Hey Pro, if your really interested, I could hook you up with an e-mail addy to the guy I got my engine from, he also had a 498 ci boss headed engine that was set up with a tunnel ram & headers, all that was needed was carbs & ignition, I was told it dynoed 1050 hp, with no power adders, he also had a 3 or 4 speed lenco with the bbf bellhousing & clutch, I bet you could pick up the whole mess for around 15K, & since super beast already has a devorce t-case, you could slide it all right in there,


Monster, as far as the apply pressure in 1st, after tearing the VB apart I found that the 2nd gear apply pressure is directly tied into the forward clutch, so any forward gear has pressure also going to the band apply servo, They just use the return side of the servo to release in 1st & 3rd, since the release side of the piston is much bigger it is easy to overcome the apply side, I know this sound odd, & I agree, that is why the coan VB is on the bench & the TCI is in the truck, The only reason I went to the coan is because they said it applied pressure to the low/reverse clutches while in 1st gear, (taking stress off the sprag) but while in the VB I figured out they were full of BS, It never applies those clutched except for reverse,
If I were to start over, I would either use a stock VB with a shift kit, or a forward pattern manual VB, that applied the low/revers clutched in 1st gear,
But what I got will work till something pops

 

Ok give me some help here, there is no way I can think of you could apply preasure to the release side in both 1st and third, the passages cannot intersect or you will end up with the direct clutch applying in first which is what a transbrake on a C6 does (applys both first and third gears at the same time) so I don't see how they did that.
I just looked at mine, and the release side is applyed off the direct clutch, in first, second and reverse that is vented to the pan. Now on mine the first/reverse clutches are applyed in first (you got me curious on mine so I traced it out to make sure) Did the coan VB remove all the shift and accumulator valves? and all but the convertor preasure relief vavle check valve? I am just curious how they redid the VB is all.

 

There is a check ball in the passage between 1st & 3rd, (to the release side of the servo) when 3rd gear is applied it checks, & stops fuid flow from venting back to the pan, Low/reverse clutches are never applied in a forward gear, it uses the sprag for first gear, (not a good thing)
One section of the coan VB is all new, (not a reworked stock unit)
The only valving in the VB is the selector spool, Pressure relief, & converter relief (check ball according to coan)

Here is a pic of the coan VB passages,


(edit) What brand VB are you using? Is it a reverse patter VB?

The TCI unit works like you are saying but it still never applies the low/reverse clutches in a forward gear, it relies on the sprag,

 

I am running the Turbo action cheetah VB, it's a reverse pattern manual, but id does use a modified stock unit.

I should have taken a pic of it when I had it out, so I could show you what they did to modify it, you probalby could have done the same thing to the TCI unit to get the low/reverse clutches to apply using that one, unless I am totallly missing the passages pattern, but in my tracing it should have a fluid passage to those clutches with the way they remachined one of the passages.

 

Next time you have it out snap a pic & sent it to me, I would like to get the low/reverse clutches applied in 1st gear to save my sprag, I probably wont worry about it till this winter, or till the sprag pops, wichever comes first,

 

I will be sure to do that when I tear it down this winter, hopefully I don't have any reason to tear it out and down before then as I am sick of working on it just want to drive it now.

 

I got thinking about that Coan VB, and you stated it has a check ball between first and third gears passages to the release side, so it would have to prevent fluid from going both ways (stop it from applying the direct clutch in first) if that is the case, then it means you have line preasure in first gear there right? if so all you would have to do is mill a new passage from that one to the low reverse clutch passage and give you apply in first gear.

 

I also thought of that, but I would also have to put a check ball between the selector spool & low reverse clutches to keep from venting pressure throught the spool back to the pan,
This would not be a problem if the had made the hole in the seperator plate round, instead they made it oblong, I could weld it up & redrill it, but I'm not to worried wbout it right now,

 

Thanks for the heads up! Oh so tempting at that price, but I should stick to the plan and build my own motor. One of the reasons I'm planning to build such a large displacement/long stroke motor is to break the 1000hp mark but still be able to run on pump gas. I'm guessing that with that cid and dyno number his is pretty high compression. Since I don't have a tow rig and trailer at this point I'm still stuck driving to events.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean about tempting, I had enough with me to by that engine when I picked up the blowen engine, but I would not have had much left over to get the truck going,

And your right, streetability has it's advantages aswell,

 

come on pro.....build you a trailer, buy an old f250 or a new truck or something and go all out!

 

Then he'll have to decide to put nos in the hauler or kryo the shafts in the beast. he will end up with two play trucks and no hauler.

 

Pro, it looks like I'm going to get that powerstroke I was telling you about, I could just sell it to you, Then you would have your tow rig, It even has a 5 speed,

I'm sure a couple of weekends of quality time with your welder & some steel would cure the trailer problem,

 

Yea, trailer isn't so much the issue as it is the hauler. Ah well, I don't mind driving my rig on the road, its worth the fear and panic it inspires in others

Sad but true. I probably would end up throwing laughing gas on a hauler

 

pro what ya do is get yourself a 2 wheeldrive hauler so you wont be tempted to lift it. then if you do anything to it it will still be lower so when you do juice it its not such a scary thing.

tony