I have a fairly good knowledge of modifying the governor to raise the shift points and I will be modifying one to allow my tranny to shift automatically at my red line. (About 5600) I have been given several governors to test out by another forum member and it raises a question. My numbers matching BA Tranny has the original governor (on the left in the below pic) and it shifts 1-2 and 2-3 at about 5000 RPM. The governor I want to modify per Gary Paine's procedure (2nd photo) has holes in each of the outer weights while my stocker doesn't and I haven't seen this type before. One of the 4 governors I have is supposed to be an original Stage 1 governor and it also does not have the holes. So, will the RPM be about the same with the modified inner weights installed in either version of the governor? I really would like to calibrate the one with the holes and keep my original governor un-modified.
Ray, The outer weights affect the minimum and part throttle shift points. Inner weights are WOT. I believe the governors with the outer weight holes is a later design Governor. You may like the newer design, but in any case, there is no reason you can't use either design to achieve your goals. The newer design may give you a bit higher minimum throttle upshifts which is probably a good thing. My 1-2 is 9-10 MPH, 2-3 is about 27 MPH at minimum throttle. WOT is up around 5800, 5600. My 2-3 minimum is great, the 1-2 minimum, a bit low.
Thanks Larry. OK but that’s the first time I’ve heard that the governor has anything to do with part throttle up shifts. That’s the job for the vacuum modulator. I’ve got my modulator adjusted for nearly perfect minimum throttle up shifts of 12-15 mph and 25-30 mph and wouldn’t want that to change much.
Good to know. So when I install the modified newer style governor, I'll possibly expect to have to back down on the vacuum modulator if my part throttle shift points are too high. (Because the outer weights with the hole may be lighter.)
Possibly, but maybe not. It will be interesting to see how your shift points respond. There is a thread somewhere on Governor recipes that mentions the holes in the outer weights. From quite a while ago. I'll see if I can find it.
Those were the good old days.. I eventually came to the conclusion that while I could reproduce an existing governor, I could never predict what it would do in anyone else's transmission. Too many variances in line pressure, valve body calibration, "shift kit" installation and check ball counts, especially in transmissions that have 50 years of tinkering. There's just no escaping a weekends worth of "one change at a time". That said, it's well worth the effort for optimal and repeatable shifts.
