455 / AT. Now that car since it doesn't already have a 4speed, I would just put a T56 in it along with a few suspension upgrades and maybe EFI and call it a day. But if I picked up a 4 speed car - especially if it already had 3.55-3.73 gears like most do, the GV unit would probably be the way I would go. Especially in a A body where there is plenty of room for one.

[ULTM8Z]

There's guy I see at the local car show with a early 70's Chevelle and he has one in it (bought the car with it already installed). He says he loves his too. I was asking him a lot of questions before I bought mine...

[Modmoxx]

Hey guys!

I'm 99/9% I'm going to order a Gear Vendor overdrive for my 66 Impala wagon. I have a 600hp, 650ft/tq BB with a built turbo 400.

Where is the best place/pricing to order one?

Thanks

[Just 1 More]

check with Craig Wright at http://www.wrightconnection.net/

[ULTM8Z]

I actually bought mine direct from GV.

They were within driving distance from my house, so I went down there and one of the tech line guys was nice enough to take me for a ride in his truck to demo it for me. At that point I just ordered one on while I was down there and they shipped to my house a week or so later.

Unless a third party is going to give you a steep discount, you may just want to go direct as well to simplify any potential warranty issues.

[Vimes]

Pairing a GV unit with a first gear of 2.98 and a second gear of 1.57, plus a 10 percent higher (lower numerically) rear ratio would make your GV much more useful and a lot more fun. You'd have noticeable gear changes and a much deeper overdrive this way.

[Just 1 More]

I'm looking for one to go behind my Muncie if anyone has one

[Modmoxx]

Wish I lived close too. Thanks for your time, greatly appreciate it.

[ULTM8Z]

Yeah... I had several people describe to me in words what it was like, but I had to experience one 1st hand before I could drop the ~$3k to actually buy one.

I had been looking to add more gears for a while, and the year before I got burned bad trying to swap over to one of those 6 speed convertered 4L80E's. Ironically, the GV was going to be my plan before I found out about that 6speed 4L80E and I got enamored with the thought of paddle shifters, programmable shift points and all those bells and whistles. But after that effort went bust, turned out that I should have gone with the much simpler GV in the first place... and ended up with two more effective speeds to boot.