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My reasons for not including high performance tips, on this page

I have had many, many, many people asking me questions about "high performance" transmissions; how to get their transmission to hold up under horsepower conditions far greater than the transmission was originally designed to handle. There are specialty shops equipped to handle racing transmissions, and they know the "secrets" to making most of these transmissions last reasonably well, with fair, but limited success; they charge well, usually, for this expertise, and usually do not stand behind the transmission, for obvious reasons.

I do not build racing transmissions, and do not care to build racing transmissions. I build "stock" transmissions, for "conventional" applications, to be used under "normal" driving conditions. I build transmissions that will last as long, or longer than the original transmission, in most cases, and "update" them to take care of any "weak link" components that typically cause the transmission to malfunction.

If you are interested in racing transmissions, I suggest contacting someone in the "racing transmission" business, like Art Carr, or Darrel Young, for a possible solution to your performance related transmission needs.

Engineering is an Art

When a vehicle is "engineered", at the factory, many factors are taken into account, by the engineering team, to determine exactly how each component should be manufactured; Manufacturing cost, material selection, exposure to stress, are among a few of the considerations. It is unwise, from a manufacturing standpoint, for example, for a part to be designed that would be able to withstand far greater stresses than was determined necessary, by engineering team, because consumers, as a whole, are not willing to pay extra for unnecessary "overkill". People ask me "I am tired of having transmission problems with my Dodge 3/4 ton truck; why didn't they put an Allison truck transmission in it, instead?", to which I reply "would you have considered paying an extra $8,000-$10,000 for the truck, if they had?". The answer to this question, 98 percent of the time, is "No; the truck was expensive enough already".

The truth is, in most cases, transmissions work well, offer reasonable mileage, before failure (around 100K miles, which is what they were designed to do), but are not "overdesigned" because people are simply not willing to pay extra for it, and, if the manufacture was to "beef them up", and raise the price accordingly, competing manufactures would then get the "edge". They work well, if they are maintained, and have knowledgeable technicians take care of problems when they first develop, and nothing is modified, unless a real problem is identified and well proven, generally accepted "updates" are performed.

The amusing part, for me, is when a "hot rodder" comes along, talking about how the "dumb engineers cannot design anything that will hold up!", modifying the engine to deliver twice the original factory horsepower, and torque specifications, and then expect the transmission to hold up. When the transmission does not hold up, they tend to adopt modifications that, although seem to be improvements at first glance, are not well thought out, and based on unsubstantiated engineering premises. Without understanding anything about shift overlap, and the importance of smooth shifts, to keep from "hammering" on drive train components, these "high performance engineers", often times, cause more problems than they set out to solve, and then, when the transmission fails again, it is called "a junk transmission design".

Now, don't get me wrong. I am a "hot rodder" by nature, and have had my share of fast cars, and raced some of them at a drag strip, but I have found that factory parts, installed to factory specifications, is the best starting point to building a successful hot rod. Then, when a modification is needed, try to envision the way an engineer would tackle your particular "problem", and design every component on the car to work at it's best, based on the modifications that you have created. For example, if you are building an engine, you need to sit down, with a sheet of paper, and "engineer" the engine, first, so that every component will work, complimenting every other component; it would make no sense to install a 320 degree duration camshaft, designed for high RPM engine operation, in four-wheel drive vehicle, used for slow, "rockcrawling", any more than it would to install your "rockcrawling" engine in a top fuel dragster. In terms of automatic transmissions, for example, if you altered a clutch to apply more quickly, during a gear change, to create a "crisp shift", you must also take into account that, in many cases, a clutch, or band, may have to release, also, to make that gear change happen, and so, this release would have to happen more quickly, to avoid a shift "bind-up" from occurring, that, although a bind-up can make a shift feel more "crisp", can actually make the transmission fail more quickly.

If you will buy it, they will sell it

I have had many people say "yes, Ken, but this modification is a part that I bought at a store (perhaps a shiftkit, etc.), so it must be good...they wouldn't sell something that wasn't good, would they?" Folks, as long as you are willing to pay money for it, someone will supply it, and they sure aren't going to attempt to talk you out of it. I wish it were as easy as simply trusting everyone, and you won't be lead astray. There are some good modifications, and some bad ones, and, probably more important, you vehicle was designed, at the factory, to be optimum for 90% of the people out there; if the factory thought there was something better, out there, to install, that you were all willing to pay extra for, they would surely include it. Now, if you are the 10% of the people that demand something other than what 90% of the people want, or are willing to pay for, you may need to modify your vehicle, but, you will have to determine what modifications are necessary to optimize for your particular use, rather than just bolting things on to get "more performance".