I wanna put sumthin here someday

HELP!
Could you guys read my post in the "Wet behind the Ears" section. I've never raced an automatic before (and only ran once before in a, Oh my God, Honda). What am I doing wrong?? I put it in "1", let it shift to 2nd (with a strong chirp) shift to "2" and by then I'm almost to the lights. If I shift to "Drive" 150' before the end, that 400 switches to "LuxoDrive" and takes forever to shift to 3rd.
When I get the traction problems fixed, I know about loading the transmision with gas and brake. Used it to distroy two Buick Special transmisions (with a 198 ci V-8!!) when I was a kid. I don't know if the 400 can handle that kind of torque 'cuz I'll have to drive it home.
I know this isn't the section for questions but I couldn't find where to post actual driving questions
I hope to write someday stories like I read here but right now it ain't gonna happen.
Thanks,
Dave

 

Dave,

The turbo 400 is a strong trans and can handle lots of power when built.

Are you leaving the shift lever locked in low (1st) and letting the trans shift on its own or are you shifting it up to second yourself? If you let it shift on its own then you are overreving your motor not to mention building a lot of line pressure in the trans. I'm by no means an expert on trannies but i believe this may acctually harm the trans not to mention the motor.

 

Thanks Eric,
I didn't know that. That's just the kind of help I was looking for.

The car doesn't have a tach yet (haven't figured where to mount it). I was under the impression that this was the thing to do. I was wrongly thinking that the transmition was smarter than me and would prevent me from doing anything too stupid. I won't try it again.

I'm not going back to the track without a tach (and a lot of other improvements) But when I do, what is a good point to shift at? Is 4000 to high or too conservitive.

At fifty, this is the first car I've owned with an automatic, other than the ex-wife's minivans. But even those had a tachometer.

Dave

 

If the engine is stock I would think 4000-4500 would be a good point to shift. Maybe someone else could jump in on this. It all depends on how the engine is built. Being able to shift the auto manually is simalar to the manual trans. I've always just listend to the motor untill i got a tach. On my truck (99 Dodge Dakota) with 318 and AOD it actually shifts better on it own than i can manually. Of course I leave it Drive and let it shift on its own.

Hope this helps. I can tell you that there are people here who can answer you questions better than i can

 

When you get your tach installed, I think you'll find that in "Drive" under full throttle, it will shift automatically to each higher gear at about 5000 RPM. It is hard to improve on the automatic when left in drive by trying to shift manually. It will NOT shift earlier under full throttle no matter what you do, and shifting at a higher RPM is really of no help with a basically stock engine. Don't bother with it and risk causing damages.

Concentrate on getting the car to "hook up" at the starting line and make sure the engine is well tuned. Good luck!

Lee