Project SicMonte

[Norm Peterson]

That's bizarre. I've cruised around in my friend's Roadrunner with a manual valve body and it behaves nothing like that.

I think it has something to do with the gear engagement being somewhat "passive" via a sprag (aka overrunning clutch) vs by active mechanical means such as clutches/bands. Link.



Doug's experience would have been with the overrunning clutch allowing the engine rpm to drop below what the D/S rpms would require (everything aft of the overrunning clutch is allowed to "freewheel" or overspeed what the engine rpm input and the nominal tranny ratios would otherwise dictate). When the engine rpms come up to match whatever the road speed and tranny gear engaged require, only then is torque from the engine applied.

You wouldn't have any engine compression braking to speak of.


As I recall, the Torqueflites worked a little differently than the GM Turbohydros. I think there was an overrunning clutch for low (1st) that could act to give you 1st in the event of low-reverse band breakage, but I think that most shifts were accomplished by band and clutch activation/deactivation. Weren't the TF manual valve bodies all reverse-pattern?


Norm